Tragic Innocence

Chapter 6: Fortune After Tragedy

            Just when he thought he would easily slip into a deep slumber, he couldn’t.  He tossed and turned against the wooden hardness.  No, it wasn’t the way the settle bed had so cruelly refused any softness.  It was the sense of dread that lingered behind his blank mind.  It was the exact impression he had felt after he found her--when the unseen creature had pounced upon his unsuspecting self. 

            His eyes blinked open widely, but instead of finding a peaceful darkness above him, he was instantaneously blinded by a bright light.  “Hello?” he called out groggily as he slowly sat up.  His head pounded mercilessly as he crashed back onto the drenched pillow.  “What in the--”  Why was he drenched in sweat?  And why was it so bright?  He groped around to put out the candle.  “I thought I put it out,” he grumbled with growing irritation.  But as he reached over to extinguish the flame, the wick was cool and ashy to the touch. 

            “Wha-?” he rubbed his heavy-lidded eyes which refused to open.  Mikash squinted and realized that the light was coming from his chest.  How was that conceivable?  The amulet did not awake anywhere else but near the castle.  Then why was it extremely hot against his chest and burning so brightly?

            A heart-pounding scream shattered the dead silence awake. 

            Mikash quickly turned over in the settle bed and crashed heavily with a loud thud.  He darted clumsily, still drugged with sleep, into his bedchamber.  The candles were lit, still giving the room a cozy appearance.  He furrowed his brows in confusion.  Wasn’t it her that had just screamed?  But why?  Had she had a nightmare?

            He looked at the nymph who was frozen stiff from sheer terror.  She did not return Mikash’s gaze, but stared with rounded eyes toward his window.  He instinctively followed her gaze.  His heart halted abruptly as it lunged quickly to his feet.

            Just before the open window, towered a hulking incubus.  Large leathery wings expanded either way from somewhere behind its massive shoulders.  Its wing span practically encircled the entire chamber.  Its hideous head was large and ridged along the forehead to its flaring nostrils, with colossal and cumbersome outgrowths that extended from the crown.  The diminutive eyes glowered an eerie red gleam.  Its mouth was twisted up in many layers of drooling skin which exposed protracted, spiny teeth.  The incubus possessed a scaly hide that seemed to have an appearance of stone.  Its pigment was only a shade lighter then that of the sooty ash from Mikash’s fireplace.  The thick arms bent awkwardly with extremely long-fingered claws and barbed talons.  It stood on two stout hind legs with hoof-shaped feet.  A solid tail whipped back and forth in twitching motions behind it.  It opened its mouth as it let out a low-pitched menacing growl as its reeking breath permeated the air all at once.            Mikash gaped with horror at the hulking creature that had invaded his humble home.  The first thing that crossed his mind was to slash it across its bulging stomach.  His hand darted to his hip, however, to his dismay, he found himself unarmed.

            The demon shrieked as its eyes followed the wood elf’s movements.           “Uh--” his voice was taut and tremulous, “Come to me--slowly.”

            The nymph turned her head to Mikash until her eyes could no longer keep fastened upon the intruder.  “Are you crazy?” she hissed.

            Mikash gulped hard and nodded.  “Yes, I am.”  He kept his eyes locked with those of the creatures.

            The nymph, inch by inch, moved her legs beneath the thick blankets until they reached the ledge of the bed.  She ignored the fact that a huge creature towered only a few arms’ lengths away from her spot.  She focused her widened eyes upon Mikash’s sculpted face, also trying to ignore the creature’s loud breathing that made her shiver.