Have I gone too far into the abyss? The eyes that are always watching. The oppression. The pressure. And the squeeze.
Like something's there. Waiting. And as I'm looking, I feel the tingling anticipation. The impatience. And malevolent greed.
The abyss. It's quite far. Quite, quite far indeed.
But Kian's arm secures me within his embrace and I'm walking as if I'm floating; the void all but falling away as if it were a distant memory and not in front of me, behind me, and all around me—
An unending echo. An overreaching eternity. And the oblivion of a thousand million travelers watching.
Bizarre. And yet, all the more frightening…
***
Kian places his hand out, ripping a gaping, glowing hole in the nothingness that surrounds us—
Painfully, forcefully pushing me inside.
Gasping. Wheezing. My power. It's welling—!
Why? Why? Why?!
I can't release this Aura! The devastation would be everlasting—
The throbbing. The pain. I scream, trying to force it back in—
But the aura tears through my organs and rips through my skin.
Rolling. I'm rolling; the hard expanse of something beneath keeping my weight.
The burning. The stream—!
Fire. It's coming. Near to bursting—! The pain. The agony. It's ripping. It's tearing. It's already boiling—!
Screaming. Is that me screaming? That can't be me screaming. But hands. Hands are reaching. And my lips, they're parting—
Cold. Bitter. Instant. Release.
***
I'm gagging on my own smoking aura while Kian watches congenially. His kiss lasted no longer than a few uncertain seconds, but his taste…
It lingers even through the pain.
I spit blood. "You don't care who I hurt." I wipe my lips roughly. "At all."
He smiles.
"You don't care if I kill everyone in the vicinity! You bastard—!"
My eyes are hot. I ignore the wet as I speak. "You're hurting me…but you don't care. At all. Do you."
He steers me away from the wall; the hole he had ripped closing behind us as if it were never there at all.
"This is but a phase, dear. Now that I know, I can help you stabilize. You won't be controlled by that power any longer—"
"I'll just be trading one oppressor for another!" Unwillingly, my fingers are clasped in his even as I'm speaking.
I struggle to jerk away as his fingers play with mine. But I'm securely tied to his side as we walk.
The room? Can this be considered a room? There are walls. And a ceiling…
But these structures are more like statues; the figures of beasts and wings outlined faintly. The rippling fabric? Moves as if they were amongst the living—
What are these things?
His fingers wrap intimately within my hand. "If you're curious, would you like to touch?" He whispers.
His lips. They're soft. Delicate. And invoke all sorts of wicked feelings—
I stiffen. Because he's mischivious. Malicious. And altogether evil, damnit!
But the wicked thoughts are entirely my own. Aren't they.
And that's why I shove my fingers deep inside that fabric wall, feeling his hands fall away from me so easily—
What—is this—? I'm looking up. And strangely, I feel something staring back at me—
My arm—!
Air. And yet, the whisper of something brushing—grabbing—
I shudder. It is, indeed, alive.
The sucking. The squeeze.
What is it trying to do to me? I can feel that thing pulling. Tugging. Extracting—!
"Enough."
And my hand's released. Just that easily. I rub it, feeling holes that are already scabbing; not even leaving a trace of blood from the extraction.
A chill. And I feel that familiar aura creeping. "Will you not open even to your King?" The whispered edge—
And then, the sound of something releasing.
The wall? Opens; a glowing light guiding us through the pathway. I hesitate. Because the unknown is always somewhat frightening.
But I'm sure. Kian's…impatient. I can feel his cold heat behind me. His breath that's rolling over me. Urging me.
Our shadows move. And I find myself walking. After all, I've already been swallowed into his domain.
Like soft candy, the wall melts and hardens around me. A strange, eerie corridor that's building—
And Kian's right beside me.
Kian, he's spent an eternity watching. Do I even have what it takes to walk beside him—
"My King—! Oh, you—!You're getting in the way!"
A figure's dashing through, slapping away the wall that's seemingly sticking to him.
I watch warily. There are horns. On his head. A devil out of the storybooks. But even the prettiest human can do the most barbaric things.
"Make haste! Hurry now!" He calls behind him, abasing himself even as Kian steps right up to him.
"Morgan."
"Yes, Sire?"
I look behind him; the others just as low as him. There are horns. And wings.
Other, more disturbing things—
But there's a beauty there. And another fierce light there. A guard whose sword is gleaming. And Aura like light shining.
Immortals. Daemons. Spirits. And Beasts. The Heavens. These beings. They're quite the mixed offering.
Though the beauty of diversity can't make up for Kian's unnecessary capture of me.
I can see it in his eyes as he looks back at me. As if I belong to him. As if I'm simply a possession of his for the taking.
Inside, I feel my bones bending—
My face is sweating. My knees are buckling. And the foreign object inside wants to snap—
His wing. It's reacting.
But Kian drops his gaze. And it stops abruptly.
The devil and his minions. The King and his kin…I don't know how it is I'm feeling. Or how our connection should work. Or even what I should be doing.
But my doubts are only rising. I should see my friends. And leave.