The Dragon Lord's Wish

Ep 11: The Darkness

My heart begins to pound faster, my breathing quickens as my mind races. It can’t end down here.

There is no way in hell that I endured torture, escaped Chappon, have been a fugitive, and escaped again to just be eaten by a demon in the catacombs.

Anger courses through me, my tears running hot on my face. I squeeze my eyes shut, refusing to believe my reality. My fingers and toes begin to tingle as pins and needles travel through my veins.

All the events from the past few days hit me as I feel this white-hot pressure welling up in my core. I begin to shake and feel very hot. I try to stop it but I can’t stop it. I feel like I shouldn’t stop it.

“ARGH, GARRRGU, ERRRRRR,”

I open my eyes and see that the thing is being blinded by white light. The white light is coming from me. The light shines through winding vines and waves down my body. The thing backs away from me. As I get up and walk towards it, it continues to cower away from me. With each step white energy leaves my feet and cracks along the floor.

“Look within yourself your majesty. Use your energy to rid yourself of the beast. Center yourself, then strike.”

I take a moment to look at the creature. It fills the tunnel with its gangly body, screaming at me and gnashing its jagged teeth in an attempt to scare me back. Its grey skin looks greasy with patches of black fishlike scales.

I close my eyes and imagine all my energy centering in my core. It feels like molten lava is in my chest, building, waiting. It goes quiet and dark.

The monster shrieks with delight and I hear its feet start scrambling towards me. I let it think it has won for just a moment. Then I open my eyes and push all my energy out of my fingers and point at the monster.

A loud crack echoes and the monster blasts in half. I gasp, surprised and disgusted. The silence is deafening. I can't tell if the silence is responsible for the ringing in my ears or if they are damaged.

Using the light coming from my hands, I survey the slaughter scene. There are pieces of the beast on both sides of the hallway, still smoking. Something drips down next to my foot. A black eyeball stares back at me. I take a moment to think of what to do next. I definitely don’t want to go the way that thing came from. Heaven only knows what is truly down here, Hell would probably have a better idea though.

I turn and start on my path, the light still emanating from my hands helping to light the way. I take one last look at the beast that is still there, smoldering and parts still falling from the ceiling.

A cold chill sets in my spine as I have a suspicion that it is not the only creep that is crawling in these halls. I had always heard the catacombs harbored things not of this world, but I could never have imagined anything like that.

I turn my attention back to the hall before me. Fatigue is setting in once again, and I become scared as I am not sure where to go from here or how long it will take. I think turning back would take me further into the combs. But forward I’m not sure where I will end up. Up. Up is where I need to go. I need to get out of here and out of Paris if possible.

My feet start to drag as I come to an intersection after walking for several minutes.

I look to my left, and I look to my right. The left seems to turn up, which is what I want, while the right seems to turn downward. I start to turn left when the hair on the back of my neck and my arms stand up. I get this sinking feeling that I shouldn’t go left. It’s dark to the left and I can’t see very far. I stand still listening for any hint as to what I should do. The darkness seems to grow the more I look at it.

“Estelle,” a voice whispers, seemingly coming from the corridor in front of me. I could barely hear it, but it was there. Sweat beads on my body, yet I’m almost certain my skin has turned to ice.

“Esteeellllllle, I know you’re there,” the whisper becomes louder, it sounds like a woman crooning to a child. “Come here Estelle. We won’t hurt you. We just want to play.”

I can’t breathe; my chest is burning, but I dare not even blink. It almost seems to be taunting me, as if this is a game.

“Why don’t you come out and PLAY WITH US?!?!?” The voice becomes deep and sounds like many voices in one ending in a scream.

I scramble to the right, taking my chances on the tunnel down. I hear laughter and distorted screams behind me though I dare not look for the source. I feel as though I am running down straight to the center of the earth when suddenly the corridor sharply turns up. Tears of relief stream down my face as I let hope fill me that I may make it out of here in one piece.

The smell in the corridor changes. I smell the wind and fresh snow. A door appears up ahead, but I don’t slow down. I run at full speed, grabbing the knob and throwing open the door.

The snow envelops me as I collapse into it. I welcome its cold embrace as I catch my breath while pain is shooting up my arm. During my altercation and escape, I had completely forgotten about my shoulder, landing on it as I came out of the catacombs. Thankfully, the snow provides some relief from the pain.

After resting for a while and sufficiently icing my shoulder, I looked around me. I believe I’m still in Paris, but I’m not familiar with my surroundings. I slowly get up and continue to trudge forward. I curse the old woman who was with Cedric. She had the cloak I took from the dungeon with her.

I wrap my good arm around myself, attempting to stave off the cold. My bad arm is dangling and I no longer have feeling in it. My head is swimming, and my heart is still racing. The wind whips the surrounding chill, furthering my poor condition. I know I must find somewhere warm soon.

I look around me. It’s either dusk or early morning as hints of oranges, pinks, and purples glow through the clouds. I’ve lost all sense of time, and my sense of space feels altered after being in the catacombs for who knows how long. Everything feels so big and open now, making me feel exposed. I get up and feel the cold seeping into my joints, making me feel like I am going to begin breaking.

After walking for some time, I came to a square and realized I hadn’t seen a single person since I came back to the surface. I haven’t seen any part of Paris this empty, especially during holiday times. Maybe with everything that has happened I’ve missed the holidays. I don’t truly know how much time has passed since I was Chappon’s prisoner.

Statues line the square of figures from Greece, and it feels as if all of them are staring at me. My eyes flit from figure to figure, my racing heart threatening to give out. Suddenly, I feel suffocated by all the open space and my chest begins to heave. I gather my skirts and turn to run to be anywhere but here.

I turn but run straight into what feels like a brick wall, except brick walls don't laugh.

A grunt escapes my lips as I fall backwards. I cry out as I land, jolting my injured shoulder again. I am almost positive I have permanent damage now.

The pain makes my vision grey, and a wave of nausea causes my stomach flip. I try to catch my breath when I hear footsteps approaching me.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

I blink several times to try to refocus my vision. In the dim light of the street lantern, I see a tall, hooded figure step into the light. My vision wavers as I hear someone chuckling a low, gravely chuckle.

“You know, you should really watch where you’re going. You may run into trouble if you don’t,”