Chapter 60 Trapped in Nightmare
Trapped in Nightmare
Inside the monster's belly, time loses all meaning.
I drift in and out of consciousness, the rocking motion of its movement a grotesque lullaby.
Each time I wake, my lungs burn worse than before.
The toxic atmosphere has worn me down so gradually that I can't pinpoint when breathing became such a torturous task.
Then I'm expelled from the monster's body, my shoulder and arm slamming into rock before my head cracks back on the hard ground. I try to gasp, but my lungs seize from both the atmosphere and the blow of hitting the hard rocky ground.
Despite the throbbing pain and choking panic, I scramble to get up, putting the medium-sized boulder between me and the cycloptic monster.
Instead of paying me any mind, the creature sits back onto another large rock.
We're in a dark cave. A lantern on one side of the cave is the only source of light, casting a warm glow on the sandstone surrounding us.
The creature practically blends into the color of the cave.
Even its mottled flesh reflects the cracks in the rocks.
The eyeless cyclops doesn't move or seem to be paying attention to me.
Behind me is a wall, but behind my kidnapper is a tunnel that must lead us back out.
"What do you want?" I croak, my throat dry, the gritty air more aggravating than before.
The creature doesn't answer.
"What do you want?" I scream at the unmoving monster.
After a moment, a long, low, croaking sound comes from the monster. It takes a moment for my brain to recognize or organize the sounds into words.
"It devours. It comes."
"What?" I ask.
Again, the long, low croak. "It devours. It comes."
Whatever, or whoever the cyclops is referring to is nothing and no one I want to meet. I've got to get the hell out of here. Now.
Taking my chances, I grab my skirts and make a run for it. I get as far as the cyclops before he surges to his feet, like a statue come to life, and throws me back across the cave. My back hits the wall and I'm thrown into a coughing fit. He returns to his seated position, as still as before.
The moment I recover, I'm up and running again. When the cyclops pops up this time, I duck and dodge, but not nearly fast enough. My feet catch air as for a second time my ribs rattle from impact against the wall. The coughing fit is worse this time, my lungs seize and spasm without mercy.
Breathe, Evie, breathe. But I can’t. My eyes water. Panic gnaws at my lungs, at my throat. If I can’t breathe, I’m going to die. My body convulses, wracked with a desperate struggle for air.
My lungs burn, desperate for air that isn’t shredding me from the inside out.
The gritty poison I’m forced to inhale feels like hundreds of needles.
I clutch at my chest, gasping, blood spattering my palm as I cough.
The metallic taste thickens on my tongue, and I stare at the bright red droplets in horror.
"Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck." The words barely slip out, cold with fear.
What was I thinking? Tears burn my eyes, falling this time. I should have listened to Shadow. I should have let him take me back to the human world, but no, my vanity and curiosity kept me at that party for too long. Then I sent Shadow away.
I have to believe he'll come for me. I have to, even if I don't deserve it. Burying my face in my hands, I realize it likely won't matter. Unless Shadow finds me very soon, I'll die from breathing in the toxic atmosphere for too long.
I don’t know how long has passed inside the belly of the beast. How much time do I have left?
My chest tightens again, but this time it’s from more than the toxic air. I can feel my body breaking down, weakening with each poisoned breath. The cave tilts, the shadows blurring as my vision swims. I’m losing time.
A chilling wave of hopelessness settles over me. This is it. This is where I’m going to die—alone, coughing up blood, slowly suffocating.
No, I think, clinging to a frayed edge of hope.
Shadow won’t let me die. Even if he’s furious, even if he’s hurt, he won’t let me go.
He’ll find me. He has to. And when he does, I’ll follow him anywhere—back to the human world, wherever he chooses.
I’ll forgive everything, just to feel his presence, to be saved.
But despair is a creeping thing, relentless and cold, slipping into my mind to whisper the questions I can’t ignore.
Who will find you here?
Who will find you in time?
SHADOW
Rage, hot and all-consuming, courses through my veins like molten fire.
Evie, my Evie, has been taken. Ripped from me, and the very thought of her in the clutches of that vile creature sears through my mind, a burning brand of fury.
My vision swims red, and I have to fight to keep my form, my very skin tearing at the edges with the sheer force of the need to hunt.
But underneath the rage lies a raw urgency—time is running out.
She can’t survive here long, not in this world that rejects her very being, stripping her breath, leeching her life.
Every second that ticks by brings her closer to the edge, her body fragile in this place that feeds on her, poisons her.
I storm through the castle, shadows lashing from my limbs, striking against the twisted walls, leaving jagged, smoking gouges in their wake. The place itself warps, bending under my wrath, reverberating with every snarl and guttural growl that rips from my throat.
Useless fools, the Guard—they scatter, dispatched to search, but they can’t match the primal drive swelling within me. They can’t sense her like I can.
Her scent lingers, faint but unmistakable, a trace of warmth in this cold, merciless land.
A wisp of wild earth and soft skin, just enough to lead me.
I inhale sharply, drawing her essence deep into my lungs, feeling it hit me like a blade.
Her fear, her desperation—it’s there, hidden in that scent.
I feel it, taste it, and it sends another tremor through the beast clawing beneath my surface.
I let out a feral roar, the sound warping the air, rattling the foundations, shaking loose dust from the twisted chandeliers.
I stalk through the halls, shifting and contorting as I move, bones snapping, muscles swelling and contracting in barely contained fury.
Every shadow writhes and snaps, forming claws and teeth as if they too feel the urge to hunt, to kill.
I am rage. I am hunger. I am coming for you, Evie.
I will find her. I will tear this world apart, rip through the very fabric of reality, until she is safe in my arms once more. The Nightmare Realm is my domain, my playground. I know every twisted path, every dark corner. There is nowhere that creature can hide from me.
The thought of Evie, alone and afraid, in the grasp of that monster, is a knife to the cluster of organs at the center of my chest.
She is mine. The idea of losing her is a torment, unbearable, a chaos that churns through me, demanding destruction.
Evie may hate me. She may never forgive the lies, the secrets. But I would bear her hatred a thousand times over if it meant she was safe. Her life, her beating heart, means more to me than any covenant.
I've known, since the moment the monsters began their pursuit in the human world, that someone in this twisted realm was making a play for power. And Evie, sweet, innocent Evie, would be the pawn in their game. The key to unraveling the very fabric of our existence.
She holds more power than she could ever imagine, a force that could bring the Nightmare Realm to its knees.
It’s why I kept her in the dark. To protect her, to shield her from the machinations of those who would use her for their own gain.
But now, the truth is being peeled back, and she is in more danger than ever before. I won't let her be a casualty, I won't let her be used as a tool in someone else's twisted game.
I AM HERE EVIE. HEAR MY FURY. I AM COMING FOR YOU.
I tear out of the castle. Shadows billow and surge around me as I bound down the crumbling steps, launching into the twisted land beyond. Each step cracks the earth, each stride reverberates through the Nightmare Realm, shaking it to its blackened core.
The land itself recoils from my rage, the twisted ground curling, shadows writhing and bending beneath my weight. I am no longer just a force; I am the fury of this place given form, a beast intent on hunting down its prey.
Hold on, Evie. I am coming. And I will shred anyone and anything that stands between us.