Even if it was, one problem at a time. She entered. Never had she seen a darker place, for this was different from normal darkness, moonless nights, empty rooms. No, there was something strangely different, suffocating, terrifying about the darkness.
Nicole heard her pursuers in the distance, also seemingly groping in the dark.
Nicole, who was now inside, advanced step by step, millimeter by millimeter. She must have been in the hall, which from the size of the building must have been of extraordinary dimensions, and yet she encountered nothing in her path.
She didn't know where she was when she heard her pursuers, undoubtedly standing at the threshold of the entrance, motionless, hesitating to cross the door of this incredible construction. The chief swore horribly.
"Fuck! She got in!"
"How did she do that?" wondered one henchman.
"Never mind, we've got to get her back."
"But, boss, it's this place!"
"So what?"
CHAPTER 4
"Sorry, boss, but I'm not going in!"
"But this is a human, you moron!"
"Even for a thousand humans, I'm not going in!" he asserted, his voice trembling, but resolute."
"Then I'll devour you right here."
But from the sound of it, this rebellious henchman managed to escape. He was so terrified of this place that he preferred to defy his boss and flee rather than enter.
"What is this place hiding?" the young woman asked herself. Panic started to set in.
The pursuers hesitated again, then the boss finally decided. "Fuck it, I'm going in. It won't be said that a human, especially one so beautiful and weak, will ever escape me!"
And he, too, entered.
Nicole immediately panicked.
He dared. He had the audacity to enter this place he so feared, simply to have her. His desire to have her surpassed his terror of this feared place.
Her only consolation was that his henchmen didn't follow him. No matter how much he insisted and threatened, he couldn't convince them to go in with him. Nicole felt that nothing could.
Nicole closed her eyes for a moment, frustrated and desperate, cursing all the darkness in the world for a few seconds, then tried to compose herself.
She had to get as far away as possible. She could sense that the pursuer was struggling to make headway too.
"Where are you, pretty girl?" snarled the repulsive boss. "Come to me, let's get out of here. You may not know it, but I'm safer than this god-cursed place. A hundred times, a thousand times safer."
Nicole refused to listen and moved on.
"You don't know what's here, but I do. Come, I promise I'll spare your life if you do what I tell you. You said you wanted to leave this kingdom, didn't you? Well, as soon as I'm finished with you, I'll grant your wish."
This time, Nicole stopped and turned toward the chief. She could tell by the sound where he was, her hearing sharpened by the darkness.
The chief must have sensed her hesitation, for he insisted more feverishly. "What do you say? Deal?"
He was lying. But maybe he was telling the truth, maybe he was less appalling than what this building housed. And then, perhaps giving herself to this repulsive monster was also a lesser price to pay than losing her life to whatever reigned in this darkness. And then she realized she was kidding herself.
She screamed angrily, "You're lying! Go and die!"
And without waiting, Nicole resumed her flight. The chief swore again.
"Wait a minute, you dirty little bitch, I'm going to catch you and—"
But at that moment, Nicole, in her haste to flee, stumbled violently over a piece of furniture that wobbled before falling with a shrill noise, destroying all the objects that were placed on top of it with a shattering noise.
When the dreadful noise finally faded away , a deathly silence replaced it. The chief finally broke that silence, but neither his voice nor his words contained any obscenity, only despair and resignation.
"Poor fool, you've doomed us both."
She didn't have time to comprehend what he'd just said when another noise rose , totally different from the previous one.
It sounded like a muffled growl and then they noticed a huge, powerful body that seemed to be moving, stretching and rising.
Neither one dared to make the slightest noise, or the slightest movement.
They were both attentive to its every move, to this incredible existence that represented terror itself.
Yes, thought Nicole, remembering in a flash the moments that preceded her arrival in this dark fearsome realm, this night is truly one of all dangers.
At last, the being who reigned in this cursed place and whom Nicole and her pursuers had disturbed, spoke.
"Who is it? Who had the audacity to enter my lair without my permission?"
The voice was unmistakably male. He paused for a moment to yawn and deliberately took his time, infusing even more terror into his unwelcome guests.
"You have disturbed my sleep. And I don't like it when my sleep is disturbed."
As he moved, the beast radiated a magical night-blue aura, and emitted enough light to make out the interior of this hall, gigantic as she expected it to be, but that was all she could notice as all her attention was focused on this creature, as majestic as it was terrifying, and above all, gigantic.
And as if that wasn't enough, he was moving with terrifying speed and was now blocking the only exit door.
They could not escape.
"I'm listening," the being said.
The chief swallowed and almost choked on his saliva, his body tense with fear. He laughed like an idiot.
"It wasn't our intention, your greatness. No, it wasn't. But you see, there was this human and—"
"And you chased her here."
Nicole felt the chief's every limb tremble, which was also her case. This man, who minutes earlier had treated every being with haughtiness, was now trembling like a wretched leaf—like Nicole a few minutes ago because of him. Sweat no doubt flooded his whole body.
"I beg you to believe, Your Majesty, that I never had any intention of disrespecting you. I simply wanted to retrieve the human and thought I could do so without disturbing you."
"But you did," their host asserted with a calm that terrified them even more than an explosion of rage would have done.
Nicole, too, was terrified, but her awe at the sight of this giant being of unimaginable beauty, grace, and power was even greater, for this was it , his very existence was so stupefying that the young woman found it harder and harder to believe in this reality. He could kill her, just with a glance, but being aware of the presence of both of them, he'd go after the leader of the filthy minions first. And the way he did it made her shiver from head to toe, making her heart both beat and stop in an endless spiral of tearing.
"And if I propose to leave the human to you, Majesty? After all, she's the one who caused the disturbing noises that woke you up. I'll also give you the rest of my henchmen, in exchange for my departure."
The hypocrite, Nicole accused fiercely, but silently. She'd made him the same sort of offer not an hour ago and he hadn't even deigned to think about it.