The Evanescent

Chapter Eighteen

Mae awoke to see darkness all around her, as well as the sound of distant dripping water. Her vision was so badly impaired that she could not see her hand in front of her face.

"Hello...?" she called out, her voice echoing.

When no one answered, she got up and walked blindly through what she assumed was a cave, soon reaching into her satchel to find a flashlight. She scanned her environment with the flashlight, catching sight of something above for a moment, but could not find it when she looked for it again.

Mae soon came to two tunnels in her exploration, and she paused before taking the left one.

A faint clicking sound could be heard high above her, but she tried to ignore it as she came to a dead end in the tunnel, "Wonderful..."

She sighed softly and turned around, only to have something large unlatch from the ceiling and drop down behind her. Her ears twitched at the sound and she immediately began running. A deep snarl sounded behind her as she kept running as fast as she could go.

She nearly stumbled as claws tore open her shirt, but luckily did not get her skin, but managed to keep running.

After a few more moments an irritated snarl filled the air and her midsection was surrounded in a crushing grip by someone's arms. She cried out and tried to pull away, but couldn't break in iron grip as he turned her to face him, keeping his arms around her.

Mae struggled in his grasp, blind to what was holding her.

She could see deep violet light spreading across whatever was holding her and a deep groan escaped the beast.

"Let go of me!"

The beast suddenly released her, hissing as he shied from her and the nearby flashlight. Mae fell to the ground, holding her side as hot pain spread all over, "O-ow..." she gasped faintly.

She flinched and looked up at the figure as it dropped to its knees before her, rasping, "Maaaaaeee...?"

He reached out and grabbed the flashlight, holding it out to her with a shaking hand. She reached out to grab it, but gasped and held her side as a jolt of pain shot through it.

The dark haired figure she now recognized as Deitonin moaned as he grasped his head, "No..."

Mae looked down to see claw wounds on her side, making her shake, "This is g-gonna scar..."

The Dæmon slowly extended a hand, placing it against the wounds as he energy began flowing between them to heal it. This made her gasp faintly, screwing her eyes shut. After a while he removed his hand, replacing hers over a set of dark scars left in place of her wounds.

Deitonin slowly moved away from her, a ring of light swirling around him as he regained consciousness in the outside world...

<(>W<)>

Mae sat up in bed, gasping. The door to the room hit the wall as someone ran out. She frowned and looked to her side, seeing that the dark scars were still there.

A deep mournful cry filled the air, making her get out of bed and head out the bedroom to find the source.

She soon came to the front room and found Deitonin sitting against the front door, trembling as tears streamed down his face, What have I done...?

"Dei...?"

A sob escaped him as she moved to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Dei..."

He flinched at her touch, shrinking away from her, "N-no!"