The Shadow of Gloom

Chapter 2 - Gloom

A searing headache was what I awoke to, then pain splitting down my back. I groaned, but at remembrance of where I was, I shot up and gawked around. Everything was stone around me and cold to the touch. There were archways leading into dark corridors and flickering torches on the walls of the circular courtyard. Long banners drooped from the ceiling that was circular and made of glass, shining in patchy light through the frost formed on it. A marble statue stood just in the center of the courtyard; except I had no idea who the statue was of. It was man with a long robe, a staff in one hand, and a ball in his other.

At the sound of echoing footsteps on the stone floor, I looked to my left to see the same cloaked man approaching me. His hood was still up, covering his features, but I didn't have to see them to know he was creepy underneath that hood.

"Fuck no, you're crazy." I scooted myself away from him until my back hit the base of the statue. As he kept approaching me, I searched deep into my pockets and found my phone and wallet. I chucked both at him, trying to deter him. "Stay away from me."

"What, was that some kind of pitiful spell?" he asked as he stooped down, picking up what I'd thrown. He examined both, turning them over repeatedly until he tossed them away. "They're terrible, they don't do anything."

"You don't know what a fucking phone is?"

As I tried to get a handle on my hysteria, he silenced, and it wasn't a good silence either. It creeped up my skin like the frozen clothes that stuck to me. He stayed a decent arm's length from me as I forced my breathing to remain calm, but the second he stepped towards me, I scrambled up onto my feet with fists raised.

"I may not know jack shit about fighting, but I'll try if I have to." I readied to defend myself, but he didn't move a muscle towards me, instead he cocked his head to the side and sighed audibly.

He walked around to my left, going seemingly around the statue, and as he did, I followed him with my eyes. "You're brave for someone who possesses no magical intuition."

Of course, I had no magical whatever, magic didn't exist, and this place wasn't even real. This man, whoever he was, was just a figment of my imagination, though the pain in my back and head made me think a bit otherwise. Dreams could be realistic though, right? They could make you feel pain that wasn't there.

I turned in a full circle, following the cloaked man closely. It felt like he was studying me, as if I were his prey or something and just that thought alone made goosebumps chill my arms. He came around the statue but didn't stop in his movement, instead he came straight towards me. The air around him turned to blackened smoke that trickled off him and his eyes burned red again, glowing with intensity. I stood my ground despite the hammering of my heart.

This was just a dream. If I died, I wouldn't actually be dead...

I swung a fist when he was within punching distance. He caught my fist mid-air, then twisted me around, landing me up against his front. I writhed in his grasp and knocked my head back, to try to headbutt him, but he pulled back. He kept my fist locked in his iron grasp and refused to put an inch of space between us, letting me feel every breath he took.

"Let me go," I growled, twisting, and pulling in his constricting grip.

Then I froze when the black fog began to creep onto me. I watched as it descended me to the floor, pooling into a pit of darkness. The pool grew around my feet, looking like ink and with no reflection until it shuddered and shifted. I pressed back into the man behind me and shook my head, to shake myself from whatever was going on, but it continued.

The ink formed into a ball that slowly began to rise from the ground, coming to level with my gaze, then before I could do anything, it struck into my head, making me hiss in pain and writhe. Images of faces that I didn't know came before me, some smiling at me and laughing, then others looking at me with tears in their eyes. Everything turned into fire and consumed me, and I could hear someone shouting for me, calling my name, then just when I felt my lungs constricting, a voice broke through the vision.

"Gloom."

The darkness retracted immediately as the man released me and pushed me away from him. I shuddered from the traces of whatever was on me and whatever I had seen before my gaze connected with a woman's. Her hair was a bright golden, near bleached, and twisted into a long braid that fell down her shoulder. The white robe, lined with silver, she wore touched the ground and the sleeves of it covered her hands. She had two people at her back, a man and a woman that wore the same as her, just not as long or fancy. She didn't seem unusual until I spied two horns protruding from her head, making me do a double take. 

"The human is your responsibility until we can ship him back to Ustgard or Misonte," she said, looking between us. "Ensure he doesn't cause any trouble along our way to Darrose. I'm not looking to quench a war between us and the humans again."

I definitely didn't live in a place called Ustgard or Misonte, and I had wanted to argue them sending me anywhere, but it was just a dream after all, and dreams shifted all the time. If it took me to a new place, then that was that.

Then it appeared Mr. Red Eyes was actually named Gloom, and even though I hadn't seen his face, it suited him well. He wasn't exactly the spitting image of the sun itself.

He turned his focus to the woman, regarding her with more respect than me. "I can keep the human unconscious if that would be preferable, Ambassador."

I scoffed and glared at Gloom. "Are you—"

"—There's no need," she said, interrupting my words. "I doubt he'll be a problem. Humans always have been flimsy creatures that are easy to subdue."

All I had to say was my mind was creative in coming up with a unique dream experience. I had a cloaked, red eyed man wanting to kill me, and then a woman with horns talking like I wasn't even here. I hoped I would wake up soon because being referred to as 'the human' was killing me.

"I have a fucking name, you know," I grumbled, and at that she finally met my gaze with a soft upturn of her lips. Maybe she wasn't as cold as Gloom was.

"Yes, it's August, and..." her words trailed off as her gaze lost itself in mine, then roamed over my entire body before she shook her head and sighed. "Take him to see Saint, he seems to have injuries on his back."

My eyebrows drew together in confusion because I hadn't told her my name and the only one who knew about the pain in my back was me. These people were getting stranger and stranger by the minute. What more could my brain come up with? Actually, I shouldn't have asked that...

Gloom offered a half-bow to the Ambassador before she strode out of the courtyard and into one of the dark corridors with her servants at her back. Then I side stepped away from him when he inched towards me, making me feel uncomfortable. I felt like prey being stalked by a hungry animal again.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked, facing him head on.

He stopped approaching me, then turned away abruptly, waving me to follow him. I threw my hands up in the air in aggravation before I dragged myself after him, having to jog some to keep up.

For a man that was seemingly my height, he had longer strides than me, which made me beg to wonder what type of man he was underneath that heavy black cloak he wore.