The Sacred Descendant

Part 3

"Wake up!"

Darla slowly opened her eyes. She saw a vague silhouette hovering above her but couldn't see anything specific. Everything was blurry in her eyes.

"Darla, please, wake up!"

The voice belonged to a woman, and sounded very familiar. When Darla's vision cleared more or less, her friend's worried face was before her.

"Ugh... Lucy? What happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know," she whispered. "All I know is that we're in some kind of prison with our wrists handcuffed."

"What?!" Darla immediately jumped up as if someone had poured a bucket of ice cold water on her. As she examined the surroundings, her heartbeat accelerated fast. Her eyes were wide with horror. The dark cell with one burning torch on the wall, metal bars instead of the door... It all looked too familiar. "Oh my God... No... It can't be true!"

Lucy watched her, confused.

"What's going on, Darla? Do you actually know where we are?"

"Yes, I think I have an idea," she replied. "It's just like in my dreams."

"What?" Lucy widened her eyes. "You dreamt about this place? What is it then?"

"I don't want to scare or upset you, but..." she stopped talking for a moment.

"But what?" Lucy grabbed her friend's shoulders and slightly shook her. "Spill it out, whatever it is!"

Darla sighed heavily.

"We're trapped by a cult that worships the Great Old One named Cthulhu."

Lucy shook her head. It barely made sense to her.

"Uh... excuse me? A cult? They worship what?" she asked. Her brain was going to pop from an enormous amount of questions, but it looked like Darla might indeed know something. But how was that possible? Only through the dreams? And why was she seeing such dreams in the first place?

"Yes, a cult. And this is the dungeon where they keep sacrificial lambs. Have you noticed the different clothes we wear?" She pointed to the white robe that covered her whole body. "I've read that in medieval times, these robes were worn by people sentenced to death."

Lucy was silent. She obviously was shocked and speechless. What Darla just said... Does it mean they were going to be killed?

"Yes, I know how awful it sounds," Darla said, lowering her head. "I guess I know what is going to happen to me. If my dreams can be believed, they're going to take me to chamber full of burning candles where a monster is waiting. As for you... well, I'm afraid I can't answer that. In my dreams, I was alone in this cell."

"Shit..." Lucy sat on the floor and lowered her head, too. "So, what are we going to do now? How do we get out of here?"

"I don't know yet. We have to..." Darla's answer was suddenly interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. She already knew who exactly was coming, but Lucy was extremely nervous. Just as expected, no other than the high priest was standing behind the metal bars, but this time, four cultists came with him. All of them had the masks on, so the girls couldn't see their faces.

"Well, Your Highness, there they are, safe and sound," one of the cultists spoke. Lucy was too panicked to notice anything, but Darla's eyes went wide when she heard the man's voice. She knew she'd heard it before, but in real life, and then it immediately dawned on her. She didn't have to look behind the mask to know the man's identity.

"Good job, brothers," the priest said with a voice that was anything but human. He then pointed to Lucy. "Take this one to the shore and prepare for the ceremony."