Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

73. Feeding On Fear

Eternity stumbled down the stairs, being roughly pushed by a screecher to follow the sinister Robert Lloyd. She was trying not to cry out in pain and fear, but it was hard, especially when Robert kept looking to her with his cruel gaze. She knew he had something wicked up his sleeve, something to punish her both for siding with the Wibberlys and for rejecting the offer he had made her. 

"Do you know, in my research, I have found a great deal of interesting magical creatures," Robert said smoothly, as they finally stopped tripping down the stairs and entered a small landing, the entrance to a dungeon-like chamber, sealed off by a heavy metal door. Eternity wasn't foolish enough to think that she'd merely be placed inside of that room to rot - no, Robert was far more sadistic than that. 

Eternity scoffed with a confidence that she didn't feel in the slightest, "oh wow, you're gonna feed me to a troll? Really? Do your own dirty work, man."

"I'm more creative than that," Robert smiled, knowing he had the upper hand, "I think you'll appreciate the artistry here. See, I happened to discover a very rare, nearly hunted to extinction, creature in the mountainous areas of Turkey. The local wizards call it the Korku Tacir. The Fear Trader, or Fearmonger. It's an accurate name. Can you guess why?"

"It's so horrifying that it causes a shit ton of fear?" Eternity deadpanned, with a roll of her eyes. 

Robert's answering quirk of the lips was thin and cruel, "not quite. The beast is telepathic. It gets into your mind and shows you visions of what you crave and what you fear. It weakens you, rots you from the inside out, for as long as it can, slowly draining away your will to live. And then, once your mind is nothing but mush, it consumes your flesh for sustenance. It's a very long, slow, brutal way to die. Sometimes it even takes weeks before the monster is done toying with you. By the time it finishes, its victims beg to be put out of their misery and relieved from their suffering."

"One could say that your presence causes the same effect," Eternity shot back.

"You're trying so hard to be brave," Robert said, "it'll be amusing to see how long you last."

He gestured his head to the side, one sharp movement that had the screechers pulling the door of the windowless prison room open while he unhooked a key from his belt, leaning against the wall with a smirk. Eternity jolted back out of instinct, but was grabbed roughly by one of the monsters and pushed towards the open door. Pleas and begging were on the tip of her tongue, but no, she wasn't going to beg Robert Lloyd for anything, not even when she was staring death in the face. It was either a brave or stupid sentiment, or maybe the two were the same thing.

"Have a nice stay," Robert said mockingly. 

Eternity hissed, all anger and repressed fear, "kill me in the most gruesome way you want. It doesn't matter. Lili's gonna come sooner or later, and she's gonna wipe the floor with you."

"So much faith," Robert sighed, "no matter. The Korku Tacir will soon take care of that."

The screecher shoved her backwards into the room, and she landed roughly on her rear end, grunting with the pain and the bruises certainly soon to develop on her backside. 

"Goodbye, Eternity," Robert said.

"Oh, fuck you!" Eternity spat venomously, and that was the last thing that happened before the door to the cell was slammed shut and the loud click of a key locking it reached her ears, leaving her trapped in the dark.

Immediately, a shiver ran up her spine. She had told Robert she didn't care whether he killed her or not, but she really didn't want to die. Not in such a horrid way as this, obviously, but also, not at all. Not now that she finally had something worth living for, not now that she finally knew where she belonged.