Game of Life

Chapter 8

Severin deposisted me back in the center of the two groups. Upon noticing my appearance, Eric sprinted to my side. "What just happened?"

I rubbed my head. A piercing headache vied for my attention. "I don't know. He didn't want us to give up I guess?"

"Is it going to come back, you think?" Eric pressed.

"No, he said four to go, and that was the fifth so it shouldn't." I paused for a moment, trying to remember. "He said it was a 'symbol of good faith.' "

"Jeez, what'd you do? Where'd he take you?"

"I'm really not sure, Eric. Back off for a second. My head is pounding." Taking a few steps back from him I clutched my head, groaning with pain.

"Are you alright?" He reached over and I swatted his hand away.

"Just give me a minute!" I snapped, stumbling backwards.

"Alright, alright, calm down. No need to bite my face off." Eric raised his hands in surrender and stopped trying to invade my personal bubble.

"Finally," I grumbled and plopped myself on the ground. 

"What do you think will be next?"

Shaking my head at his question, I leaned back. Lying down on the cold grass helped somewhat but I could still feel the pulsing against my skull. As I laid there, the smell of rotting corpses wafted its way into my nose and I gagged at the stench, grasping my nose firmly between my fingers in an attempt to block it out.

"We need to get rid of those." Eric mused. He scanned the battlefield, regret clouding his eyes and I followed his gaze. Bodies were everywhere. The separation had distracted so many of us, taken away our focus, focus we needed to stay alive.

"How..how many died?"

Eric shoved his hands in his pockets and refused to meet my gaze. "Two hundred and eighteen," he spat.

"Oh god." I covered my mouth with my hands. "How did we lose so many?"

"Kind of hard to fight a creature made of lightning Calla, and yours, well I mean you saw. Getting even remotely close to it incinerated them."

 "I should have been here, I should have helped more."

Eric crouched next to me. "Not your fault he took you away, and you wouldn't have been able to get through that wall anyway. As it is you saved a lot of us by getting him to take ours away. Speaking of, where did he take you?"

"I don't really know. His house? I think? It's like, this is a whole different world, and he can change it however he wants. Eric, he isn't the only one, imagine how many times this has happened."

He shot his head up. "More of him? You saw them?" His voice was laced with fear.

"Not him but others, he said demons were afraid of him."

"What did we get ourselves into?" Eric groaned, shaking his head slowly, it was the first time I'd seen him give in to the despair. "We're all going to die, aren't we?"

"What is with this group and giving up! Shame on you! You still have a chance! I wouldn't go back on my word!" Severin's frustrated voice had us jumping apart. The demon- creature appeared beside us, hands on his hips, looking upon us with disapproval.

Eric's eye's widened as he stared at Severin and he scrambled backwards, putting some distance between them.

"If you're so ready to give up, perhaps this," he barked, snapping his fingers, "Will motivate you."

The ground shuddered in response to whatever direction he had given it, ripples rolling along its surface. A deafening snap was followed by a crack running around us in a humongous jagged circle, the edges curving upwards until it sealed at the top and we were overcome with darkness.

 Covered in blackness we couldn't see what was happening, and screams blocked out any noise that would give us an indication, but I could still feel the shifts. Whatever it was, it wasn't finished yet. The shaking knocked me down and I let out a whimper at the sharp jolt to my back.

I couldn't tell how long had passed, minutes, mere seconds or even an hour, the ground stopped shaking but occasionally screeching noises would break through the screaming. However unpleasant, they were the only sign that something was still happening. The time it took was terrifying, whatever Severin had planned was elaborate and I prayed we wouldn't be doing it in the dark.

Eventually the screams turned to quiet sobs and we sat in virtual silence, listening, until a flickering light had us all jumping to our feet.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust and I tried to look around. Small lanterns hung from a high ceiling, giving off a comforting glow. It wasn't light enough for me to make out the walls, much to my dismay but with one last groaning shudder the ground flipped in on itself. I stumbled back at the movement, throwing my hands out to catch myself and cried out as I felt something sticky on my skin.

Moving my hand in front of my face I squinted in the dim light. I clenched and opened my first, confused by the yellow substance sticking to my fingers. "Is that?"

"Honey," Eric answered and dread filled me at his next words.

"We're in a beehive."