Mutagen

<strong>Day 151 - 3:00 AM - Ritual Grounds, Demon Territory, Southeast Mountains, Municipality of Bato, Catanduanes</strong>

The Witching Hour. It was the time between twelve midnight to four in the morning. Also known as the Devil's Hour, it was the time of the day when Demons, Witches, and Ghosts appeared or were believed to be more powerful.

In Western Christian Tradition, the Devil's Hour was between three and four in the morning. It was the exact inversed time of the time of death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

No matter what tradition, however, they all had a similar description of the Witching Hour.

During this time, it was believed that Rituals and Sacrifices had a better effect. It also causes heightened activities of malignant ghosts and evil spirits. Poltergeists were also observed to be more active during the Devil's Hour.

Paranormal activities such as ghost hunting, Ouija Board sessions, and even dangerous ritual challenges had the best returns. In fact, some of these sessions were required to be done at this time to be effective.

But why was this happening? After all, it was a world supposed to be ruled by modern science. It was strange for such a magical phenomenon to happen every day.

What most creatures in the world did not know...

This phenomenon was caused by the instability in the barrier that separated the mortal world and the Spirit Dimension.

There were four main dimensions created on Earth.

First was the Mortal World. It was the only dimension originally created to house the world's inhabitants in its intended route of evolution. It was one of the two largest dimensions.

The second dimension was the Spirit Dimension. It was a replica of Earth to a certain degree. It was where most magical creatures born on Earth were sent after the purge to make the Mortal World dominated by humans.

The Higher Dimension was the third one. It was where the servants of the ousted Gods that were born on Earth were sent to. As such, it was primarily inhabited by Holy Spirits and Angelic Beings. In many religious beliefs, they also called this dimension Heaven.

Lastly, the Lower Dimension. It was the dimension that housed the evilest creatures born on Earth, the Devils and Higher Demons. To say, it was the literal Hell of this planet.

What had the four dimensions had to do with the Witching Hour? The dimensions themselves were stable, being created as literal worlds for creatures to live in.

However, the barrier that was separated the dimensions was another thing. It was made of energy and was not a perpetual existence. Thus, to maintain a barrier that separated four literal worlds, a large energy source was needed.

To maintain this barrier, the four worlds needed to contribute magical energy. It was not a problem except for the Mortal World. A world that could not generate magical energy would not be able to contribute the energy needed to maintain the barrier.

Thus, a solution came up. Unlike the three dimensions, there was something that only the Mortal World had, being the main dimension. It was the direct light from the sun. Light was a form of energy itself, and the light from the sun also contained positive traits.

In Chinese cosmology, they called it Yang energy.

Not only it was able to substitute the energy for the barrier, but it also purified the energy leaking from the barrier.

But of course, it was not a perfect solution. Only the places shined by the sun had the strongest state of the Dimensional Barrier. During the night when the sun was not present, the barrier also weakened to some degree.

The weakened barrier enabled energy from the other three dimensions to seep into the Mortal World. And without the purifying energy from the sun, more of the energy that leaked was negative.

That negative energy would cause beings with evil tendencies to grow empowered. It also gave more magical energy for rituals to succeed.

Thus, it caused the Witching Hour to happen.

***

In the wide and open space in the middle of the mountains of Bato, Catanduanes, quite a number of people gathered even though it was still this early. The temperature in the mountains during this time was cold but these people did not bother despite some of them wearing clothing that only covered their private parts. Well, the unconscious ones could not complain of the cold even if they felt it.

Most of these people were not humans. They were Demons. A lot of them had features like fangs, claws, and even fur-covered bodies. Although many of them looked-like humans, they had a cold and suppressing aura around them.

The only humans around were about a hundred and fifty unconcious people. All of them were lined up together, lying on the ground in the middle of the open space.

As for the Demons, they were all gathered at the edge of the space, encircling the unconscious humans.

Looking from above, one would be able to see what was happening.

A large sinister drawing was painted on the ground. With the red color that the outlines had, it was clear that it was painted using fresh blood. What kind of blood it was... There was no need to ask. With the nature of these Demons, the blood used was likely from a recently killed human.

The drawing as a Ritual Circle. A magic circle specifically used for sinister rituals, especially ones involving bloody sacrifices.

Dark clouds covered the sky, showing the preparations that the Demons made. These clouds appeared before sunset and continued to persist until now. Unfortunately, because of its distance to human settlements and the tall mountains that surrounded it, no mortal was able to witness this bad omen.

And now that the peak of the Devil's Hour came, it was time for the ritual to start.

'Ugh!'

In the middle of the Ritual Circle, a young man named Harris woke up with an uncomfortable groan.

Harris was feeling cold. It was like he was freezing to death.

Suddenly, his eyes jolted open. Memories flooded his mind.

Harris was one of the men forced to become a rebel. The bastards had his girlfriend so he had no choice if he wanted to keep her safe. But yesterday, for some reason, their superiors had been edgy. Soon, he and those with the same circumstances as him came to know that the main base was attacked and was destroyed.

What about their loved ones, then? They were told that they were evacuated south. Of course, Harries and his friends did not know whether it was true or not. Afraid that their loved ones would be implicated, they just followed.

Yesterday, they left their outpost with the command of their outpost leader. It did not take long and the group from their outpost joined with the others.

Apparently, everyone was going south, though Harris heard that they would pass by an outpost they lost contact with.

As it appeared, the outpost they went to was already abandoned. Their leaders said that the people in this outpost must have joined the evacuation already.

Harris felt that it was odd, considering the marks of bullets that were scattered everywhere.

Continuing south, they were attacked.

Was it the military? At that time, Harries felt that it was bad if the military ambushed them. Many people among them were just forced to obey the rebels, after all.

But when Harris saw what they were going against, he could not help but wish that it was the military instead.

It was because instead of humans, it was monsters that stood within their way.

The battle did not even last long. It was a one-sided fight with the rebels on the losing side.

It was a nightmare.

"My Lord. It appears that one of them managed to resist the hypnosis."

Suddenly, voices registered in the ears of Harris. He could not help but try to stand up and face the source of the voice.

That was when Harris realized. He could not move anything aside from his head. He could not feel anything binding him one the ground. Yet, he could not move even a muscle of his finger. It was like sleep paralysis, but several times much worse.

In a panic, Harris turned his head around. He then saw his friends and the rebels lying around him. All of them seemed to be asleep. They were all naked to their underwear. That was when he noticed that he was the same. No wonder it felt too cold.

Harris tried calling out, opening his mouth, shouting as loud as he could.

But no voice came out.

That was when another voice entered his ears. It was deep and for some reason, made his heart tremble.

"It does not matter. We will continue with the ritual."

'Ritual? What ritual? Is this some kind of f*cking joke?!'

Harris cried out in his mind.

"Though I'm looking forward to what that man will turn out."

The deep voice was heard once more.

And then, the deep voice started speaking.

Harris could not understand what the man was saying. It felt as if it was a language not of this world.

Suddenly, Harris' eyes were filled with a surge of red light. He turned his head around in panic. He realized that the light was coming from the ground.

And that was where the horror started.

Harris' eyes turned wide as he saw his friend beside him convulsing. It was like those horror movies where the actress was being possessed. He noticed that it was not only his friend but everyone lying around him. The intensity was varied, but all of them were definitely undergoing some crazy event.

'Urk!'

Suddenly, Harris' body was filled with pain. It was as if his body was being torn from inside. Soon, even though he could not move his body voluntarily, he was already convulsing violently like the others.

Harris bit his lip. Tears on his eyes, he tried to bear with the pain. However, his perseverance did not take long after the pain intensified to the point that he wished to die.

With his mouth wide open and his saliva pouring out, the mind of Harris gave way because of the pain.

His body continued to convulse, his head fell to the side. His pupils dilated.

The body of his friend beside Harris started to tear open. His skin was cracking, showing muscles being torn apart. His body already had a distorted shape, as if he was an inflated balloon.

BURST!

Suddenly the body of his friend burst open. Blood splattered on his face, but he could not care at all. With wide eyes, he looked at the monster in front of his eyes.

'Will I also end up like him?'

That was the last thought Harris had. His mind suddenly went blank in a literal sense.

His body started to heat up, dispersing all the coldness he felt before. The convulsing of his body stopped. Instead, it started pulsing.

Harris could hear the sounds of amazement around. Unfortunately, all his consciousness and memories were already gone.

The temperature of his body continued to rise. Soon, the mysterious force binding Harris was gone, and he stood up.

Well, Harris was already gone. Instead, what stood there was a new being...

"This is unexpected. We managed to get a Flame Demon."

The man with a deep voice was heard once more. It was clear in his tone that he was in glee.

"Unfortunately, only fifty became Demons, my Lord." A calm voice was heard. "The rest only became Ferals."

"It doesn't matter." The Lord replied. "Throw away the Ferals outside like the others."

The Lord then faced the audience, and the new Demons staring blankly at him.

"Our sacred ritual tonight ended with an unexpected addition to our ranks. Today, we will prepare. We already gained enough power to conquer. Tomorrow, we will move north. We will slaughter those Spirits and take revenge for our brethren they killed in the past! This is my command!"

"Yes, my Lord."

All the Demons kneeled towards their Lord.