The Angelic Devil

GLOWING GREEN

Fear..... an emotion that broke me whenever my sister was with the king and I believed that there wasn't anything worse to fear for.until now.

Whatever I beheld before my eyes with mere iron rode separating us proved me otherwise.

Wide yellow eyes with slit pupils stared at me through the shadows in the cell.They ventured closer and I heard it sniff the air between us, a grin split it's face with an array of sharp pincers ready to gnaw my bones , my breaths came faster and I raised my dagger in defense.

The grin got wider and I could see the mockery in it's eyes . It took another satisfying sniff as if it could smell my fear . Maybe it could.

Then it moved closer making me take a step back even though there was a wall of iron between us. Those eyes rose higher followed by a throaty growl , I noticed that the dungeon had gone silent .The shackles jingled as it came closer and stood facing be but all I could see were those eyes and the grin.

Then it started to glow... literally glow. An iridescent glow rose from under it's skin lighting up the dungeon and turning it's skin translucent , I could see the monstrosity that was grinning at me with pincers for teeth.

The glow seemed to be coming from inside  and slowly spread along the length of it's body , showing me the built of a man with claws that clicked against the stones while it sized up his next meal which was me. Against the glow, there were dark lines too thick to be veins that covered it's entire body and when I dared to take a closer look all of the lines seemed to be emerging from a peculiar pattern right above his heart.

In these years of my pathetic existence of being the king's puppet there was a tiny part of me that dared to hope for a change , for an escape from his claws , but little did I know that the change would come in a form that could easily suck my bones.

When I could feel my legs again I started to back away and noticing the change in me, amusement left it's eyes replaced with something feral.

Another bone reverberating growl. I turned to run only to stumble over my own foot and I fell on my back knocking over a pot beside the cell I failed to notice due to the initial darkness , but in the  beastly glow I could see the dark green pungant liquid that wet my hands ,it looked like ink.

Another growl erupted as the smell of the ink filled the air and the creature thrashed against it's shackles to snap at me but roared in pain as the shackle thorns buried itself in it's skin.

The pattern above his heart glowed a sickening green as those thorns bit into him then it traveled all over his body through those vein like lines and the smell of burning flesh wafted towards me , I shielded my ears from it's roar. It fell on it's stomach with smoke rising from it's body.

I stared at the fallen creature in front of me trying to chew down details of what happened in my fear streaked mind.when I remembered it wasn't the only one down here I was up and about in a flash and ran down the tunnel. When I was sure that I was far away from the dungeon and there was almost no air in my lungs did I stop.

Leaning against the wall I gulped in lung full of air. After my heart stopped racing and I could stand again my mind started processing what happened in the dungeon.

And the details it came up were:

1.The suspicious duke had a dungeon in his manor , that made the suspicion twofold.

2. In the dungeon he kept monsters or beasts shackled to stonewalls.

3. And finally I was stuck god knows which part of the manor with no way out.

Out of the three the third one irked me the most . For the first time in my life I feel lost . literally.

The hand that knocked over the pot with the pungant ink was sticky and it was starting to itch. I ran my fingers over the hand when a vision struck my mind.

The creature's cocky grin turning wild upon seeing the ink, the fear flashed in it's eyes , the glowing pattern on his chest and how it burned him. Looking at the ink that stained my hands realization struck me and fear hot and raw dawned again . I clawed at my hands expecting the ink to glow and dissolve my hands to my elbows but nothing happened , I waited for a few more seconds and released a breath I did not even notice I was holding. Maybe it only affected them.

I reached the spot where I fell from above , a piece of crimson cloth dangling from the ceiling. I sighed and started testing the stones on the walls and floors for any hidden mechanism and there I found it , on the farther corner to the right was a stone jutting out.

A quick press on it revealed another doorway to the left that opened into a stairway. Everything down here was made of stone. I accented the stairs that lead me to the same place from where I fell but on the other side of the trap.

The light through the crevice was more vivid , hoping that it wasn't another monster I walked toward it but I was stopped short by voices arguing , I heard a yell , then there was a noice of something shattering against the floor like it was hurled against it.

The voices stopped and was replaced with approaching footsteps. There seemed to be three of them. One was probably the duke .

They were approaching fast, the door opened to a dimly lit room and three figures stepped out .The duke with two other cloaked figures one of them was hunched and supported over a cane.

I hid myself among the shadows, blending into it like I was a shadow myself.

" We do not have much time.”one of the cloaked figure said

"Patince my friend , everything is going to work out just the way you want” the hunched figure replied.

"We need to leave before my absence is noticed" said the Duke.

Three of them walked past me, making me go really really still. The hunched figure walked past my spot but stopped. A chill crept my body ,  shackling limbs , he turned and lingered a few heartbeat with a tilt of his head before moving on.

That man was odd , the air around him seemed to sizzle and undulate and the way the other men kept their distance from him was odd too.  A strange energy surrounded him ready to snap .

Seems like there was a lot for the king to hear from me.

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