Hometorius : Coming Home

chapter 45 : Lord of Death

Marylin POV

Luckily for me, it turned out that the person whom I allegedly killed in the bar had lifted the Victuvius curse from me. Based on that, I concluded that it wasn't Vic himself, but definitely someone closely related to him. Anyway, I easily walked out of the bar. It turned out to be nighttime. Indeed, time flows faster in darkness. At least for me. However, I have no idea whether it was a day, two days, or perhaps even longer that I spent trapped inside. It's possible that I was there for only a few hours. I don't know.

I felt dizzy. I struggled to keep my balance, but I wanted to get back to Hoary Hag's home as quickly as possible. My feet were sinking strangely into the sand, as if there was a hole beneath. The wind blew my hair onto my face, so I quickly brushed it back with a hand. It's a shame it's so short because it landed back in my eyes, completely depriving me of clear vision. I decided to walk blindly, and as always, something had to go wrong. Actually, it would have been fine if not for the sand. However, there was indeed a hole underneath, and of course, I had to fall into it. What a strange coincidence that it happened to me.

I found myself in a strange room. It wasn't dark like the rooms I usually unexpectedly ended up in. There were an alarmingly large number of candles and lanterns burning around me. They were arranged on a small table, on the floor, among books.

In the corner, on a small patch of floor covered with old rags, was a little creature lying there. At first glance, it appeared lifeless, but as I approached, it immediately lifted its head and looked at me with sleepy eyes. A ferret. It had beautiful golden eyes and pure white fur. Only around its eyes had chestnut spots, like those pandas have. It amusingly twitched its pink nose and slowly approached me, swaying its long, fluffy tail from side to side. I crouched down, and just as my hand was about to touch its soft fur, the ferret transformed in the blink of an eye. I lowered my head with sadness. I really wanted to play with that ferret.

With my head down I had no choice but to look at the shoes of the person that appeared in the ferret's place in front of me. I saw black worn-out sneakers with some white doodles done with a correction fluid. They looked just like mine. I frowned and the dizziness suddenly evaporated. I recognized those shoes from somewhere, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't recall where.

Carefully, I looked up and met with a big smile of a very tall guy standing above me. His face looked dazzling despite the astounding number of piercings that most people wouldn't tolerate. Or maybe the piercings were exactly the reason. His golden eyes wandered over my face until he focused on the spot above my eyebrow. He clicked his tongue and shifted his weight to one leg.

"Really, Mary?" he asked with disappointment in his voice. "Do you really not know how to fix your forehead or are you just unwilling to do so?"

The sound of his voice took my words away. I couldn't make any sound, and after a while of silence I just burst out crying. Just like that.

"Marilyn?"

He sounded genuinely confused. He crouched down and put his finger under my chin, then raised my head so that I could look into my eyes. His eyes were disturbed, eyebrows tensed. And I still couldn't believe it was really him. Alive.

"Agis..." I whispered out of nowhere, and stroked his cheek fondly, with my other hand covering my mouth so I would stop crying.

It didn't work, the tears kept pouring out of my eyes. I wanted to hug him, but as soon as I extended my hands to him, he backed away violently and hit the bookshelf full of candles with his back. 'Shit', I thought to myself as the candles started to fall on him. I got up hurriedly and, wanting to quickly catch all the burning candles as they were falling, I extended my hand in their direction.