Empires: The Next Generation [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 12

Joey's PoV

Joey slowly opened his eyes, he was lying on a stone floor, trapped in a small square room, one that was very similar to the cells that he had used to trap Gem and Scott. How ironic.

He got up, his eyes scanning his surroundings, half expecting to see the devil standing in front of him to announce that he was dead, and was now a citizen of Hell, instead, he saw something worse, Xornoth. As usual, he wore his black cloak, and a wide, almost childlike smile painted on his face.

"Where is Sun?" Joey's voice cracked a little and sounded higher than he had intended, "Leave her out of this."

Xornoth didn't answer, he just stood there, smiling at Joey. The blonde took a few steps to the left, the head of the demon followed him, but showed no expression other than that psychopathic smile.

"Since when did this turn into a staring contest?" Joey's voice was louder this time, but the demon didn't move, didn't blink, had he even heard it?

The blonde made an angry sound as he started to pace around the room, he felt the gaze of Xornoth burning in his back but continued to look around, he didn't really know why since it was almost certain that he would die here, but stubborn as he was he continued.

One of the four walls was replaced by bars, with Xornoth standing behind them in a bigger second room that was connected to a long hallway with no end in sight.

Joey noticed something odd, for as long as he could remember, Xornoth didn't really...'breathe.' But another respiration could be heard if you listened very closely, there had to be someone else in the room with them.

The blonde man walked towards the bars that separated him from Xornoth, whom, you guessed it, still didn't speak nor move except for his head which carefully followed every single movement Joey made, the blonde pressed his face against the metal bars and could just see the body of a brown haired man chained to the wall, his face was beaten up badly, marks and cuts covered his body and his left arm lied in an unnatural position, his eyes were closed and it looked like he was unconscious.

It took Joey a while before he recognized who it was, stumbling backward and leaning against the wall when he finally realized.

"What have you done to him?" Joey's voice was filled with horror and aversion.

It was the king of Mythland.

———

Katherine's PoV

Katherine quietly hummed a song as she watered all of her plants, it helped her relax in these anxious periods, the brunette looked up when she heard footsteps coming closer, it was her daughter, Petal.

"Mom? Can you help me with my homework?"

Katherine raised one of her eyebrows, "You have homework? In the middle of the vacation?"

"Well no, but I can get extra points if I manage to complete this project!"

Katherine grinned, "Of course I will help you!" She put down her watering can next to one of her flower pots but almost knocked it over when a sudden scream echoed through the hallways.

"Fire!"

Katherine had to resist the urge to swear and instead grabbed Petal by her arm and started running towards the exit, she started to smell the smoke, the temperature began raising at an alarming rate, sweat started to run down her back and forehead, the stairs came in sight, and the woman let out a sigh in relief.

Katherine had already started running down what seemed like endless stairs when a sudden scream from Petal made her stop and spin around.

"Watch out!" Petal shouted as she pointed at a few steps in front of Katherine, they looked like they could collapse any second, something Katherine hadn't seen in her rush.

"Fu-...nky!"

Petal rolled her eyes as Katherine ran back up the stairs, "You don't always have to 'Not Swear' you know?"

"I will die 'Not Swearing!'"

"This way!"

They started to make their way towards the other staircase, finally, they reached it and started to run down, they quickly reached the end, that's good, right? Wrong.

The complete ground floor was on fire.

The smoke started to make Katherine cough and her eyes started to tear, "We have to go through!"

"We won't make it!"

"It's our only option!"

They started to run but Katherine soon realized that Petal was right and that they wouldn't make it in time, the gate had already started to collapse, they were trapped.

She pulled Petal in for a hug who was silently crying, "I love you." The words could barely be heard, the smoke started suffocating her, the fire burned her skin, she could barely see something through her teary eyes.

"I love you too."

"At least I died 'Not Swearing'"

Petal gave her a watery smile, a few seconds went by, then it all turned black.

———
                                                                       THE CORAL NEWS
THE OVERGROWN HAS BURNED DOWN, HOUSE BLOSSOM IS IN RUÏNES, THE QUEEN AND PRINCESS FOUND DEAD.

———

Hey guys thanks for reading!

Rip Katherine (And Petal)

640+ Reads?! Whaaaaaaaaat! Thank you all so much!

See you in the next chapter!