Nightbound

Chapter 3- The World of Night

I woke up alive.

Breathing. Troubled. Disturbed and slightly deranged.

I blinked my eyes a couple of times to confirm that the room was dark. The windows had their shutters down but moonlight managed to seep inside without hesitation. I was laid on someone's bed which smelt...manly. Like deep fragrance of aftershave and cologne mixed to produce a mild reminder that whoever damn had taken me was definitely a man.

I pushed myself up slowly, feeling the soreness in my legs and pain in my neck. The soreness made my limbs stiff like sticks and I grumbled at it. But the bruises in my neck still felt like hot pincers had poked through the skin. Remembering the eyes of death, I felt two silent tears rolling down my cheeks and I was just simply...stuck.

I turned my head and a jab of white agony shot through my head. It had begun when that creature had touched me. And before...it had touched Kristin.

Oh no...Kristin.

That thing had turned my best friend into an ashen body.

Imagining her lying on the alley brought a fresh torrent of tears. I never cried like this since my tears were all wasted during my childhood. But Kris was my...lifeline.

With shaky legs, I crossed the room and entered to the next. It was empty but the spree of gimcrack in front made me stop by the door. I felt as if I had been taken to a collector's private residency. The living room was large, clean and boldly masculine. Slate gray coloured walls covered everything with wooden textured floorings. The space was filled with modern as well as antiques from the past time. I took my steps into the interior, watching in awe at the displays of what looked like priceless artifacts, figurines, weapons, mementos, tokens, shrines and what not.

Where the hell am I?

There were shelves where dusty and ancient books were lines haphazardly. The weapons almost covered three walls with strange gleam radiating from them. They looked mystically very alluring to slave a profound attention. Then I remembered the man from the night who had...saved my life. He was holding a crossbow which was also radiating a power of old and the bolt which had released from it blasted everything away like supernova. But that man...

Where is he? Moreover...who is he?

I rubbed my head as the ache returned. It wasn't throbbing but it was irritating.

I was in the same clothes but ignored my fashion dwelling as I investigated the living space. It seemed as if this whole apartment was shared with someone because I saw two bedrooms, the one I was in and the other which was unlocked but empty. The kitchen was at a faraway corner, a humble space but cleaned and neatly arranged. I frowned when I noticed that it had not been used because dust had layered upon it. I opened the fridge with much chagrin and mumbled an apology to whoever the owner was as I grabbed a can of Budweiser and took it down in three gulps.

I ignored the skulls which looked like they were trophies and covered two sections of the foyer near the kitchen. My eyes drifted back to the weapons crawling over the walls. There were swords, battle axes in large numbers, skull flails and crossbows, lassos and bolas. It also seemed to have some sort of beastly looking iron gloves with claws that looked really very painful. The bows were also stacked inside quivers which had some type of runic scribbles on them.

I neared to that wall and my gaze found a polished chain flail below which was a...beautiful but tarnished locket. I lifted it from its base and felt a sensation of something...amiss from it as if glowing green fire was protecting it. Or that was the picture which my head showed me at the contact. When I opened it, I found two sections. The sections had small photos of two young boys who looked in their mid-teens. One had ardent gray eyes and a lanky frame with golden hair that licked his forehead. He was smiling at the photographer. The other guy was so beautiful that he almost looked inhuman. He had intense brilliant blue eyes which induced a feeling of enduring devastation. He had dark hair and his smile was faint but true. I couldn't take my eyes off the blue-eyed guy.