Salvation : Book 3

CHAPTER 7 : Heart Of Darkness

I was showered and dressed as I made my way down the corridor. I'd moved mechanically as soon as Geun left, doing as he had instructed me to do. I wore the clothes he'd picked out for me, the dress shirt and slacks. I looked more presentable, but I felt strangely exposed. Especially as Geun opened his door, his eerie eyes scanning my body from head to toe. A lump appeared in my throat. His lips curved into a smile, seeming satisfied with the way I looked. 

      "You clean up nice," he said, before stepping out of his room, shutting the door behind himself. "We should really be heading down now," he said before leading me down the corridor. I noticed that he too had changed out of his clothing. His new attire consisted of a crimson dress shirt, with a loosely knotted black tie and a pair of black trousers. 

       "Marcus," he said, abruptly stopping just before the grand stair case. He placed his hand on my chest stopping me as well. "Before we go down, there are a few things you need to know about my brother,"  I swallowed down the lump. 

      "Firstly, he has a short temper so I'd advise not saying anything that might offend him. He's hates being kept waiting, never do that," he explained and I nodded along. "And under no circumstances are you allowed to bring up our youngest brother, M—" 

       "Geun," A raspy voice called from the bottom of the stairs. I looked past the tall blonde for my eyes to land on a man I'd never met face to face but I could hardly call him a stranger. I'd seen his face in my dreams, it was etched into my mind like a name carved onto a table, forever imprinted there. 

      He stood taller than Geun, at almost seven feet. His muscle mass was almost twice the size of his brother's, they were defined, visible even through his dress shirt. His hair was jet black, long and slicked back. His entire being sent my body in a flurry of panic. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck rose, my body shuddered feeling a wave of phantom pain from torture that had never happened. I could feel scars that my mind knew weren't real, marring my skin. His presence made my body recoil. But his gaze, his pitch black, dark gaze sent me over the edge. 

      It was like looking through a window, one that showcased each and every one of my worst nightmares. The little box, the one I'd kept in the back of my mind, the one I'd used to store a all the bad dreams. The little box I kept locked away because I was too afraid to face what was inside. That little box, suddenly the latch was broken and the lid was wide up, and I was staring face to face with all my fears. 

      I could feel claws digging into my flesh, gripping my bones from a past nightmare, hot searing pain pulsing through my body. I could feel blood on my hands, guilt settling in my gut as memories of deceased friends— that were actually still alive— flooded my mind. I could feel his hand on my leg pulling me from under my safe place, pulling me towards an end that never came but I felt either way. 

      I could hear shrieking that wasn't really there, my ears bleeding from the high pitch but as I reached for the side of my face, I was met with nothing. I could hear weeping, but I couldn't distinguish if the phantom sound was my own or the victims he'd made me torture. 

      I could smell the nonexistent stench of rotting flesh, it was accompanied by the lingering suffocating malodor of smoke that wafted through the room, but only in my mind. I inhaled the emitting odor of sulfur that came from the beast that was fictionally stalking me.  

      I could even see the imaginary horrors from the box. The bodies piled up in a heap as they were set aflame. My gaze dropped to the pool of blood that I was now standing in, but as I blinked twice, it was gone. 

       In my mind and only my mind I could still taste the vomit on my tongue as it poured out of me, I retched at the stale flavor. I could taste the bitterness of my own tears, but those weren't just in my mind. No, the tears were real and so was the beast that evoked them. He was standing before me.