The Ruby-Rose Heart - O Coração Rubro-Roseo

The Ruby-Rose Heart

Sean was running desperately through the dark alleys of a world shrouded in darkness. Everything was gray and he knew where he was. There was not much to think about it, because he was somewhere in the spiritual world. How he had gotten there he didn't know, but knew that whatever happened, he shouldn't drop that rock at all. It was too powerful to fall in wrong hands... Or whatever it was to hold it.

In his hands was a shiny stone chiseled and carved in the shape of a heart. It looked rosy with blood-reddish hues, and he could feel the pulse, weak and soft, of that magical item. And he also felt that something very powerful was hunting him in this world. He had tried countless times, but his attempts to get out were all in vain.

None known trick had worked, no magical effect was effective so that he could open a new portal back to reality where he had gone. Even with the power of his wand, inheritance from his mighty grandfather, or his sword that had helped him countless times to fight evil spirits. Nothing seemed to work.

- Damn creature! You're keeping me here on a whim. Apparently I will have no alternative but to face it, or I will never get out of here. He mumbled to himself.

He stopped running, took a deep breath, and laughed, still remembering his grandfather's old words, now his avatar. "You still think you breathe air here you fool, all of this is a mere illusion, all this reality is shaped according to your thinking, according to your beliefs."

Shamael was right, he was still a fool. He ran off and entered the portal without worrying about Maya or anyone else who had been left behind. He just thought he would have to recover the Ruby Rose Heart at any costs and so, jumped into the most dangerous trap he had ever faced. Discovered as soon as he passed through the portal that something was wrong, and now he knew even more that his strength was being drained, and if he continued, he would soon be without quintessence. To be powerless in the umbra is to be dead, it was what he had learned. His only hope was inside his clenched fist and he had to think fast.

- SHOW UP! I know you can see me, hear me, and even manifest before me, evil creature.

From one of the walls near where he stood, a shadow moved and took shape. It was a shadow the same size as Sean, but it seemed to be composed of pure darkness. The shadow reached its hand out as if asking for the magic object, no words were spoken.

- The portal. I want a portal to return to the Hermetic College. I know you can open one, and I won't give you anything without the security of getting out of here safe and sound.

- You have no bargaining power, man. You are dying. All I need is to wait patiently until you turn to ashes, and then the Heart will be mine.

That bastard was right. Sean was already doomed anyway, and no card was left in his sleeve. Only his wand, his sword, and his spirit remained. So he had an idea, the most foolish of all, but obviously, Sean Lorenzo was always ruled by foolish ideas.

- If you won't get me out of here, then there will be no stone.

He quickly set the stone to the ground, and was about to crush the crystal with the hilt of his sword, when a sharp, deafening sound almost burst his eardrums.

- Stop human. Our existence depends on this jewel. Mine and yours. You have no idea what you're about to do, stupid.

When he raised his head again, Sean had a portal at his back, showing the courtyard of the New York Hermetic College. He looked seriously at the creature in front of him, pointed his sword and said bravely, "I'm coming back, you can wait for that..."

Leaving the stone on the floor, he leapt through the portal as fast as he could before the creature changed its mind. The frustration ached in his chest, and it was almost unbearable. But he was there, again in familiar territory, lying on his back on the ground holding his wand and sword and with tears in his eyes.