Dark Prince: The Death Realm

Chapter 7

It was done. He was here, at the gates of the Death realm... well, almost. It was a bitter taste in his mouth, but he was fairly certain it was the iconic brimstone smell that a lot of people associated with the death realm. There was a path that was made of crushed and sprinkled brimstone, while the walls were made of some kind of grey stone.

He felt the craggy walls, almost expecting to be cut by the sharp stones upon the walls. But he wasn't. Could he still be hurt when he was dead? Zekrin wasn't sure what to expect. He just knew that he was to expect Kalik and, perhaps, his wife.

The road kept going on and on until he almost felt that, if he still felt that pain, his legs would be exhausted. He looked down the path at the darkness that was ahead. He thought he saw a small light, no bigger than the light of a torch shone directly at his feet.

He ran towards it.

Will she be there at the end of the tunnel? Will it just be Kalik or are the tales true? Is she there with the other people on the fence of life and death? Or maybe everyone else will be there but she won't be there. Will he know she's dying? Or does someone else look after that? Why wouldn't I have gone to them first?

All these questions running through his head. All these questions that would probably be answered once he reached the end of this tunnel. Once he reached Kalik. The light was slow to get closer. He wondered if it would never get there.

Perhaps by the time I get to the end of this thing, she'll be here. Maybe she'll ask me why I'm with her? Maybe she'll ask me why I came to be with her? Or how? But I could tell her that it won't be long. Because it won't. If everything goes right... it'll all be okay and she'll be back soon. We'll be back soon.

When he got to the end of the tunnel it was all dark, though. It was so black that even if he had some kind of light, he doubted that it would shine more than a couple of inches.

"Hello?" he called. A few seconds later, a deep voice replied, making him jump.

"Zekrin Tewosth. The Dark Prince. Were-beast. Shadow-beast... exposed to the mystery of the blood-beast." it said.

The prince said one word in reply, "Kalik?"

"Yes."

"Before we go any further, I want to make a deal." the shadow-beast said.

"Go on." the death realm ruler sounded slightly intrigued. This was obviously not an every-death deal.

"There is a fae in the Riverwick forest that is struggling to not become a were-beast."

"You want me to help a fae not transform into a were? It kills them. That is why you died. You died for her. You died to make a deal to take her for me." The darkness let up a little bit and Zekrin saw a large, black figure with a humanoid appearance, except Kalik was approximately twice the height and size of Zekrin or any normal humanoid being which Zekrin had ever seen.

"Yes." he said. His voice shook slightly, as he was uncertain as to what would happen next.

"What makes you think I care about the life of one fae? What makes you think that I would trade you for her? To me, a were-beast is no different than a fae."

"She is the fae queen." the king rather rudely inturrupted as Kalik was about to continue talking.

"And do you think that matters to one who deals with any and all kinds of creatures, no matter their place on some irrelevant social ladder?"

The Dark King's face fell as he realized the point which the death realm ruler was making. His mind raced to try to find a way to bargain with the giant creature.