A Girl and Her Demons

Trials and Dreams

Chapter Two: Trials and Dreams

Scarlet opened her eyes and she was no longer under the tree. Ruby was nowhere near her. She looked around and found that she was in unfamiliar territory. She was in front of a large castle ruin. The sky was no longer the black of night nor the blue of day; it had turned a misty grey. There was no sun or moon hanging the sky yet an unnatural light dimly lit the ruins that lay in front of her.

“Hello?” She attempted to say but no sound came out. Not knowing where she was she decided to step forward into the ruins of the castle. She stepped through what at one time was likely the front gate. The broken down castle loomed over her from above. There was no one here except for her.

The doors to the castle were still intact and as she approached they opened wide. There was no light in the castle. Where else could she go but inside? She had no idea where she was.

So, she took the first tentative step inside the castle. The doors shut behind her. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness within and she began to make out that the interior of the castle had not been badly damaged. She attempted to speak again but once again no noise came out of her mouth.

The first noise that she heard made her stand still in anticipation. She heard footsteps coming from the back of the hall. They sounded muffled but very loud and they were coming towards her. She started to become frightened but was unable to move due to fear and also intrigue on what was causing the footsteps.

What she saw was anything but inviting. The footsteps grew louder still and out of the complete darkness at the other end of the hall were two red dots slightly above her eye level. “Scarlet…” A voice rang out through the hall. The voice was human but there was what sounded like a demonic undertone which made Scarlet unable to run away. “I… see… you…”

The candelabra hanging over the hall lit up brightly, the torches lining the walls also began to blaze, and the hall was fully illuminated. The scene was horrifying. The two stairwells lining the sides of the hall and the balconies around the room were occupied by creatures cloaked in a gray fog. Underneath their fog hoods was complete darkness accompanied only by two red dots for eyes.

Those were not Scarlet’s main concern though. The large figure that had been walking toward her from the back of the hall was standing almost directly in front of her now. The figure was much taller than her and she had to look up into his face. The figure was also shrouded in a gray fog cloak like the creatures. His face was not covered in a hood however. His face was eerily human yet his human features had all but left his face.  His skin was as black as onyx and his eyes were completely transformed into two solid red balls of light.

“We will meet very soon, Scarlet. I know we will.” His laugh then echoed through the hall. His laugh then sparked the other creatures to laugh as well and the entire hall was filled with demonic laughter.

Scarlet closed her eyes and tried to scream and this time she heard her scream come out loud and clear. She opened her eyes again and she was looking up at the tree she had fallen asleep under. It was bright outside and Ruby was not the only person around her. Tempest, Volde, and her parents were sitting all around her.

Ruby jumped on top of her sister to hug her as soon as she saw her eyes open. “We were so worried, Scarlet.” She felt her sister’s tears run down the side of her face. Ruby was then pulled off of her by Tempest. She looked up into his face and was comforted that he was there with her.

                “You feeling okay, Scarlet?” Tempest said as he extended a hand out to help her up. She took his hand, stood up, and embraced Tempest.

“I had a pretty terrible nightmare.”

“Do you feel okay though? No headache or weakness?” Her father said from behind Tempest. The two of them finally broke the embrace and she ran over to her father and hugged him too.