Chapter 14

Chapter 14

When the magic ebbed we were no longer in my room. We stood on the outskirts of a giant estate, the likes of which I had never seen before. 

Surrounding the main castle, there was an amalgamated mess of buildings scattered about with creatures traversing from one to the other. The surrounding land was barren and dry, which brought a sense of foreboding to an otherwise decent looking estate.

Damien began to walk forward, gently pulling me behind him. I stumbled a bit, slightly dazed as I followed, barely seeing where I was headed. The shock of earlier had finally eased and now I was left a barely coherent mess as I tried to process through what I had learned.

"I'm going to tell you a story." Damien suddenly announced, looking at me with barely contained worry.

I said nothing as I stared at him, not really capable of much. My mind was a mantra of repeated denials and self hatred over and over. 

"Hell didn't always look like this." He began, scratching his chin with his free hand as he spoke. "It was a dark and dreary place, but it was habitable. There were plants and even some animals roaming around. It looked a lot like earth for a time."

I looked at him curiously before turning my gaze to our surroundings. I heard him chuckle bitterly.

"It's my fault that we live like this." He sighed. "It was a week into our confinement here and in my insanity, I started wandering around and eventually came across the dead center of this world."

"How?" I asked, my curiosity now stronger than my racing thoughts.

"I don't remember, to be honest. Not only was this quite a long time ago, but I was literally insane. I was trying so hard to learn everything about this new world that I didn't care how I learned it. It eventually blew up in my face." 

We walked in silence for a while as Damien looked to be lost in thought. I contemplated his story and wondered why he had ended up in this world, but that was probably a story for another day.

"Anyway" He continued, shaking himself from his thoughts. "Not only was I somewhere impossible, I'd also come face to face with the power source that kept this place alive and before I could think through what I was doing, I had touched it." He looked down at his left hand in disgust.

"To be fair, the power source was this really pretty sphere that just sort of hovered there. It was black with swirls of gray, but also shone with this incredible light that was nearly blinding. I felt drawn to it and so…"

He waved his hand dismissively and huffed out an annoyed sigh. "Anyway, it exploded."

"It what?" I stopped in my tracks and looked at him with a raised brow, both curious and appalled.

"It exploded." He reiterated. "Destroyed nearly everything. Broke the world into nine pieces, set fire to most of the land and killed nearly everything on it."

"This world is in nine pieces?" I asked while Damien continued leading me into his estate.

"Yeah." He nodded. "The world exploded outward into nine pieces with the power source remaining the center of that destruction. Now these chunks of land orbit what's left of that power source."

"Can it be repaired?" 

"I've been studying it, looking for a way to fix my mistakes, but it's been a mostly useless endeavor." 

"Why is that?" I hum curiously.

"I've probably said it in passing but I'm actively insane. So much so that I'm known as the mad king of hell."

"I was not aware that an insane individual could hold such conversations." I drolled.

Damien shook his head with a fond smile as we continued on our journey. It would not be much longer before we entered his estate.

"I'm not sure why I've been so lucid recently." He admitted. "The only hypothesis I could come up with is that I'm near you."

"Sure." I snorted. "My uniqueness knows no bounds."

"That is true." He smirked. "But honestly, nothing else explains it."

I rolled my eyes but said nothing as we finally crossed the threshold onto his estate. I noticed, as we continued to walk, that all the creatures gathered gave Damien a wide berth. Some even stumbled and fell in their haste to run away. 

I leaned towards Damien: "Do they fear you?" I whispered, looking at the creatures as they scrambled around in a panic.

"Yeah." Damien nodded, looking truly regretful. "I'm not easy to work with."

"Uh huh." I said, baffled as we continued on our way. 

I was incapable of seeing him as anything different than he had presented himself, so all this talk about an insanity I had never seen was confusing to me.

It did make me wonder though, if my presence was really the cause of his lucidity, as he claimed, or if it was mere flattery to endear me to him. Either way, I would not know for some time.

"We're here."

I look up at a decent sized building with a pointed roof and picture windows surrounding the outside. There were stairs that led up to a beautifully painted blue door. It was picturesque and cute.

"This is yours for as long as you need it." Damien said, guiding me up the stairs. 

He placed a hand to the door and began channeling magic into the building. I watched as my new home glowed a brilliant white before fading.

"I put a barrier on it." Damien explained. "You won't need your mask when you're inside and no one, not even me, can come in without your permission."

"Thank you." I said, head hung low. 

"No problem." He smiled. "I'll have your meals and a change of clothes brought to you daily. They'll leave it at your door so you won't have to interact with any one. Take your time and get acquainted with your new home."

"Where will you be?"

"During the day I'll be working on my projects, but at night I'll be in my room. I'll give you a week to settle and then we can start having dinner together. I'll need to teach you how to function in this world." 

"Right." I nodded. 

"Verin." He called and I looked at him. "I need you to see Lycher."

"He blatantly lied to my face." I said, voice rising slightly as my previously ignored fury returned. 

"I know." Damien said, holding his hands up in surrender. "But sadly he's the only healer that specializes in alters. There's only so much I can do without that knowledge."

"Fine." I said through clenched teeth. "But not today."

"Not today." Damien agreed. "I'll have my attendants call for him tomorrow."

I nodded and turned towards the door. "Thank you, again, for bringing me here." 

"You're welcome."

With that I opened the door to my new home and walked inside.