Black and Blue

18 - I Ruin Things a Little

Something strange happened as the three of us—Jack, me, and whatever hive mind abomination had been annoying us earlier—kept advancing, walking deeper into the hall than I'd expected to be possible. Almost ten doors down (doors that were separated by about 100 feet of blank wall, mind you), everything seemed to get...darker. Symbols on the plaques decorating several doors on my right were obscured. My arms started sprouting goosebumps, and the only thing I had to guide me were the pockets of light provided by other halls off to the side and the sound of Jack's footsteps. I could still see him, more or less; but the surrounding space was a new kind of void, blackened to the point where I wasn't even sure if we were still in the demon realm. This felt like the prelude to a nightmarish world, somewhere beyond the sobered numbness these creatures had been living in.

Jack halted and I dove to the side, my hands finding a corner I could hide behind if he ever looked back. I peeked out of the side hall to find that he already had. I quickly pressed my back to the wall, praying that my heart wasn't beating as loud as it sounded in my head.

"...hello?"

I held my breath, my heart leaping into my throat at the single step I heard being taken towards my hiding place. After a moment, Jack sighed in defeat.

"Just let it go, dude, let it go..." he muttered. I could almost see him rubbing his jaw dejectedly, his thinking face on. "God, I'm really losing it."

"Maybe you are, maybe you are—!"

"Shut up," he growled at the chorus of chirps that surrounded him for a split second. I swore I heard one of them right by my ear, but when I turned around, nothing was there. I returned to stalking and nearly heaved a sigh of relief when he turned to enter a room on the side, the annoyance in his voice palpable as he said,

"I really hope this is worth having to listen to these fuckers for five minutes, 'cause those are some five minutes I'm never getting back."

I imagined him holding one of the fairy-like creatures by the scruff of the neck like you would a misbehaving kitten, and stifled a laugh. When I reached the doorway, that really was all I could do from there; imagine. From what I was able to see, the room was grand and spacious but disappointingly empty, as if whoever inhabited it was preparing for a renovation. Besides my less-than-ideal view of the place, I could see Jack, pacing around and keeping his hands locked where they were like he was barely holding himself back. There was nothing else visible there—then again, I was careful not to look any further past the sliver of a view I had into there. But even though nobody else seemed to be with him, I heard another voice. A quiet, raspy, intrusive voice that felt like it was crawling deep into the folds of my mind.

Chernobog.

"We give you some freedom. Far more than you deserve, but we give it to you. And this is how you pay us back?"

"Do you think I wanted this to happen?!" Jack threw his hands up, the tension that had been building up within him exploding. "Would you like me to just, un-meet them? Because if you have the power to pull something like that off, I'll gladly do it."

"Don't get smart with us, Jack. You'd do well to keep in mind exactly what the consequences are if—"

"No, I mean it," Jack said, clearly not meaning it at all. "Please. By all means, show me what I can do to fix all this. I'd like to know. I mean, it's not like I'm human or anything."

"No. You're not. Remember your place."

What's with all this "we" and "us" talk? Is...is there more than one of him?!

"Oh, that's real nice. I might be dead, but that doesn't mean you can just—"

"Of all the people, boy...of all the people you could have fallen in love with, you choose a healer."