Jared lowered his gaze, mind racing. The demons have schemed for ages to shatter this seal. Now, with the centennial tolling so close, Roaring Storm Bell vanishes? That is no coincidence… The fiends are moving!
“Abbot Infinides, I might have a stop-gap,” Jared said, looking up. He drew Dragon Bell from his Storage Ring. Lightning from distant clouds shimmered across its scales.
“This Dragon Bell cannot match Roaring Storm Bell in power, yet if we engrave the proper runes, we might imitate its resonance, just enough to seal the demonic souls.”
For the first time, hope flickered in Infinides’ eyes. He turned the bell in his hands, feeling its weight.
“Fine metal, fine craft,” murmured. “With proper runes, we could try. But that work needs an expert in charm spells.”
“Then let the two of us handle it, Abbot Infinides,” Jared said, confidence ringing like steel. Flaxseed slapped his own chest. “Draw runic talismans? Child’s play! Give me the right powders and a decent brush, I’ll paint powerful runes on Dragon Bell!”
Infinides called for disciples, who soon returned with satchels of thunder-type spiritual energy, spiritual brushes, and stacks of talisman paper.
Jared and Flaxseed sealed themselves inside an empty, solitary training hall. Candlelight quivered against the walls as the door thudded shut.
Hour after hour, night after night, the two men bent over Dragon Bell. Every stroke demanded perfect pressure, every curve an unbroken flow of will, until sweat ran in rivers beneath their collars.
Each rune drank their spiritual energy and paired itself to the embossed dragons, waking ancient scales that gleamed with pale electricity.
After a few days, Dragon Bell lay cloaked in dense, interlocking runes, exuding a mysterious aura. Right then, Roaring Storm Mountain shook. Black clouds erupted overhead.
Between the rolling folds crouched shadowy forms, demon silhouettes clawing at the sky. Their shrieks slashed across the ridges, and the stone underfoot answered with splintered cracks.
“No time left! We ring it now or never!” Jared shouted. He and Flaxseed hauled the bell onto the summit platform. Lightning skittered along its runes as though the sky itself recognized new iron.
Jared funneled spiritual energy through both arms, seized the iron mallet, and drove it into the bell’s side with all the fury of a storm-starved world.
Bang! Dragon Bell answered with a single, leaden peal that rolled down every slope and into every ravine on Roaring Storm Mountain.
For the space of a heartbeat, that toll became law. The black demonic souls battering the ancient seal froze mid-lunge, as though an invisible hand had closed around their throats.
Then the moment shattered. The unchained energy of the demonic souls surged again, hurling itself at the shimmering seal.
Runes carved into Dragon Bell flared one after another, sparks of gold straining to hold the line, yet ragged streaks of demonic souls still slipped through and clawed their way toward the summit.
Suddenly, every dragon rune on Dragon Bell went incandescent. The light poured outward, knitting itself into a colossal Azure Dragon.
It threw back its head and roared. Mountains trembled. Clouds fled. One swipe of those spectral talons smashed the escaping demonic souls like glass figurines, scattering them as harmless ash on the wind.
The ridge fell quiet again, yet no one dared to breathe easy. Everyone here understood the truth. Dragon Bell was a stopgap, not a prison. Its strength belonged to another purpose and could not seal demonic souls forever.
“We have to reclaim Roaring Storm Bell, fast!” Jared looked at Infinides solemnly and said, “Abbot Infinides, whoever stole that bell wanted these demonic souls loose. That reeks of the demons. Flaxseed and I will head down now and start digging. Keep your disciples on Dragon Bell. Hold that seal no matter the cost!”
Inflnides gave a single, steel-spined nod. “Go, both of you. Roaring Storm Church will bleed before we let a single demonic soul slip free.”
With parting bows, Jared and Flaxseed leaped skyward, streaking down the mountain like twin comets.
