Poison City

 

“Smells like tree bark, spice and - ” The city agent who just performed the ritual narrowed his eyes while looking upwards.

 

“And what?” The leader of the city agents asked.

 

“We’ve gotta leave - ” The agent almost dropped the incense burner: “- NOW!”

 

Everyone else on scene was shocked for a moment, before they began shooting at the door. But before they could get anywhere, the lights in the entire building flashed a few times before turning dark completely.

 

“Bang!” The city agents at the front banged into the glass doors and bounced backwards. The speed and impact of their charge should have been enough to break through, but it just did not.

 

“Fucking hell, STOP! EVERYONE STOP!” The city agent who performed the ritual on the incense burner raised his voice: “Don’t push! Don’t panic. We’re trapped - and panicking is not helping!”

 

“What’s happening?” A scene maintenance crew member asked, his voice was shaking.

 

“It’s an illusion spell, mixed with some hallucinogens, possibly something put by that technician.” The city agent answered: “Don’t do anything rash. Don’t run, because you might not know where you’re going and you might hurt yourself.”

 

“Okay - what should we do?” Another city agent asked, his breathing was heavy and throaty: “I - I’m not feeling alright.”

 

“Deep breaths. Deep breaths.” The city agent who performed the ritual answered: “Turn on your flashlights - we need light. Point lower, don’t point at other people’s faces.”

 

Flashlights were turned on, some of those present did not have flashlights, so they just used their phones. But even though the flashlights and the phones were quite bright, the light they emitted was not able to light up less than an arm’s length around them. Beyond this distance, everything in sight appeared to be clouded by ashes and dust.

 

“Don’t worry. This should be an illusion as well.” The city agent who performed a ritual earlier nodded at everyone: “Now, I want everyone to take a few deep breaths, and chant with me.”

 

“Okay.” “Alright.” Right now there appeared to be no other way.

 

“Clear be my spirit as the mountain’s spring. ” The city agent started.

 

“Clear be my spirit as the mountain’s spring. ” Everyone followed.

 

“Straight be my heart as an arrow’s head.”

 

“Straight be my heart as an arrow’s head.”

 

“Neither the wind nor the rain shall shake my will.”

 

“Neither the wind nor the rain - ” “Oh my god!” “Holy shit!” The following chant of the third sentence was cut short by two explosive gasps. A city agent and a scene maintenance crew member almost jumped from their positions, while staring right at something behind those who were standing opposite to them.

 

The rest of those present looked in the same direction. And there they saw it - the shadow of a long-haired woman in a dress, a red dress. Her face was in the shadows, the only things visible to them were two glowing red streams pouring down from her face.

 

“Don’t panic! Don’t panic!” The city agent who performed a ritual earlier urged: “THIS IS AN ILLUSION! STAY CALM!”

 

This would have worked, if not for another source of terror manifesting right among them: a woman, a young man, an older man whose bodies were bloated, mangled, torn up and covered in sores crawled from the shadows beneath them. Their fingers with broken and exposed bones, long nails and embedded bamboo spikes grabbed a few of them by their ankles and calves.

 

“Please… Please save us…” With hoarse and gurgling voices, these shadows moaned: “Please… Save us… It hurts so much…”

 

The group scattered at an instant, screaming and yelling. Only three of the city agents remained where they stood.

 

“Fucking morons - ” The leader of the city agents cursed through his teeth, he turned to his colleague who had been instructing them on the proper actions so far: “What is next? We should try to get outta here.”

 

“Might be for the best anyway.” The city agent who performed a ritual earlier reached into his jacket pockets and pulled out a small cloth pouch, inside of which were folded talismans made with dark yellow paper and crimson ink. He dispensed the talismans to the two colleagues who were still with him: “Put it close to your heart, take three deep breaths, then follow me. We can figure this out when we’re out.”

 

All three of them walked towards the door, as the tormented bodies on the ground crawled towards them, dragging their innards, leaving terrifying red marks on the ground. This attracted the sights of the two city agents who had limited experience with the paranormal, but they just bit their tongues and continued following the one expert they had.

 

The city agent who performed a ritual earlier used both his hands to examine the glass doors in front of him. After a few seconds, he found the position of the lock. He bit the tip of his right middle finger and drew a symbol on the lock.

 

“Come on. Come on.” The leader of the city agents mumbled. The bodies have held onto his legs and even crawled onto his back. The sensation of being grabbed and the weight on his shoulders all felt so real.

 

“All illusions, all hindrances, all that binds, cheats and lies, shall BREAK!” After a quick spell, the glass doors swung open.

 

Three city agents immediately rushed out of the precinct building. The area outside was still dark, but much brighter than inside of the building. They looked around - it was the street near the entrance of the precinct building.

 

“Okay, what should we do?” The leader of the city agents asked.

 

Terrified screams came from above. They looked up - it was four of their cohorts who ran away from the illusions earlier, breaking through the fifth or sixth floor window. And at the end of their trajectory, were the three who just exited the building.