Princess Of Darkness (Editing)

Three: The Underworld (Edited)

I opened my eyes.

They'd been squeezed shut tightly the whole time. Little pinpricks of light were all I saw at first, then my vision came into focus.

I was standing in the middle of a group of people, the same people from the train, I came to realise.

At first, I thought we must have been standing inside some sort of cavern, dark walls surrounded us on every side. When I looked up, however, I realised with a sinking feeling that we were enclosed. We were trapped within some sort of stone prison.

The others were finally awake from whatever trance they'd been in, they were all looking around in bewilderment, exclaiming in shock or confusion.

The man in the suit broke away from the rest of us, striding toward the far wall.

"There's a door here," he pointed out.

Everyone turned toward him with renewed interest as he tried the door. It swung in on creaking hinges, and we followed him out of the room, still confused. There was no sign of the train we'd arrived on, anywhere.

Words couldn't describe the confusion and terror I felt when I stepped outside into the warm, humid air. It was as if we were standing inside a volcano, rocky outcrops rose up all around us. There were no trees or wild flowers growing among the dark basalt, as there had been when I was exploring the train tracks. The place laid out before me was completely barren and forbidding.

When I looked up, I shuddered at the dark silhouettes of the vultures circling high above in the over cast sky, not a trace of the bright blue morning to be seen. Storm clouds threatened to start pouring at any minute.

As I studdied the black clouds, my gaze was drawn a little further away, to my right, where I noticed a huge, castle like structure in the distance.

But it wasn't the landscape that brought on the sinking feeling in my chest. I realized with horror that I already knew exactly where I was.

This was the place from my reoccuring nightmare.

One of the women pointed out the huge castle in the distance, and suggested that we should all head in that direction. Others argued with her, suggesting we go back the way we came and look for another way out.

They all started arguing with one another. I stayed quiet the whole time.

"There's nothing back that way," A skinny, pale guy about my age argued.

"At least there will be shelter in that place," another woman pointed out. "It's going to rain at any minute!"

Everyone started talking all at once, again, but eventually, it was decided that we would try our luck in the castle. We started in that direction, some more reluctantly than others.

We had been walking for the best part of an hour, with me lagging behind in the back, when the people who were leading our group all stopped, crying out in fright.

I stood on my toes, trying to see above the heads of the people in front of me, to figure out what it was that had them so frightened. What I saw made me gasp in horror and take an involuntary step back, myself.

Marching towards our small group was two rows of demon soldiers. The links in their chain mail rang as they knocked against the leather and beaten steel of the breast plates they wore over their bulging chests.

There were watching our small group intently, their dark, endless eyes the only features that weren't covered in shining, oily scales. I knew they could smell our fear, they seemed as though they were testing the air for the scent, skeletal mouths grinning at us in satisfaction.

They stood taller than any of us, the curling, black horns jutting from their monsterous skulls, glinting like polished obsidian, sharp and deadly.

Leading the troop of hideous soldiers was a man, tall, but not as tall as the soldiers, maybe a little over six foot, I guessed. Normal person size, though, even with their height advantage, he seemed to tower over the demons.

His chiseled jaw was set in a grim expression, as though he was carved from marble. My heart pounded in time to the gravel crunching under his leather boots as he lead the march.

I took another step back; the soldiers were horrifying, but that man scared me more than any of them did.

Even so, I had to admit, he was without a doubt the most beautiful human I'd ever seen.
That's not entirely true, though, I realized. He isn't exactly human, after all.

Even from this distance, I could see the red of his irises, like fiery pits in his skull. His sleek, dark hair was the same colour as the huge, leathery, bat- like wings that protruded from his shoulder- blades, the tips ending in deadly talons. I wondered how I missed them at first. They rose up powerfully in an arc above his head, reaching down below his knees.

The monsters all looked battle hardened, dressed in their armor. The red eyed man wore no armor of his own, his skin unblemished save for a jagged white scar that ran down the length of his left forearm.

He strode towards our group with a self assured confidence that no human being could possibly match.

He sneered at the frightened faces before him, the corner of his mouth rising in satisfaction. Then his eyes fell on me, and he stiffened.

He strode forward again, through our small group. He didn't have to push or shove his way through; everybody parted before him until he stood directly in front of me, eyes searching mine, frowning.

I wanted to cower away as everyone else had done, but his gaze held me rooted in place.

I could smell the fear from the other people all around me, ad I knew the demons could. His muscular frame towered over me, I just barely reached his broad shoulders. He was terrifying, like something straight out of my nightmares, quite literally. And, when he spoke, I could almost feel the vibrations of his deep voice reverberating in my chest.

"You don't belong here," he said, voice hard, but not unkind, like I had expected of him. I saw his tapered teeth flashed when he spoke, each of them a flawless point, more like a wolf than a man's.

I shrank back, afraid. He didn't gloat over my reaction. He didn't seem to gain any satisfaction from my fear at all. He arched a perfect, dark eyebrow, studying me again. The intensity of his eyes grew as if the flames behind them were trying to devour me.

I felt a weight inside my head, like my brain had increased in size and was now pressing against the inside of my skull. It wasn't painful, but I still grimaced. Several expressions passed over his features; first curiosity, then anger, and finally, understanding.

"What should I call you?" he asked, gently.

I was taken aback by his kind tone, but still, I cast my eyes to the ground, unsure of what to say. I opened my mouth, deciding to answer truthfully, but my voice didn't work, catching in my throat from the fear I felt in his presence.

After careful consideration, he turned to the hulking soldier at the head of the others.

"Col, settle the new arrivals. I'll see to them later." He turned back to me, his expression dark. "Something is wrong here."

The solider bowed his head, muttering something that I couldnt understand in a low, guttural tone.

I clenched my fists as they marched passed, nails biting into my sweaty palms. The soldiers herded away the other people I'd arrived with. They prodded at them with their weapons when they wouldn't move at first, and took them to a building like the one we had just come from.

It was just me alone with the red eyed man, though I could still smell the terror of the people I was with as if they were still there, with us.