Chapter Ten
1238 Words
The Devil in the Dark
Elissa Duskmere
Nyxa struck a small firestone against the wall.
One by one, the ancient torches flared to life.
"Ah!"
We shrieked together as a swarm of bats burst from the ceiling, their frantic wings filling the tunnel before disappearing into the darkness.
My heart pounded.
How had Sir Orion vanished so effortlessly through this place?
The staircase descended into what felt like an endless tunnel carved from cold stone. Moisture dripped from the ceiling, each drop echoing through the suffocating silence.
We moved carefully, every shadow making my pulse quicken.
Then...
A scream.
A terrible scream.
It echoed from somewhere deep within the passage before abruptly dying away.
Nyxa tightened her grip on the torch.
We exchanged uneasy glances before following the sound.
The farther we walked, the stronger another scent became.
Blood.
The air grew thick with it.
Nyxa extinguished the torch as another flicker of light appeared farther ahead.
Silently, we crept forward.
Then we saw it.
I nearly stopped breathing.
Blood covered the stone floor.
Iron cages stretched endlessly down both sides of the corridor.
Most had been torn open by something unimaginably powerful.
Bodies...
Everywhere.
Trainers lay scattered across the ground, their limbs twisted unnaturally.
Wild beasts—wolves, bears, great cats, even monstrous Black Titans—lay dead within shattered cages.
The silence felt wrong.
Whatever had done this...
Was no longer here.
"What on earth happened?" Nyxa whispered.
She suddenly pointed toward a corpse.
"I know him."
"He's the Head Trainer."
His chest had been ripped open.
His heart...
Was gone.
I swallowed hard.
"The Head Trainer?"
She nodded.
"Father once mentioned this place. It's where the kingdom trains the beasts that fight in the Crimson Hunt."
So this was it.
The hidden arena beneath the palace.
The place Father had always refused to speak of.
"Do you think one of the beasts escaped?" I whispered.
Nyxa slowly shook her head.
"What beast kills every other beast... and the humans too?"
We continued until we reached the final cage.
Unlike the others...
It was empty.
Its enormous iron bars had been bent outward as though made of soft wax.
Something had escaped.
Nyxa crouched, picking up several coarse strands of fur.
"It looks like tiger fur."
I frowned.
"No tiger could do this."
I glanced back toward one of the shattered cages.
"There was a Black Titan back there."
"Twice the size of any tiger."
"And venomous."
"It was dead."
I shook my head.
"Perhaps... a giant hyena?"
Nyxa laughed nervously.
"No."
She stared into the darkness beyond the broken cage.
"This wasn't an animal."
"It was a monster."
"Help..."
The weak voice froze us both.
We hurried toward the far corner.
A woman lay against the wall.
Her face looked no older than thirty.
Yet her waist-length hair was as white as winter snow.
"Who is she?" I whispered.
Nyxa shook her head.
"I don't know."
Together we helped the woman sit upright.
She coughed violently.
Blood stained her lips.
With trembling fingers, she pointed toward a weathered book lying nearby.
Before either of us could ask another question...
Her hand fell limp.
"She's gone," Nyxa murmured.
I knelt beside the body.
Deep claw marks stretched across her chest.
No ordinary beast could leave wounds like those.
Then—
A scream echoed through the tunnel behind us.
Nyxa looked at me.
"What if it's the monster?"
"Then we need to leave."
Now.
I quickly tucked the old book inside my dress before following her out of the cage.
The corridor had become deathly silent once more.
Too silent.
Then—
"BRAAAOOO!"
A wounded wild bull exploded from a nearby cage.
Its hide was soaked in blood.
Its eyes burned with pain and madness.
It charged.
We ran.
Its thunderous hooves shook the ground beneath us.
Nyxa swung the wooden torch at it.
The enraged beast barely slowed.
Its horn slammed into her.
She was thrown violently across the tunnel.
"Nyxa!"
The bull turned toward me.
My eyes darted wildly until they found a fallen trainer.
A sword.
I snatched it.
As the beast charged, I rolled beneath its massive body and drove the blade upward with all my strength.
Steel pierced flesh.
But not deeply enough.
The bull roared.
The sword flew from my hands.
I crashed onto the stone floor.
It was angry now.
Much angrier.
Slowly, I crawled backward.
This...
This was the end.
Lily was probably going to inherit every beautiful gown I owned.
She and Princess Uzela would likely host tea parties inside my dressing room while wearing them.
No...
Please...
At least let me wear them a little longer...
I squeezed my eyes shut.
The impact never came.
Instead...
A sickening crack echoed through the tunnel.
I opened my eyes.
A man stood before me.
One gloved hand gripped the bull's horn.
With impossible ease...
He snapped it clean off.
The beast bellowed in agony.
A flash of silver followed.
The sword sang through the air.
One clean strike.
The bull's massive body collapsed lifelessly before my feet.
The man remained still.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
His long black coat hung heavily around him like the wings of a raven. Dark leather gloves concealed his hands, while polished black boots were stained with fresh blood.
His raven-black hair fell carelessly over a face sculpted with sharp, aristocratic angles. High cheekbones cast cold shadows beneath eyes so pale they resembled frost beneath moonlight.
There was no warmth in them.
Only quiet calculation.
A thin scar traced the edge of his jaw, disappearing beneath his collar.
Upon his right hand rested the unmistakable Ravenor Ring, its obsidian crest gleaming against the torchlight.
The air itself seemed to recoil around him.
He did not look like a nobleman.
He looked like death had decided to wear a human face.
Theoren Ravenor.
I recognized him instantly.
Not from the boy I had glimpsed years ago...
But from the ring.
Only the Grand General of House Ravenor and his heir were permitted to wear it.
He had broken a bull's horn...
With his bare hand.
Was he even human?
And this...
This terrifying man...
Was to become my husband.
"Do you prefer the floor?"
His deep voice broke the silence.
He never looked at me.
His attention remained fixed on the dead bull.
I quickly stood, my plain dress now beyond saving.
"Nyxa!"
I rushed toward her.
Blood trickled down the side of her head.
I looked desperately toward Theoren.
"She's bleeding."
He didn't move.
Another man appeared from the darkness.
Ariel.
"There are no survivors," he reported.
"I also found where the creature escaped."
Theoren simply nodded.
Without a word, he accepted a handkerchief from Ariel and calmly wiped the blood from his sword.
His expression never changed.
"Help the lady, Ariel."
Then he turned...
And walked away.
"She's bleeding..." I whispered again.
Ariel gently lifted Princess Nyxa into his arms as though she weighed nothing.
I followed silently behind them.
More than once, I searched for Theoren.
A glimpse.
A shadow.
Anything.
But he was already gone.
My chest tightened.
Did he dislike me?
Would he always be this cold?
Or...
Was this simply the kind of man Theoren Ravenor had become?
As we climbed out of the darkness beneath the palace, I made myself one silent promise.
Never again...
Would I allow curiosity to lead me somewhere it could not bring me safely back.
- Writer
