The Triskelion Chronicles 1: Devils and Darkness

Chapter Thirteen: Acquainted with the Night

Jack woke to the feeling of a pounding pressure reverberating inside his head. He drifted in and out of consciousness as if he were being swept around in a swirling storm of tidal waves. He opened his eyes, briefly, and when he did he saw only darkness.

In his dreams, the piercing red eyes of Drakul stared into his soul, beckoning him into the shadows. The pale, white eyes of the Tantibus greeted him. Their skeletal silhouette bodies bowed and began to worship him, as they grovelled at his feet. In Jack's hand was a goblet, carved from a human skull. When he drank the, crimson red liquid from it, it tasted sweet against his lips.

When Jack opened his eyes, he could barely make anything out. Everything blurred around each other, as if he was staring at it from under the ocean. From what he could make out, he saw the ceiling of a cave. It was cold, but not unpleasant. He lay on a warm, soft, mattress and was wrapped in an old, green blanket. A woman stood above him, looking down at Jack. She wore a red dress, and had pale skin. Her eyes were shining red in the darkness. Jack thought of Drakul once again, and quickly fell back into sleep.

He dreamt of Chris, ripping off his own skin. The bloody strips fell to the floor, leaving only the skeleton of a giant wolf in its place. The wolf bowed its head to the ground, and started to eat its old flesh. It stared at Jack with empty eye sockets before raising its head to the blood-red moon and howling.

Jack woke once more, and saw two people talking over him. One was the woman from before, in the red dress. The other was a man, slightly shorter, with short black hair, and a short black beard. "He is the son of Drakul." He said. "What should be done with him?"

The woman walked over to Jack. "For now, nothing. Let him rest. We will see when he wakes up."

Jack fell back into his dreams, where he saw Julie. She stood alone in an empty void of darkness. She stared out into the shadows, looking for something, waiting for something. By the look on her face, it seemed to frighten her. Jack called out to her, but she couldn't hear him. Suddenly, she started glowing, like a fire illuminating the surrounding darkness. For only a moment, Jack saw what was out there. Julie turned to him and held out her hand to help him. When Jack took it, fire began to run up along his arm, burning away at his flesh. His entire body was engulfed in flame as he began to scream.

Jack finally woke, with sweat beading down his forehead. He shot upright, screaming Julie's name. He looked around the room, and found he was alone. The room itself was large, and fairly well furnished. It seemed to be carved out from inside a cave. The walls were formed of dripping wet rock, and the room was lit only by candle light.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Jack called out in his quietist voice. He wasn't sure if he wanted anyone to answer him. All he wanted to do was go back to his home, and sleep off his nightmares. "How could I have been so stupid?" he thought to himself. Jack's stomach began to knot with the thought of Mr. Solomon, or rather Drakul.

Jack got wearily to his feet and made his way to the door. He opened it slowly, peering through the small opening to see if anyone was there. No one was. He quietly pushed the door open, and snuck around, looking for a way out.

As he wandered around the many hallways of the underground caves, he found many doors. "A lot of people must live here." He thought. Just then, from down one of the halls, Jack heard a voice.

"What do you mean he got out? Weren't you supposed to be watching him?" The voice was low, but sounded vaguely Russian. Jack panicked, and quietly ran down the other end of the hallway. Eventually, he came to a large dining hall. Above him hung a large candle lit chandelier. He looked at the massive dining table, and found it covered in stains of blood. Only four chairs were present though, which Jack thought was strange for such a large table. He made his way through the dining room, and through another hallway.