Chapter 3:
A Deal is Struck
The king’s palace in the land of the dead was not a pleasant place to be at the moment. The king was furious. Standing before him was a congregation of his most trusted servants, some of the them holding the arms of a horrified mortal. She was nothing but a teenager, a sniveling little worm in the eyes of the king as he watched her eyes dart around the room looking for anything to stare at besides the king’s monstrous appearance. The king scowled in disgust at the very sight of her.
“Would you care to explain why there is a sobbing mortal before me?” the asked calmly, his claws drumming against the arm of his throne. All the servants looked to each other, none wanting to speak up in fear of receiving the king’s wrath. The king sighed. “Agnes, why have you brought this mortal to me?”
The head cook’s blue face was directed at the floor as she spoke. “Your majesty, we know that ye have refused to take a wife-.” The king cut her off with a loud chuckle. Agnes looked up at the king in surprise.
“I see where this is going now,” The king stated in bitter amusement, all humor gone from his face making the servants before him stiffen. “You thought you’d bring me a wife since I’ve failed to find one of my own.”
A ghoul maid looked at the king with pleading eyes. “Your majesty it’s just-”
“Enough!” The king yelled. Everyone grew silent. Alice stood there, her eyes wide in fear and her thin form shaking in terror. “The all of you will return to your duties until I can think of suitable punishments.”
They bowed before the king, releasing the human girl as they did so, and retreated from the throne room many of them literally with their tails between their legs. The throne room doors shut lightly as the last of the servants left causing the terror in Alice to grow for now she was alone with this monster. Her mouth felt like cotton as eyes the color of fleshly spilt blood locked on her form as the king rose from his throne and slowly approached the terrified lass. She took a step back unconsciously as he stood in front of her, those hellish eyes still locked on her form as he began to circle her. He analyzed every inch of her from head to two. He did admit she was a not an ugly woman perhaps only a year or two his junior, but the longer those lovely sapphire gems were locked on him, fear spilling out them in the form of large tears, the more irritated he grew.
“Now,” the king began, the irritation evident in his voice causing Alice to shrink away from him. “What shall I do with you?”
Alice looked up at the king with a flame of hope burning within her, tears still streaming down her face. “Let me go?” she offered as he continued to circle her.
The king laughed as he stopped in front of the girl. “Really now, I should just allow you to return to your home after trespassing into my realm?”
The hope she felt before was overwhelmed by a wave of fear. “I didn’t want to come here!” she argued her voice cracking. “I didn’t even know a place like this existed.”
Lord Death smirked. “Of course you didn’t,” he stated. “Humans aren’t supposed to know about this world or that we, the beings who lurk within the darkness, actually exist.”
Alice’s knees knocked together, growing weaker and weaker as the gravity of the situation finally sank into her bleached blonde brain. Her mind kept going back to her step sister. She remembered the times Selene would be engaged in something, whether it be reading, dishes, or school work, and right in the midst of it her body would tense as she slowly looked at an area of the room that appeared to be unoccupied. She revived the memories of how the raven haired girl would talk to herself, engaging in whole conversations with the air. She recalled with horror the multiple occasions she had returned from the cemetery with scratches all over her body with little trickles of blood seeping to the surface and tears, as if done by the claws of animal, in her clothes. She had asked her step sister what happened to her, not really caring but curious all the same. Selene had responded with an emotionless expression and the simple response of “don’t go to cemetaries alone” before leaving the blonde more confused than before. Alice felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her and gasped loudly.
YOU ARE READING
The Mirror
ParanormalEver since she was young Selene has always been able to communicate with things that normal humans shouldn't see. When she moves into a house with her step sisters, and discovers a portal to the land of the dead in her room, needless to say she's le...
