Dreaming of Demons (Dream x oc)

[4] Lunchtime

I froze. "Wait, I'm going in the cell?" 

Same gave me a curious look. "Yes, I thought that was..." His words faltered as he noticed my worried expression. "—clear."

"N-no? I thought I would just help with sending it in or something."

Sam scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I can't just leave you here if I were to do it myself..."

I knew what he was implying, but to go into a cell that was as guarded as this? My gaze travelled around the room, judging the security of the place. Only a complete psychopath would need multiple levels of lava and obsidian to keep them at bay. 

I looked at Sam, who was waiting for my answer. "Okay...I did agree to help, so I'll go in. But it's completely safe, right?"

He nodded. "I made sure it would be as safe as possible for visitors to go inside the cell. You'll be fine."

"Okay, then let's do it."

Sam seemed a little more relaxed now that I had agreed to go in the cell. He quickly went to grab the food for Dream from another room, returning with a tray of...a single, steaming potato.

I raised a brow but decided not to question the food choice.

Sam then handed me an ender pearl and directed me to what he called an ender pearl stasis chamber. All I had to do was toss the orb into a column of air coming from a vent on the floor and he explained that once the air was turned off, the pearl would drop to the ground and I would appear in its place. I wouldn't deny it was a pretty smart build.

He also gave me a small communication device, which I could use to contact him if needed. The fact that I would need a device like this to even contact him worried me a bit. What if it was stolen from me once inside the cell? Would I have no other way to contact anyone on the outside? I didn't have much time to think about it though as he handed me the tray of food and told me to wait near the lava while he retracted it.

The heat from the lava was intense and I was pretty sure I could have just stood here with a raw potato and had it baked by the time the lava finally came down—which was proving to take a lot longer than I anticipated.

I turned to glance at Sam, standing near the buttons and levers on the wall with his arms crossed. He didn't look at all nervous that he was sending me into some supposedly crazy person's cell. Maybe he had done this more often than I thought.

Well, if he seemed to trust the mechanics of this thing, then maybe I didn't have to worry either.

I turned back to face the lava, noticing that it was finally falling down from the entryway. As it slowly fell past my eye-level, I saw just how big the room in front of me was. The room looked to be almost a hundred and fifty feet across and equally as high. There were holes dotting the entire ceiling, which must have been where the lava was dispensed. No wonder it took so long to come down.

Right in the middle of the lava was a small room made entirely out of obsidian. A man sat at a small table, writing on something I couldn't see. He wore a prison jumpsuit that was black instead of the typical orange and even though I was pretty far away, I could tell his hair was a light brown. 

What caught my eye almost immediately though, was the circular mask he wore covering most of his face. A simple smile on the white surface stared back at me when the man looked up. My breath caught in my throat and I cast a glance at Sam. He still held the same bored expression from before, completely unfazed, like this was something he was used to.

Sam suddenly spoke, jarring me from my thoughts.

"Alright, the platform underneath you is going to move forward to take you to the cell, so use the rails if you need to. Once you've stepped in the cell, I'll retract the platform and put down the lava."