A whistle blew softly; a guard stood on the other side observing him.
“The hell you want! Get out of here!” Dom yelled.
“Now now! Don’t be a feisty boy; I’m only here to have a friendly conversation.” The guard removed his puppet face, to reveal himself as Ramon Desylvia.
“It’s been a while hasn’t it Dom!”
“You bastard! I knew you’d set us up,”
“Me?...No way you got it all wrong, my mission is the same as yours, but on the opposite, we’re also adversaries…”
“Why are you here?”
“I came to give my respects to the dead geezer; I should’ve treated him better as a child…Well, whatever! I’m proud of what you’ve achieved, but now you are no use to me no more.” Ramon pulled out a machete from his coat; Dom recognized it and began demanding it back.
“No need to bark like a dog, I always sought this since the beginning. Now that my boy Pedro is dead, you might as well rot in this cell until judgment day comes. Tootles!” Ramon left the dungeon joyfully as he laughed at his misfortune…with all anger; Dom felt the spirit surge inside his body, making him break through the chains in rage, collapsing onto the floor. He crawled to the bars upset of how pathetic his emotions could be and then fainted.
….a few hours later, a couple of guards came by the dungeon holding a pot filled with a mysterious substance. They throw it through the bars; Dom quickly came awake unable to stand due to the serum. The guards left immediately, as Dom shakes some of the decoction off and furiously rattling the bars. He felt his stomach grudging from inside, almost making him nauseated as the smell of the decoction came through his nostrils harming his sense of smell.
“What is this? What they do to me!” Echoed through the dungeon. He tried standing, but slip and fell back down as his knees collapsed to the stone ground. Dom began to let a great struggle as he continues to strain his legs from the floor.
Clapping steps echoed through the dungeon softly. Dom paused his actions to begin preparing for the worst, as the footsteps grew closer, from the shadows, a big white wolf appeared with glowing blue eyes and horse feet. Dom began to pump his heart, what does this mean, and how did this mysterious creature surpass the guards without being discovered.
The wolf coughed a small vial containing a tag saying “Antidote,” Inside his cell, Dom reach out quickly to examine it thoroughly, when opening the cap brought a smell of herbs.
“Are you trying to help me?” Dom asked. The wolf nodded coughing another small item on the ground. He picked it up; it was an iron key, which only the guards held for the dungeon cells. Dom found this as a symbol of trust, so he drank the antidote feeling his movement returning.
He tests his legs, as he stood back on his feet without collapsing to the ground. Dom felt lucky as his body returns to a healthy state once again.
“Well…Thanks! Whoever you are, I am grateful.”
The wolf stood back, Dom unlocks the cell door, to free himself from his imprisonment. The creature came and pawed his leg, showing him an escape route. Dom followed behind the wolf, encountering a dark hallway without knowing what lies ahead. He went back to retrieve the torch from the pillar, it did not sprout much light, but it made help.
The wolf led the path as Dom shines his torch around the walls, finding most of it damp and leaking with water drops. The wolf suddenly stops showing a door at the end of the hallway. Dom opens it gently peeking in, showing two directions, multiple torches secure the light in the hall.
The door open wide, and the wolf ran off. Dom followed before he lost sight. Surprisingly, the wolf vanishes around the corner where two guards patrol. Dom quickly hid in the corner before they spotted him.
“Where did the pooch went?” He wondered.
After avoiding the guards, Dom sprinted to the hall where he stumbled in front of three doors. Each one has a particular armor door with a short bar window; Dom peeks through the bars finding a dark room unsure if it is empty.
The doors were locked; he then tried one by one. At last, one open widely even swinging to the other side, Dom went in cautiously finding no one in the room, but inside there were stacks of sandbags sitting on top of steel tables.
He pushes the door behind him making sure it would close. One of the tables contains what appears to be experimental equipment in the center. Dom investigated further trying to know the purpose of the room.
On top, an oily substance caught Dom’s attention as he examines it closer, the content is the same thrown to him previously at the cell-block. Many vials containing the chemical were pack into a metal box, along with a small surgical knife, which was made of black metal for a reason. Dom took the knife including one of the vials thinking it would be useful to him.
Loud footsteps were approaching the door, so he hid promptly behind it. It was one of the guards patrolling the halls; he looks through the bar window inspecting the room. Holding his breath together to make no sound. Soon the guard left, Dom let a sigh of relief as his sweat pours down his face.
The sand was making slow noises. Without knowledge, the sandbags exploded, and pigeons soured out of it. Dom recognizes them from the arena, so he ran out the door before they began flapping their wings to attack. Across the hall, Dom kept looking behind him, paranoid of a chase. Unfortunately, he bumps into a guard, “A prisoner has escaped!” He alerts the others.
Dom had to think quickly, so he examined his hand full of vials. Believing it will help, he threw one bottle at the guard shattering the decoction over his face, then passed him. The pigeons were starting to catch up until they target the guard.
Dom became surprised to know the liquid attract those devilish birds, even becoming afraid of how deadly those birds are. He continues sprinting down the hall into a path of doors, which was violently shaking containing more pigeons inside. Out of breath, he rushes to the door straight, ignoring the obstacles behind him.
*Bang* All of the entries collapsed behind him like dominoes while the wild birds chase him to the end. Dom pulls the door quickly shutting it to find himself safe, almost penetrated by their beaks through the steel, leaving only marks on the surface. Inside, a staircase led him to the next floor; Dom quickly rushes through the steps, encountering a ladder that led to a hatch.
He climbs the ladder going through the hatch, encountering another door. After opening to his surprise, he returns to the mansion residence.
“Finally…I’m back to this goddamn floor” Dom looks around for his wolf friend, but nothing concluded, as the lobby was utterly desolate. No guards nearby to point their muskets, nor was Gario.
Only a piano softly played a symphony upstairs; the ballroom door was still wide open. Streamers lay stray above the steps, and the music grew louder as Dom approach the door, finding the room empty. Except, for the piano that played in the back corner.
The pianist lifts his head menacingly as he looks away from his keys, showing to be the nightmarish small man, who haunted Dom’s dream, and having the ability to manipulate people using magical music. Dom wanted to leave, but his body froze in place, as the small man began playing a different note.
Dom could feel his fingers crushing the vials, while his other hand is dropping the knife. The glass shards pierce through his hands, rubbing each other together making it more agonizing. The small man got off his chair walking towards Dom; he laughed happily as the piano continued playing on its own. Dom tried to break free from his grasp, but a string held him like a puppet.
Suddenly, a creature pounced onto the small man, attacking as it withdrew before more could happen. Dom moves his body broken free from grasp. The beast, a wolf with black fur and red eyes, including horse feet just like the other one. Dom knew the creature was different from the other, much more aggressive, as his mouth held a body part taken from the demon.
The small man retreated to his piano; his blood spilled over the floor and disappeared like acid. The wolf barks loudly at Dom, focusing his attention towards t
he enemy in front of it. Both creatures stare each other intensely with aggressive expressions; He knew it was not his place to involve himself between them, so he picked up the knife and exits the room taking the next flight of stairs.
Dom ran up the steps hoping to find Gario to end the vengeance that drives him crazy.
“Good to see you, Amigo!” Dom turn and a fist flew into his face knocking him down. Ramon waved the machete around standing a few steps back.
“You are so hard to kill my friend, and it’s pissing me the hell off!” Ramon casually climbs the staircase, as Dom crawled using the rail to stand. , Ramon kept moving towards him slapping the blade on his palm. He swung, while Dom dodges the swing from the machete.
“I underestimated you, lots of potentials and the will to live. It surprises me; you have made me regret not killing you back there at that cell. So now I bid you farewell, for this is the end of your ventures…amigo!” Ramon attacked him viciously leaving cuts on his arm and chest. Dom could not feel his body healing, so he quickly tried blocking most the attacks using the small knife.
Eventually, Ramon blew him off guard thus knocking the knife from his hand. Shoving the machete, Dom caught the blade desperate to hold grip.
“You can’t win, let this slide!” Ramon forced the blade onto him, as Dom had vial liquid on his hand. He rubs it around Ramon’s face, pushing him away.
“Aww! I can’t see!” Dom stood up as Ramon swung the machete rapidly around moving sideways. Dom clenches unto him, throwing him from the rail with all his might.
Ramon fell as he hit the lobby floor, Dom unsure whether the impact killed him or not. Moving faster up the stairs, he eventually reaches the top finding the ceiling paint, resembling a big sky with pink clouds. The room has strange artifacts and strange paintings. The walls hung multiple talismans, along with medals showing different religious symbols.
A door stood in front of his eyes, which led deeper into the room. Dom got closer trying to push it, but the weight of the door was too unimaginable to loosen.
“Welcome to my study…Mr. Indian’s boy,” Dom quickly turn, and Gario was sitting on his desk, gazing at Dom widely with his puppet eyes. Dom took a fighting stance holding his fists to the chest.
“Don’t jest like that, only a man of true strength could defeat me on bare hands. Sadly you are not that kind of man…only a mouse caught in the cat’s paw…this personifies you correctly.”
“Why did you kill him? He had no strength left, and yet you tortured him slowly until death took him.”
“The same reason, an old geezer will be worthless, we can’t have trash lying around…can we?” Gario jump off his seat landing softly on the ground.
“You have the unconscious power of a demi-god, waiting to be unleashed. That I must take…hope to expect a worthy opponent out you, Mr. Indian’s boy.” Gario began to transform; his legs sprang into multiple like an arachnid. His mouth extended releasing sharp teeth, and the expression on his face turned emotionless.
“Dear Lord… what are you!”
Dom could feel his fear rising, as his eyes stung by the terrifying look of a monster. Gario sprinted across the floor with incredible speed, pouncing onto Dom and sinking its teeth into his shoulder.
“Aw!” Pulling him away, the flesh attached to the teeth went off his shoulder. Dom covered his shoulder still trying to defend himself, but the speed of the monster was immense that he could not keep up.
“Your reactions are far too weak; you’ll be dead in a matter of seconds,” Gario mocked. He rushes him crazily once more, as the drool hanging from his teeth sweetens the thirst for blood. Holding his hands together, Dom caught Gario in the air lunging him to the floor.
Punching him fiercely, Dom noticed his knuckles were bleeding, and the bones were sticking out leaving a puff of white dust. Gario pushed him off and stood quickly to withdraw. Dom became surprised, finding not a scratch on the monster’s face.
“That was very close; you should realize my body is not human. I warned you before…your fist will do no good…it’s futile!”
“It’s impossible, how can his skin, be so hard… almost like I’m punching a stone. The percentage of my attacks will do no good at all; something in this room must be useful.”
A loud explosion erupted from downstairs. From the rail, a fire was rising engulfing the lower levels rapidly; everything including the staircase started to vanish.
“Those imbeciles! Burning down my structure at a time such as this. I’ll have them hanged…once I kill you boy!”
A transformation occurred, Gario’s arms split in two turning in green blades. He boosted into the air attaching his legs at the wall, swiftly getting closer to his target in a furious rage. Dom ran away towards the desk, throwing a bunch of books at the creature. The monster used its blades to shred the objects in seconds.
Then, the monster bounced, crashing on top of Dom and cutting part of his chest. Dom tried resisting, but attempts failed miserably as most of his fingers sliced off by the speeding blades. He knew it was the end as the edges dug deeper almost reaching his heart. The rapid pulpits of his heart touched his ears, as flashbacks came through remembering nothing, but his final moments with the Shaman Pedro.
When from nowhere, a creature of high strength soured in to attack the mantis in abdominal fury.
It was identified to be the dark wolf from the ballroom, rescuing Dom from the vile touches of an inhuman creature. Using his sharp teeth, it rips one of Gario’s blade off using it to cut the other. Green fluid leaked out of the wounds, as both of his arms split off, making him collapse to the floor with confusion.
“Impossible…my powers are superior…I am invincible!” the wolf held him down growling, Gario attempted to bite off its mouth, but it prevailed by clawing off his lower jaw. Barely breathing, Dom’s skin regenerated slowly, and the knuckles on his right hand remain mutilated for an unknown reason. The fire reaches to the rail spreading across the wall burning the paintings and décor.
The wolf growled opening its mouth wide, while Gario screamed in fear trying to get away. Using an ability, the wolf sucked the glowing soul entity leaving him to dry up into a withered corpse.
Dom fully healed his wounds, so he stood up moving to the giant door. He banged it multiple times trying to escape the inferno behind them. When the door open, inside the white wolf patiently waited. Dom sighed in grief annoyed by how the wolf abandons him in a tight situation. Behind him, the dark wolf passed by rejoining with the other. Both ran down to a marble hallway; Dom followed hoping neither of them will leave him in the dust again.
Ahead, a gap of light was seen cutting through a wall. Dom and the creatures enter an enormous empty room, while a wormhole created a considerable amount of wind pressure, blowing the dust off the floor. Dom blocks the wind shielding his eyes, he wondered where this portal will lead or if it was risky enough to pass through. *Bark* the wolves signaled him, jumping through the portal, Dom follows behind them to step inside.
He opens his eyes finding rocky grounds and pillars; it was an infinite cave devoid of an exit, a shimmering light show a steady path forward. The wormhole closed, and the wolves continue venturing further into the cave; the path lit as the white wolf began to glow an inner energy.
Chapter 10
Tales of the gods
Deeper in the cave, soon the ground below their feet began to feel differently steady with each step. Dom look around finding pillars with strange carvings, and many bones stuck to the rocks, human skulls lined up beside the wall.
“Is this a…catacomb?” Dom wondered.
On the path, a stone door with a dozen of blue candles hanging over it stood at the end with huge bowls of incense, and a strange hole representing a whirlpool held the door together in the middle. Both wolves stared at Dom; he did not realize what was happening, looking to the hole, he knew the creatures expected him to do something. The white wolf approaches him to paw his broken hand. Dom quickly assumes what he must
do.
Stepping forward, he put his broken hand slowly into the mysterious hole, praying nothing harmful would occur. An unknown force pressured his broken knuckles. Unable to pull away, the hand got stuck in place.
“Help me! Please…” Dom cried. The wolves remained calm watching the event happen. *Click* the pain just stop all of the sudden and his hand release from the mechanism. Surprisingly, all the injuries on his hand healed entirely leaving not a mark.
The entrance then began to open, as the ground slowly swallow the stone block. A room filled with soft mist reveals the floor to be formed by a giant pond. The ceiling had drawings of both moon and sun, which seem to be moving under the clouds. The Wolves enter the room walking through the pool, banishing the mist. Dom found it creepy how the door somehow healed his hand, including the ability to stand on water. His companions ran on water disappearing into the fog.
Dom cross along the water feeling achieved to believe it was possible to walk. Without caution, he leaps into the fog searching for the wolves; nothing came up since the mist only grew stronger and quieter. Dom began to fear what lurks as he ventures deeper, believing that an entity will be preying on him.
Soon, the mist became lighter, while a source of light appears together with muffled voices following closer. A scripture lay on an end-wall, along with beings of glowing energy arguing with each other silently. Dom observes them trying to figure out what they are, both represented a flow of different power.
One of them turn to notice him observing; Dom became frightened racing his heart uncontrollably.
“The human arrived, what shall we do?” One of them said.
“Hush, greet our visitor before asking such ridiculous questions.”
A flaming chain held their ankles close to the wall, and silver cuffs locked their wrists together.
“Let us introduce ourselves, first; I am Pu.”
“And I am Que.”
“We are heroes among our tribe and prisoners of the nine lords of the underworld. We are pleased to welcome you human to our chamber!”
Behind the Lock Page 8