Daegelus | Volume One: Subject 0333

Chapter Nineteen | Enid

⊳⊱ ♕ ⊰⊲

A distorted voice called Elijah's name.

He opened his eyes, finding himself in the same hall that he dreamt about not long ago—the hall he'd only seen once while in Lyca Corp.'s lab. Just like before, a dark shadow moved past the windows on the other side of the doors, and Elijah extended his claws.

This time, however, he wasn't afraid.

Prowling towards the doors, he prepared to fight whatever had grabbed him the last time he dreamt of this place. He stepped through and into the gloomy room, and when a whisper slithered past him, he looked over his shoulder.

Red light flashed from inside an open doorway. He moved towards it, his heart beating steady, his body relaxed but ready for a fight. His instincts warned him, telling him to turn back, but just like before, there was something much more powerful urging him to continue.

He went through the doorway and followed the corridor, and when he reached the end, he emerged into the hall full of liquid-filled cylinders. And this time, there were mangled, mutated chimaeras inside.

That familiar low growl travelled around the room, swerving between the massive cylinders. A shadow shifted between a computer console and a glass cabinet filled with blood samples, its footsteps squelching as if the floor was covered in something viscous.

Elijah looked down, realizing that the ground at his feet was covered in a one-inch layer of water. There were no tiles beneath, and the floor was as black as the darkness ensnaring the hall.

He knew that there was something in there with him. It kept growling, its footsteps echoing as if it were circling Elijah. The demon focused his ethos, trying to detect an aura, but still, there was nothing.

With a skeptical glare, he spun around, following the footfall with his senses. He turned, spun, and stumbled, searching for the source.

And just like before, his sights locked with a pair of glowing red eyes peering at him through the green ooze inside one of the cylinders. It smiled at him, but its teeth weren't sharp and shark-like as they were before. This time, the grin possessed four fangs—a pair on each row of teeth—and its face, though distorted through the ooze—looked more human than monster.

"Eli..." it whispered, its voice reverberating around the hall.

Footsteps came behind him.

He swung around, but like last time, he was too slow to react, and a cold hand gripped his throat—

⤝❖⤞

Elijah didn't wake up—at least not in the real world. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in an endless, total darkness. The ground at his feet possessed the same inch-thick layer of water he'd just been standing on, and there was nothing...and no one.

Darkness stretched as far as his eyes could see in every direction.

There was no scent, no sound, no feeling.

Nothing.

He frowned as he cautiously looked around, searching for something—anything.

And then he saw it.

He saw him.

A man so far away, barely visible but visible enough for Elijah to make out his crimson eyes, black hair, and pale skin. He reached his clawed hand towards the demon, his claws as black as the gloom they stood in. His mouth moved, but no words came out.