Darkest Desires → Caliban [CAOS]

iii. sidekick

SIDEKICK
CHAPTER THREE

"We have to find King Herod's crown, don't we?"

It was like those few words had changed Caliban's mood instantly. His furrowed brows vanished and his folded arms were by his side as he hurried to reach Dahlia's pace. Even after thousands of years, men were still the same, Dahlia thought. It was so easy to make them happy and have them wrapped around your finger, without them even knowing.

Caliban led Dahlia down the hall and opened a door on the left, welcoming her into a large room with red sofas. Similar to all the other rooms, there was a clear theme of red. A symbol for blood, anger, sex, and hell. The ceiling was high, as per usual, and red curtains draped over the foggy windows that showed the Sea of Sorrows from afar.

The tall boy sat down immediately upon entering the room, but it took a moment for Dahlia to adjust to her surroundings... to take everything in. Slowly, she walked toward a window. With her face only inches away from the stained glass, she gaped at the word outside it. All her life, she was aware of the horrors that existed outside the world of Djinn's and a Djinn bottle, but never had she ever thought she'd be able to see it. It was an entire world of terror and destruction... she didn't want to know what kind of a person Caliban was to want to lead such a place. All she knew was that she wanted to finish her work here as soon as possible, so she could finally be free of him... free of her bottle.

"How does this work?" Caliban's voice broke Dahlia from her thoughts and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

Slowly, she turned around and walked toward him. "I'm a bit out of practice..." she started, her voice quiet. "... But uh, you have to think of your darkest desire... and I'll help you find it." Caliban's lips curled upwards at Dahlia's words, and she took it as a cue to walk closer to him. "You need to have seen it before... or a picture of it. You need to be able to visualize it. And most importantly, it has to be your deepest, genuine desire because otherwise, I won't be able to find it."

"Trust me, Dahlia. There is nothing I want more."

"I believe it." Caliban's selfishness was clear to her, and it wasn't hard to believe that winning this competition was all he cared about. She inhaled deeply before sitting down beside him, leaving a large space between that was filled with an air of tension and distrust. She held her hand out and watched him as he looked between her eyes and the palm of her hand, piecing together that this was part of the ritual. "Close your eyes." She waited for him to close his eyes before closing her own.

Truthfully, Dahlia was nervous, and she was worried that her hands would reflect the shakiness going on in the rest of her body. Her heart was pounding and a million thoughts were distracting her from saying the spell. She didn't even know why she was so anxious. Her powers had been unused for thousands of years, so naturally, she was nervous about using them again. But subconsciously, part of her was terrified of what would happen if she really helped Caliban do this. Terrified of the things she would see, like the mortifying members of the Infernal Court, and terrified of what Caliban would do to people– like Sabrina even– if he was in power. Dahlia didn't know Caliban. She didn't trust him. She didn't trust anyone really, after the horrors of what she had been through.