LURE (Preview)

Chapter 4

Nathaniel woke up with a start, seeing nothing but darkness. He saw a door in the distance, open leading to a bright and happy world. He ran, hoping he could make it there, knowing he couldn't. He felt hope blossoming in his heart, running as hard as he could. But the door never came closer. It seemed to grow further away the further he ran.The darkness became suffocating, ripping the air from his lungs. He collapsed, squeezing his eyes closed, curling up in a ball. He heard a loud bang, opening his eyes. Fire and blood surrounded him. He stood up looking around and seeing his mother. He ran to her, grabbing her shoulders. He shook her, her eyes rolling back into her head, her face decaying leaving nothing but a skull. He recognized this skull, it was his father's. Suddenly he was a kid again, hugging his father goodbye before he left for war. This was at the time a necromancer dragon had been at war with them. Months passed, they gained news about Nathaniel's father dying, and soon the town was up in flames. Nathaniel was looking back at the burning town and he saw a skeleton running toward him, jewels embedded in different areas of the skull. It had horns and Nathaniel felt something familiar about it. A large man slammed into the skeleton, knocking out the jewels. Nathaniel's mother stopped and the man handed her the skull. Tears ran down her face but Nathaniel had not understood why until now. It was his father. He hadn't cried back then when he had heard his father had died, nor would he now. A voice rang in the back of his head, calling him. "Nathaniel," It said, "I love you, son." It was his mother. He cried, collapsing onto the dirt. It collapsed in, drowning him in a sea of sand, blood and stone. He was going to die here. Tears ran down his face. He took one final look out before he was completely buried and cried. All he could do was cry.
    Nathaniel awoke with a start, a knock on his bedroom door. He sat up, groaning and soon realized he was wearing only his pajamas. He got out of bed and walked over to the door. He opened it slightly and a reptilian claw reached through. Trynacous pulled the door open and walked inside. "We've got to prepare you." he said as he began picking through Nathaniel's closet. Nathaniel ran over, blocking the giant dragon-man from going through any more of his personal belongings. "Woah woah woah!" Nathaniel exclaimed. "What is going on?!" Tenacious grabbed onto his shoulder moving past him. "Excuse me." He said in a polite tone of voice. He kept looking through the clothes until he found something he liked. He pulled it out of the closet and threw it onto Nathaniel's bed. " Get dressed." He said, looking Nathaniel up and down seeing his ugly pink pajamas. He began to walk out of the room to give Nathaniel some time to change when Nathaniel grabbed his shoulder and turned him around "Wait," Nathaniel said as trynacous began to turn away to leave, "what is going on?!" Trynacous sighed and crouched down a little to make eye contact with Nathaniel. "We're preparing you to kill Berthan!" his tone sounded friendly but he words hit like a punch. He still had to kill one last person. Still had to ruin one more family. He glared at Trynacous. "Why. Just take back the money." Nathaniel said. He turned and pulled off his shirt, throwing it on the bed. Nathaniel felt something cold prick the back of his neck. "Actually," Trynacous said, any politeness gone from his voice, "I can't let you back out of this." Nathaniel felt the object move down his neck, moving in an intricate way. Nathaniel kicked out one leg behind him, pushing back trynacous. He still felt the cold object on his neck but now it covered an area in an odd shape. "What did you do?" Nathaniel asked. He put his hand on the mark feeling around for something. "I bonded you to me. If you try anything, I will kill you. It will be lifted once you are inside the building."  Nathaniel sighed angrily, staring into Trynacous's eyes. "Fine." Nathaniel said angrily. " I'll do it." Trynacous grinned. "Then let us prepare."
After 30 minutes of struggling Nathaniel walked out of his room wearing the outfit Trynacous had chosen for him, a fancy black tuxedo with brown pants. Trynacous looked him up and down, smiling. "Good. Now eat." He placed a large bowl of chicken and rice in Nathaniel's arms. He picked up another bowl and dished it, eating furiously. Nathaniel ate the food and found it was delicious. to Trynacous's annoyance, He savored every bite . After they both finished the meal Trynacous turned to him. "Take this, we're leaving in a few hours" He handed Nathaniel a fancy golden mask. Now we would call it a mask for a Masquerade but Riensorr was a strange world so they did the same thing. I don't understand why they call it that but that's not the point. "What's the plan?" Nathaniel asked. "You're sneaking in through the party tonight." Trynacous said. They didn't use blueprints on this planet because everyone is weird so Trynacous had nothing else prepared. Nathaniel sighed, exasperated that that was all he had to go on. He didn't want to do this. No, he couldn't do this. Nathaniel's thoughts raced trying to find a way to back out of the deal when it struck him . He got up and began walking toward the door. "Hey!" Trynacous shouted, jumping to his feet. "What are you doing?!" Nathaniel stopped for a moment and muttered under his breath, "Going out to live the rest of my life free of all this death." "Don't mutter at me!" " Tryncous asked, anger in his tone.  Nathaniel turned, yelling. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS STUPID JOB!" I'M DONE, I'M GOING OUT TO ENJOY MY LIFE WHILE I STILL HAVE IT. I NEED TO BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH EVERYTHING. I NEED TIME TO PROCESS WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE LAST 24 HOURS. MY MOTHER JUST DIED, MY SISTER NEEDS TO KNOW AND I NEED TO TAKE SOME TIME TO MOURN." Tears were dripping down his face and his throat hurt after screaming at Trynacous "You can mourn and tell your sister after-" "NO." Nathaniel said. "I'M NOT DOING IT. I'M NOT RUINING ANYMORE LIVES, ANYMORE FAMILIES." He turned and grabbed onto the doorknob, turning it when suddenly he stopped. He felt a force keeping him back, like a thousand pounds of pressure holding him in place. He tried to move his legs to keep walking and felt pain devour him. He screamed in pain, collapsing onto the ground, having been released from the pressure. "As I have said," Trynacous said calmly," I cannot let you back out of this." He pulled Nathaniel onto his feet and handed him the mask. "Now let's get ready to go."
    Berthan's daughter swung her axe, severing the head of a gnoll. She grinned at Berthan, blood splattered across her face. "Good job!" He laughed, picking her up and hugging her tightly. The door swung open and a dwarf across the room handed Berthan a bear mask and left. On the back it said, "Get ready for the party. It's in twenty minutes. Love, murderer of worlds AKA Selena." Berthan sighed and put the mask on his face. "Let's get you ready for the party!" He said to his daughter with fake delight. He carried her out the door, breaking it open and slamming it into the wall. She giggled and they ran down the hall past a man. He looked at the broken and bent door and the damaged wall tiles in horror, his hands  clawing at his hair. He screamed and Berthan and his daughter laughed slamming into a door. They burst through, not breaking it this time and found Berthan's wife Selena waiting. She walked over and grabbed her daughter out of Berthans arms. "Mommy! I killed a gnoll!" She squealed. Selena put her down behind a changing screen. "That's good!" She said, looking over to Berthan and smiling. A few minutes passed and Berthans daughter came out in a little dress, holding her axe. Berthan smiled at her with pride before realizing he was next. Selena ushered Berthan behind the changing screen and began to pull off his shirt. Berthan screamed, flailing his arms but was quickly pinned down. Selena forced him to change his clothes into a nice gnoll fur suit. It fit easily, feeling nice on Berthan's rough skin. "That's nice!" Berthan said, smiling with boisterous laughter. His bear mask began to slip off his face and Selena grabbed it, putting it back on. He grinned devilishly at his wife. "Thank you." "Don't thank me yet." She said slyly, pulling out a fancy Bear comb. Berthan's smile faltered. He stepped back into the wall and yelled, "GUARDS!" Two dwarves burst in, spears ready then saw the comb in Selena's hand. They took Berthan's daughter by the arms and slowly backed out of the room. Berthan drew up his sleeves, preparing for battle. Selena approached slowly. "Come on," she said using the type of voice you would use to try to draw a small animal closer. "NO! NO I'M NOT DOING IT AGAIN!" Berthan screamed, true fear coursing throughout his body. "You have to comb your hair, Berthan," Selena said. He screamed, "NEVER!" diving out of the way. He began throwing discarded clothing and assorted objects at her. Selena doged the clothes and caught anything valuable, placing it on the floor next to her. Berthan crawled back as Selena walked toward him. He felt the wall press against his back and looked to both sides, seeing nothing but the walls. "NO!" He screamed as his wife drew in closer, holding the comb, "NOOOOOOOO!"
    Nathaniel casually walked into the fancy lobby, seeing women in giant dresses and men in fancy suits. Everyone was wearing a mask, covering only their eyes. The thing about these masks was that they were enchanted to change your appearance. If you were ugly they made you beautiful, if you were beautiful they made you hideous. Nathaniel looked like one of the ugliest men in the room. He walked into the banquet hall and picked up a glass of wine from a server's tray. He downed it in a single gulp and handed it back to the server. "Ah hello sir, how do you do?" A  tall man asked, handsome as can be. Nathaniel had the feeling without the mask he would look like a snotty old man with warts on his chin. Nathaniel scoffed, walking away. A woman who looked like the very definition of the word "ugly" walked up to Nathaniel. She was a short woman, most likely a dwarf ambassador. She smiled at him, placing her deformed hand on his shoulder. "Hello there," She said, her voice not matching the disgusting face that looked at Nathaniel, "how do you do?" Nathaniel smiled back at her politely. "I'm quite fine thank you." He said. The woman pulled him down closer. "Have you seen any gross children running around? A little girl perhaps? I'm her mother, I'm trying to get her for the meal." She glanced over to the left where a handsome but short man stood. Strange fur made the man's suit, shining and clinging to his bulging muscles. "I haven't, sorry." Nathaniel said, his eyes still on the man. The woman smiled at him. "Well thank you anyways," She said. She ran off in the opposite direction of  the handsome short man. Nathaniel snuck over to the man, pulling out an elixir from his pocket. He would be able to see through everyone else's masks by drinking it. He lifted the bottle to his face when a hand tapped his shoulder. He turned toward the direction the tapping had come from seeing a strangely humanoid man. IT was like the mask was trying to imitate human features so much that it made this man plain and simple while also overly complex and detailed. It hurt Nathaniel's eyes and he had to take a big swig of the elixir to realize it was Trynacous. Nathaniel made eye contact with him and Trynacous gave him a look saying, "Act, casual." "Hello there sir." Nathaniel said in the most polite tone he could manage. "Hello," Trynacous said. He pulled Nathaniel in and whispered in his ear, "Don't kill him here." "Where do I kill him then?" "Lure him out of the room, trick him into going into a side hall with you, and fight him there." Nathaniel pulled away from Trynacous.
"That is some good information. Thank you for the update on our project." Nathaniel turned back toward the direction of the dwarf and saw the strongest dwarf he had ever seen. He had a crooked nose and a complexion that wasn't the most handsome. He wasn't ugly, he was strangely good looking but he clearly had some trauma in his eyes.His hair was held up in a tight bun resting at the top of his skull. He had a large beard, going down past his shoulders which looked braided haphazardly. Anger was visible on his strange dwarvish face. Nathaniel heard him mumbling to himself angrily about his wife. "Go on outside for a while Berthan, teach our daughter to crush the skulls of our enemies Berthan, comb your hair Berthan! It's always Berthan this, Berthan that. Stop telling me what to do!" He grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the hand of a servant and stuck the cork in his mouth. He pulled it out, spitting it at the servant. He lifted the ale to his lips, about to start chugging when Nathaniel tapped his shoulder. He turned, squeezing the bottle tightly. Cracks began to form on the neck of the bottle. "What is it?!" He snapped. Nathaniel grabbed his arm. "Sir," E said, fake panic and real panic in his tone, "there is an intruder in the party. Your life may be in danger. Come with me." Berthan looked Nathaniel in the eye with the most bored expression he had ever seen. In the last five seconds. He didn't really look too bored. Berthan sighed. "Let me guess. Dragon looking man? Cursed being?" "No," Trynacous answered, "a gnoll."
Berthan was in a bad mood. He had already drunk too much for his own good. He glared at the two men with their strange faces. One seemed like a fake person and the other was what I would call hideous. Berthan would call it fairly good looking. "What is it? A dragon looking man? Cursed being?" He felt so bored that even laying around wiggling his toe sounded more interesting. "No sir," the fake man said, "a gnoll." Berthan sat up straighter. "Female?" "Yes. We believe it may be the gnoll queen." Berthan leaped to his feet, adrenaline coursing through his veins, his anger and excitement rising to the top. He shouted at the men, "TAKE ME TO HER!" They ran off and berthan thought back to the memory of that day. "So the king of dwarves has come to see me fall?" "Not today," Berthan mumbled, brutal rage making him want to scream, "this time you've come to me to see the job done right." Berthan screamed and a bear came crashing through the party. PEople screamed and ducked out of the way as Berthan pulled off his mask and ripped off the gnoll fur suit. Underneath he had been able to sneak on his battle uniform just in case. He leaped onto the back of the bear and began bulldozing after the men, ruining tables and sending people, alcohol and blood flying as bones broke, glass shattered and tables crumbled. He pulled off his axe from the bear's mighty back. He held it high and a dark smoke-like shadow came billowing off. He felt the rush of wind on his face as he screamed, "BERTHAN THE GREAT!"