One with the Darkness.....part 2

Richard lifted his brown eye.

“You have been trying to contact me too long  humanling".  “You are mistaken…whoever you are.” He said, in a daring tone, but in truth, he was scared to death. Truth to be told the creature wasn't all unknown to him… But it wasn't really memory, but, again, an intuition.

The creature let out an echoed laugh, but it wasn't a joy laugh…

"Too bad, too sad… But it makes no difference.'' He lifted his hand and Richard saw his right arm covered in green fire. He should have run by now, it didn't matter if that stuff was real or not, he didn't want to feel the power of this creature in his skin to find out.

What was going on?

He came closer, ready to blast him apart… Richard was too confused and scared; he could just step behind, telling himself that it was just a kind of hallucination… It couldn't be real…

Someone grabbed Richard's hand.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU FOOL? RUN!" And with that, the person pushed him through the hallway. "And there's the knight in shining armor to help the little princess… For how long will you both bear it?", there was a twisting irony in the creature’s words. Richard was now totally confused. If this was a dream and he was dreaming how someone else could invade his dreams.

Neither of them answered.

The girl conducted Richard through the hallways as if she knew some ways and stopped with him next to a big set of double doors and sat for a minute, seeming tired.

"I think we got some time… I hope" she said. Richard looked to her, but his mouth opened…in surprise.

"You????" he was shocked again. Shocked truly. He didn't expect her, at least he was not sure what to expect. The girl had pretty, short black hair and eyes equally black, smooth tender skin, and look of sorrow in her face.

"Ah… You are the girl from the book.” Richard momentarily recalled the diary he had been reading for so many time. Aren't you? Eh… …"

 She just sat in front of him for she seemed tired too. But more than anything, Richard wanted answers, so he could understand if all of that was real, despite of how impossible and insane it seemed to be. Now that they were away of that man, his fear had melted away as a candle blow… That didn't mean that he was calm…

She sighed. Was that the time for presenting themselves?

"Ok.” Richard cut in… “What's going on around here? I don't understand anything”.

The girl looked at him as if she was feeling pity.  "Listen well, because we don't have much time… Better we try to escape and…"

"Escape?”. His voice became swallowing. His was confused. "I am in my house, I shouldn’t be trying to escape.” The girl sighed. Richard really didn't understand anything or at least he seemed very confused of what was real or not. He was a rational man before starting to wield magic… all started for a second to make sense, it was becoming clearer to him, that split moment he would be able to believe in what she was about to tell.

"You must be sleeping or something… what is the last thing you can recall?"

"I was with Krystal… and…" he stopped for a moment as she was hit by an idea.”Maybe I am unconscious. I mean, I may have become worn out by magic, I used it to cross the narrow gap, through the shad……"

"So listen to me and don't interrupt. You are unconscious, sleeping, or maybe even not…...it doesn't matter. You are in… Well, we don't know really where, we just call it the Shadows, and that man is god in here, and believe me, you better run from him! It seems crazy, but is true"

She expected him to say that it sounded crazy, but he seemed to be trying to follow it.

"So, is that… if it isn't real… It's a kind of hallucination, a nightmare, so it can't be true"

"It can and it is. It is a nightmare, indeed. But it seems like you passed out in the Shadow world, and you are now trapped in his nightmare. If you die here, you die for real.”

Richard remembered of the sensation of having his life at stake, he shivered.

"If you stop to think, it makes senses, doesn't it?" She asked, with a sad smile. Richard could just nod. But, if it was just a dream, all there was to do was just waking. That if he was unconscious… he knew very well of the alternative and if it seemed bad before, now seemed worst.

He was about to say something, but someone appeared behind them. For what they could see of his dark eyes, he was anxious. Anxious to get them…

And it was true, everything seemed that this was over and they had nowhere to run. Walls had stood up from the floor around them, the door of the room burst in cold flames and they heard screams of pain, as if there were people in there, burning forever… Without dying.

The message was clear: They could die in two ways…

"Let him out of this! He has nothing to do with it!"

The creature stared at her with a mocking smile and Richard just blinked. He couldn't understand why she was trying to defend him when they barely knew each other, thankful, somehow.

Before she could answer, the shadow spawn just walked to him and with his claws scratched through her skin and flesh, tearing it along … the girl with no sign of pain took a  step behind, but closer to the door and was holding her shoulder which was bleeding profoundly now.

Richard was, in anyway, the kind of person who is always trying to save other people. Especially if he doesn’t even know them. So he had helped her, acting as if they were friends… She would be very ungrateful if he didn't help her and to add more to it, it felt as if he owned her something more than he could tell. So, before the girl fall right in the fire, he pulled her by her shirt, putting him in front of herself and still holding her.

"My turn to help you" Richard forced his mind against hers with all strength left at him and it had the result he had expected:  She screamed in pain and surprise, but disappeared in place. Richard had waked her… but he was still there.

"Oh, great…" he thought sarcastically, apparently idea of his current situation was true.

His concern was correct: He was more than just unconscious…