Dangerous Encounters

That feeling had returned…

Zerek froze, not daring another step.

Waves of uneasiness washed over him as his feet refused to move, halted by a terror too great. Dark walls of the endless hallway towered around him, as if ready to consume him with an ominous presence all its own. He felt alone.

But something was approaching.

He saw its shadow first. Growing steadily larger against the wall to his right, just up ahead of him.

Zerek, fixated with a heavy dread, watched as a large, hunched figure emerged from a hole in the wall. The figure trudged across his path towards the other side of the hallway. It stood in front of Zerek while staring straight ahead.

The stranger hadn’t noticed him yet. He stood in silence, watching this grotesque looking beast of a ‘man’ cross his path.

Despite the tall height, his limbs were thin and draped over his shoulders was a black fur cape. Long horns ran down to the top of raven hair, towards a hooked nose that rest on a putrid, hideous face. A face that was littered with pustules, boils and other unsightly blemishes, enough to make skin crawl; and yet this was nothing compared to the spiked teeth that jet out of his bottom jaw, far too long, yellowed and jagged to stay within a permanently open maw. It looked as if they were exploding out of his face.

This ‘man’ wore a constant scowl, and honestly, Zerek couldn’t blame him. He was painful to look at.

Besides the Crawlers that roamed these secluded halls, this beast was the first other life form that Zerek had encountered since separating from Akyro. How long had it been? Time was of no consequence here...

A screech from back down the hallway pulled Zerek from his stunned silence. The Crawler had found its way out of the room and was heading down the hallway towards Zerek at an alarming speed. He’d merely stolen a glimpse to see the source of the noise and his stomach dropped the moment his gaze returned to the demon down the other side of the corridor.

Piercing yellow and black eyes bore their attention down his path. Eyes latched on to him with such a strong hold, Zerek wasn’t sure if he could move. Forcing a step backward, he felt the tingle of cold fear creep its way up his spine… a fear of which he’d only known in his time with Grieve.

Locked in a painful silence for as long as the impending Crawler would allow. The feeling of the demon’s eyes wandered over him, studying him with an angered annoyance, and yet his gaze reflected a dark curiosity; a curiosity Zerek did not want him to keep having.

Daring to blink was not the smartest move, as it seemed, the moment he did, the demon had begun to charge towards him. Zerek whipped around, his heart skipping several beats as he fled down the hallway in the direction he’d come, taking the Crawler head on. The closest door was within his reach. He needed to section himself off before either of them caught up to him. Praying the door would lead him ‘away’, like so many of the others had, it would be the only way to avoid the Crawler and the horror of the demon closing in behind him… What if this door was just another dead end? What if this is it?

The Crawler, eyes bloodshot with rage and madness, dragged its bloody stumps rapidly across the floor towards Zerek. A horrible shriek pierced the air, creating a chorus of echoes down the hallway. Seconds before the creature collided with him, Zerek rammed himself into the door, slamming it shut with such a force he feared it would fly from its hinges.

There came a thump, as he held the door in place. It rattled violently against his hands.

Heaving for air, adrenaline pumping through his veins, he found it hard to hold the door closed. His body shook in fear.

And then… silence.

The door did not swing open or break down. The crawler’s screech and the thumping footsteps of the demon had vanished, he quickly found himself hesitating to open the door, just in case…

Something didn’t sit right in his gut. He was still on edge, despite the welcoming silence of the room. Of course he’s on edge! What in bloody Hell was that thing? He’d come across many demons in his travels since leaving Grieve’s lair, but none of them had come close to what he felt just now- in that man’s presence. Was it even a demon? What else could it be?

He turned the knob, timidly opening the door, which taunted him with a snapping creeakk.

And…

Found himself facing a wall of flames! He was ready to slam the door shut again, but his curiosity got the better of him. The flames seemed well contained… as if by an invisible force, and they wielded no sound. The heat was there, yes, and it was practically blinding which caused him to take a step back, but the flames did not jump out at him or touch him.

It wasn’t right. He’d not encountered a door like this one before. Were these flames leading into a different room? Was this the same hallway on the other side of them?

Zerek had learned to trust these feelings of uneasiness and wearily closed the door, stepping back to examine the rest of the area. Unsurprised by the mountain of objects he’d grown to expect in these side rooms.

At that moment, the silence broke as somewhere in the vast room of heaps of items the creaking of another door opened… and closed. His heart sank.

Something was in here with him.

Zerek glanced around, thankful for another room full of junk that stacked to the ceiling, and slunk quietly behind a broken grand piano, peering around the towers of clutter that surrounded him, that hid him… and it. Straining to hear where the sound had come from, he crawled around the room as softly as his knees would allow.

The scraping of clawed feet against the stone ground grew closer. Step by step, closer and closer. Admittedly, this allowed Zerek to pinpoint where he needed to be to avoid the thing on the other side of the object. It was almost as if this thing did not care whether or not he was heard. It walked with purpose. Zerek could tell it was searching...

“I have no patience for these games.” a raspy voice of his pursuer finally broke the silence of room, making him jolt in surprise. “Reveal yourself at once, or suffer when I find you...” if a voice could sound painful to hear, this was it. The rasp of his voice sounded as if there was phlegm or saliva stuck in the back of his throat, popping with every second word, and the harshness and disdain of each spoken word, crept an anxiety into Zerek’s chest he couldn’t quite shake.

As Zerek crawled about, dodging the approaching sounds by slinking under tables and flattening himself against bookshelves. He watched the ominous shadow of a hunched, horned figure creep across the surrounding walls.

It was a long, painful skulk to the other door, the door the demon had recently come through, but he found it. A creeping worry prickled the hairs on his neck, as he realized he hadn’t heard the noise of the demon’s footsteps nearby for a little while. This heightened his fear as well as quenched it. It meant the man was not nearby… right?

Regardless, he had nowhere else to go, his cover had ended and he was not heading back. With his sights fixated on the closed door, it stood mocking him in the center of a small clearing of room. Did he dare take the chance?

‘The longer I wait, the higher chance of it finding me here…’

Taking a deep breath and glancing around one last time, Zerek lurched forward making a crouched beeline for the door. His hand reached out, gripping the handle and swinging it open in a mad dash to ‘potential’ safety.

With the door opened, he leapt towards the hallway, when a long gnarled claw grasped a handful of his hair from behind, yanking him back with force. His body following painfully after his head as he tried to wiggle free, Zerek cried out in surprise, though this scenario wasn’t all that surprising to him, at this point.

“Got you!” the hideous demon sneered in his ear. Zerek watched in horror as the long index fingers of this creature were far longer than the rest of his claws, long and red, they contained a heat that was far hotter than the rest of his touch. Zerek’s neck strained as it was pulled back. He gazed up at his captor, and his face was greeted with teeth and spit. “Where is he?” The annoyance in the demon’s voice made him flinch, but the accompanying foul smell of its breath made him gag.

He? Who was he talking about? Akyro? “... who-?” he questioned timidly.

The confusion must have shown on his face as the monster reconfirmed, “GRIEVE. You imbecile! Where is Grieve?” The beast spat, growing more impatient and his grip more fervent.

Fear terrorized him at the sound of his torturer’s name, having not heard it out loud for many months. Freezing him solid, despite the immense heat emitting through the demon’s claws, searing his flesh as it clung to him with increased intensity.

Grieve?!

How did he know about Grieve? Was there something about him that reflected Grieve to this demon? The thought there was some unseen brand within him made him feel sick; perhaps it was the fear and the ghastly presence he was in that thoroughly churned his stomach?

Struggling to find words accompanied by the pain from where the demon’s heated touched blazed against his skin, “I-I don’t know, I don’t know I swear, I-I promise!” unable to move an inch, he could do nothing but tremble in fear, completely at this monster’s mercy.

“What?! How? How can this be?!” black and yellow eyes widened as Zerek was yanked off his feet and spun around to face the demon fully, the claws clasped painfully onto his upper arms, and Zerek could not hold back a whimper as he felt blisters forming from where his captor’s hands touched his flesh. While violently shaking the half human back and forth, “How do you not know where he is? That coward’s mark is all over you!”

A mark? So he’d been right to think there was something about him that gave away a scent of ‘Grieve’, and if Zerek hadn’t felt the need to vomit before, he needed to now.

He slunk back as the horrendous demon’s snarling flecked saliva in his face.

Oh, the smell.. and that unbearable heat on his arm!

“H-He disappeared, and I escaped! Please, please I’m begging you, you’re hurting me, let me go!” Begging… it was all he could do it seemed, and at least he found his ability to move. His feet lightly grazed the ground allowing him to pull away as forcefully as he could, making not a difference as the gnarled red and pale gray hand held fast and true. This well-planned maneuver honestly caused more pain than before, with no good results. He remained in the demon’s searing grasp.

What is this thing? The aura it emitted is ridiculously thick, a heavy power that hung in the air, far worse and suffocating than anything Zerek could remember feeling. It was worse than Grieve’s, or perhaps he’d merely grown used to his...

“I’m barely touching you, pathetic little thing.” The demon straightened up, as much as its curved spine would allow, and at last lightened his grip on Zerek while still keeping hold of one of his arms, but the burning pain had subsided to a manageable dull sting. Those black and yellow eyes continued to nag into him. Searching for something… a lie, or otherwise. Finally, the demon grunted, as if deciding on something and Zerek could only shudder to think what.

“Wh-who are you?” his throat was dry, which didn’t aid in his ability to speak, he dared to ask. He wanted to ask ‘what are you’, but expected it was a stupid question, as this was a demon looming before him… just not one he’d ever encountered before.

“Phayne.” Came an abrupt, flat answer; one that surprised Zerek to have gotten at all. And as Zerek was pulled, forced to follow the creature down the hallway and through the hole in the wall he’d seen earlier, he caught himself praying for Akryo. Perhaps even another Crawler, to impede the way, to stop wherever Phayne was taking him, something… anything- to give him a meaningful chance of escape.

Phayne lead him down a series of hallways, much like the identical ones Zerek had been walking through for the past... However long he’d been lost in this shabby castle for. He found the courage to use his voice once more and forced out another question, “Where are you taking me?” though he dared not tug away this time, in fear of sending the demon’s heated wrath upon him again. Pulling away had already proven to be a fruitless endeavor, as Phayne’s strength was much too strong.

“Silence!” Another snappy reply and Zerek dared not comply.

For what felt like an excruciatingly long and silent walk down the corridors, Phayne at last came to a halt in front of a pair of large intricate and golden twin doors. The first difference in scenery Zerek had the chance of seeing since arriving in this sorry excuse for a shelter.

They were the most well-kept structures Zerek had seen here, that with all the clutter, fallen paintings, and junk in every room he’d visited. They looked completely out of place, as if the doors had been plucked from a beautiful castle, enriched in gold and silver, and dropped in this godforsaken dump.

The doors were large, larger than Phayne twice over. The ceiling sloped up to meet their height with intricate beauty. Was he even in the same castle? He just couldn’t believe the striking contrast of ugly and elegant. It was baffling!

He was hastily shoved in front of Phayne, with the demon's arms on either side of him. Zerek’s arm, blistered and bloody, at last being released. He breathed a sigh of relief, if only for a moment, cradling his arms against his chest.

It appeared Phayne needed both hands to unlock the door, and it was clear he didn’t trust him not to run. In all honesty, he was smart to think this way, as Zerek would have surely made a break for it given the chance, despite how stupid it would seem. He was desperate.

Zerek watched between the demon's arms as Phayne gripped the handles, they glowed a bright purple, steaming beneath his touch and for a moment Zerek was more intrigued than he was afraid, however short lived. The sound of multiple heavy locks releasing within the doors echoed down the surrounding hallway.

As the doors opened, seemingly on their own, he was pushed roughly through the opening and into a dimly lit room. Inside, Zerek was greeted by a dull blue glow emitting from the largest archway he’d ever seen. It cast the top of the arch into a hazy blue blackness above, a fog that Zerek found eerily similar to the fog surrounding Purgatory. The top was not visible under the mist. Runes along the stonework of the outer structure were the source of the blue glow, but the symbols were unclear in meaning.

Being pushed yet again, this time towards the archway, he lost his footing and stumbled forward, scraping his knees on uneven jade tiles in the surrounding area.

“Stay put, or I’ll make you.” Phayne warned as he closed the doors behind them. The room got darker as the light of the hallway disappeared, and with it, any remaining hope of rescue that Zerek dared to have had.

He couldn’t deny it petrified him being stuck in place. With no clue what Phayne had in store for him. The runes along the arch were close enough that Zerek suspected he was kneeling under what Akyro had earlier described as a ‘Portal Gate’… but if this was true…

Zerek took another long look at Phayne, the hideous beast with a gnarled and grotesque face and his hunched frame. The aura alone was proof enough, the heat he emitted, and the blisters that stung against Zerek’s skin was yet another clear sign.

Phayne is a Fire Lord.