Hades' Apprentice

23) Hellhounds

The moonlight poured into my dark room through the unshielded windows, lighting up a part of the floor.

I held the covers closer to my chest and continued waiting patiently. He said he'd be back. And so I waited for him to show up. I didn't want him to find me asleep.

His departure had been abrupt, but I hadn't stopped him. If he had found interesting hobbies to do other than accompany me, I ought to be happy for him.

As I sat on my bed staring at the bright moonlight, a meek voice slithered into my ears from nowhere.

"Hesphone, queen of the abyss, forgive my trespasses and save me from your loyal creatures."

I gazed around me, feeling unsettled and frightened. Had I imagined it? Probably.

But then, the voice slipped again. "I beseech thee oh Hesphone. Come to my aid and I'll continue to pray to you for all my days."

It felt like the voice was reaching out a hand inside my chest. I looked down and caught the faint purple glow in there. Placing a hand on my chest, my eyes shut and I started falling.

When my eyelids parted, I saw myself standing barefoot in a hallway in what looked like a hospital. The lights were blinking, and the alarm was ringing loudly, alerting people of some danger.

Just then, a piercing scream from nearby cut through the air like an arrow aiming straight for my ears.
But my eyes were chained down by the bloody bodies lying on the white floors. I counted at least six of them; two doctors, three nurses, and a patient.

Some of their limbs were missing, while others had been torn open as if a large sharp knife had slashed their torsos.

The sight was gory and very unpleasant.
Yet somehow, I managed to endure it due to this mysterious force pulling me in a certain direction. And following it I did.

As I passed by the windows of the patient's rooms, I couldn't help but notice that I was covered in a blinding purple light, making it impossible to see even an inch of my skin.

Wow!
Was this a new power?

New or not, it became the least of my concerns when I walked around the corner to set my eyes upon two oversized dogs. Their ears were long, pointing at the ceiling accusingly. They had no fur, instead, their skin looked as if it had been burnt by the nestled lava beneath it.

They failed to notice me approaching them and continued mauling at the poor victims they stood over.

The force that had drawn me there, made me recognize the person whose voice had rang in my ears back in my room. He sat on the floor, a hand pressing on a bleeding wound in his abdomen. His left leg seemed to have been bitten off from the knee downwards by these demon monsters, immobilizing him there.

When he saw me, his eyes lit up with hope. "Hesphone." He cried to me and immediately threw himself flat on the floor, ignoring the severity of his wound.

But his words and actions alerted these two creatures. Their heads whipped back, their blood-dripping mouths emitting the most horrifying snarks I had ever heard. They possessed the blackest eyes possible, giving them an ominous aura that shook me to my core.

It was moments like these that I wished I had Hades' number and could give him a quick call.

The beasts walked past the wounded male, giving him no attention, and approached me while baring their sharp teeth at me like the monsters they were.

The first thought that crossed my head was to run back the same way I had come in. But, something grounded me there. I recognized that feeling, almost like... kinship.