Chapter 54 Pleading With Monsters
Pleading With Monsters
The castle in the Nightmare Realm looms before us, a colossal structure that seems to defy the laws of reality.
Its spires twist and contort, reaching toward the swirling crimson sky like grasping fingers.
The closer I get, the tar-like walls appear to be made of a living, breathing substance, pulsating with an unsettling rhythm.
As the Guard leads us across the threshold of the massive double doors that swing open seemingly on their own, a shiver runs down my spine.
The air is thick, laden with an energy that crackles against my skin.
We’ve entered a courtyard with no roof, and the strange sky casts an eerie light over the scene.
The beings loitering about are humanoid, but with features that are distinctly otherworldly. Eyes of shiny coal black and shimmering silver fix upon me, gazes weighted with an intensity that makes my hands shake.
It becomes even harder to draw a breath. Panic and fear wrap then squeezes around my chest.
Metal or bone protrudes from their foreheads or cheekbones with texture that catches the light and gives them a fierce, terrifying kind of elegance. Some have noses that resemble those of animals—sleek felines, powerful canines, and creatures I cannot even begin to name.
Monsters. Different from Shadow, but monsters still.
My trembling fingers curl into fists, as I hope none of them notice how completely out of my element I am.
Their attire is equally striking. Gowns that appear to be woven from strands of silken oil, shimmering and shifting with each movement. Suits that cling to their forms like a second skin, made from a fabric that seems to absorb the very light around it. It’s like some kind of gothic fantasy world.
I feel ridiculous in my black jeans and tank top.
Again, my birthmark crawls with a stinging heat up the side of my neck and down over my collarbone until it beats in a near-pounding throb.
I almost feel as if it’s trying to spell out a message, maybe in morse code, but I don’t understand the language. I don’t know if it’s a warning or a welcome.
Man, the lack of air is pushing my mind into a dizzying spell of paranoia.
As the Guard leads toward the massive stone steps at the far end of the courtyard, whispers follow in our wake. My skin itches and prickles with uneasiness.
I feel their curiosity, their wonder, and something else... something that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It's as if they are appraising me, weighing my worth. Or maybe plotting how or when to slice my throat.
As we approach the grand staircase, I note the figures poised at different steps. They are different from the rest here. An almost sparkling sheen exudes from their near colorless, monochromatic skin tones.
They stare down at us with a cold impassiveness that has my heart beating against my ribs with near shattering impact.
The Guard drops the net with Shadow as if he were a bag full of rocks.
"The Covenant—"
"—breaker."
They say in turns, addressing the humanoids on the steps.
A woman with milky white eyes and blue-black skin hisses in response. A man with long silver hair and lines of edge surrounding his eyes and mouth, adjusts his stance.
"The Pit," the man says.
He must mean the Pit of Oblivion.
"The fire," the woman with milky eyes insists with another hiss.
I'm not sure if fire is better or worse than the Pit of Oblivion.
“I will not go back to the Pit,” Shadow snarls at them like a fierce beast, dying to be let out to inflict ultimate bloodshed.
The man with the silver hair and edged lines around his eyes and mouth steps forward, his gaze fixed on Shadow. With a mere flick of his wrist, an invisible force slams into Shadow. Shadow writhes in pain, his cries cut short by the overwhelming power.
Despite the terrifying display, I find my voice. "Stop!" I yell, my hands balled into fists at my sides. "He was only trying to protect me. Please, don't hurt him."
I try to draw a deep breath to continue my case, but my lungs seize. I dissolve into a coughing fit. Bent over, eyes shut against the onslaught.
I'm making a damn scene, but knowing it doesn't stop my body from doing what it has too.
When I finally gain control of myself, I straighten and blink through watering eyes.
The feeling of tiny shards of glass swirling around in my lungs recedes to the background when I note how everyone, even the Guard, has their attention fixed to me.
I struggle to stay calm, not wanting to fall into another fit of coughs. Their scrutiny presses against my skin with so much intensity, I have to take a half step back.
“You have to let him go,” I call out in a rasp. Before my courage disappears in a puff of smoke I barrel on. “He was only protecting me. He shouldn’t be punished.
“Who is this?” the milky-eyed woman asks.
Another woman takes a step down as if to get a better look at me. Her paper-white face has that slight sparkling sheen to it as her black eyes narrow in focus on me. She’s stunningly beautiful in a way edged with terror.
I open my mouth to say something.
“The Nexus,” the Guard interrupts.
“No,” Shadow growls in protest, but they continue.
“She—”
“is the Nexus.”
“The Key.”
The courtyard goes deathly silent and still. I’m suddenly too afraid to even breathe, afraid it will sound like a tornado of wind in the vacuum-like atmosphere.
What the fuck am I doing here?
Panic sizzles and burns like ice in my veins. I'm completely out of my element and I thought this would be better than the devils I know on earth—if this isn't Earth anymore, which I suspect it isn't—but it's not. Uncertainty clouds me while the tang of fear coats my tongue.
The way everyone regards me makes one thing abundantly clear.
They don’t want me here.
“Evie, no.” Shadow’s words come defeated and filled with so much fear.
The white woman with black eyes jerks her head toward the Guard. In a moment, they converge on me, grabbing me, pulling me off the ground. I cry out and struggle against their grip. The world narrows to the dark sinew of the Guard’s muscle and body.
“Stop, put me down.”
They don’t listen this time, hurrying me up the stairs as their manes flutter in that weightless way, the smell of brimstone heavy around me.
“Shadow," I cry out.
“Evie,” he calls back in anguish, but he’s still trapped. He can’t help me. Tears sting my eyes as my muscles clench and flex under the unyielding grip of the Guard. I attempt to kick and thrash, but their grip is like iron shackles.
Just as abruptly as I was whisked away, I’m set back down. The massive beasts clear away and I find myself standing at the top of the staircase. The Guard slink back down to the base of the staircase as everyone turns to me.
There is only deathly stillness. I’m falling into the void of sound and movement. Even Shadow has ceased fighting his confines.
“Nexus,” the black-eyed woman mutters.
The word strikes the air like a bell tolling across the courtyard.
It ripples outward—past the stairs, past the Guard, past every waiting creature.
“Nexus,” another voice whispers. Then another. And another.
The word becomes a chant, low and dark and inevitable.
A single figure drops to one knee.
Then another.
And another.
A wave of submission spreads like a black tide, until the entire courtyard is sinking to the ground before me.
Monsters—beings of shadow and nightmare, claws and horns and shining, cruel eyes—bow their heads in unison.
Holy fuck.
What is happening?