“What I have is of no concern to you.” A soft growl began to rumble right next to her ear from Orpheus’ chest. “Come any closer and it will be you that is eaten.”
“No fun,” it snickered, its voice a mingle of feminine and masculine while it also sounded raspy, as though it wasn’t used to speaking. “I only wish to play with it. I cannot smell it, but I know you must have something if you are returning.
I can hear it breathing. Come, give us a bite. Surely you can’t eat it all.”
Reia was swayed in the air as he held her firmly while his body lunged forward, like he’d reached out suddenly with his arm. The Demon yelped, before she vaguely heard the sound of a thump against the ground.
It hissed before quick fading stomps told her it was fleeing.
Not being able to witness whatever had happened did little to ease her heart’s rapid beat. She was thankful that she’d hadn’t seen it and his scent surrounding her had stopped her from smelling it.
“Border dwellers. They aren’t the most dangerous, but they are generally the ones who hunt you humans above the surface.”
He slowly lifted his hand away from her face to place it against her side once more. Reia said nothing, no longer wishing to speak in case something heard her.
Silence remained between them as they walked for what must have been hours. Every rustle of leaves caught her attention, every snapping of a twig in the distance, every scrape of something against rock or bark. She could hear the rattling of bones, creepy howling in the distance, and the harrowing squawks of a what sounded like the mixture between a bird and a wailing child.
Reia was alert.
If something happens, just run back the way we came.
She thought she could at least do that. She just hoped they weren’t on a winding path and she ended up running further into the Veil rather than the edge of it.
Although she knew it must be daytime still, all she could see was black. There was so little sunlight reaching the ground within the Veil that it didn’t glitter through the fabric of his cloak anymore. All she saw was darkness. Just swallowing darkness.
No, it wasn’t darkness. It had to have been dark grey.
Because, before long, the sun began to set, and she truly understood what it was like to look into the void of nothingness.
“Watch your step,” Orpheus told her when he deliberately slowed.
The toes of her left foot knocked against something hard.
Her big toe grazed against it as she felt over what was at her feet, feeling the sharp edge of a step. She tentatively placed her foot on it and an emotion tore through her heart.
Are we here? They had been walking for almost an entire day. Reia understood she was truly deep within the Veil, was surrounded by it, trapped inside with Demons all around her.
A part of her had been hoping that something would happen so she wouldn’t make it here. That she would have had the chance to run again. But she knew all hope of truly surviving would have been at the edge of this place, not inside it.
Her right foot bumped into another step, and then there was a third before her feet were on a flat and wide area. The roughness of the ground informed her that she must be standing on timber planks. He steered her a few steps forward before halting.
“Reia,” he said, startling her. He’d never said her name to her before, and the way he’d said it had been filled with a certain kind of gentleness. “Would you mind covering your ears?”
She nodded as she moved her hands up to cover her ears just as she heard creaking like a door was slowly being opened. His hand on her side tightened and held her firmly.
Her hands did little to block out the bone-chilling beastly roar that came from him. She flinched before clenching her eyes shut. The following sounds were dulled as she heard creatures with sharp claws scuttling away as they made shrieking, crying whines.
One ran over a surface directly above her, before a small thud against the ground from behind told her it jumped over them.
Orpheus pushed her forward with a hesitant slowness, and she lowered her hands to hear him sniffing quickly. He gave a snorting huff before she heard a door close behind her.
The rustling of the cloak being pulled from away filled her senses, but it did nothing to take away the darkness that had been blacking her eyes. His heavy footsteps stomped echoes as he drew away from her.
All she could see were two glowing blue orbs in the darkness. They slightly highlighted the white bone around his eye sockets.
A match was stuck, giving a flicker of light, before a candle was lit. He began to move around, lighting candle after a candle until she began to get an impression of her surroundings.
A table that seemed gigantic in comparison to her lit up first. It had an array of different herbs on top of it, as well as a cutting board, a mortar and pestle, and strange ornaments that she wouldn’t be able to decipher until she looked at them up close.
Then, a long windowsill with a wash basin in front of it was illuminated. In pots sitting on the sill, vine-like herbs dangled down over a counter and into the crudely made metal basin. There were glass bottles of purple, yellow, and even dull red filled with unknown liquids resting against the walls on the counter.
Everything got bright when he moved behind her, and she turned around to find he was lighting a chandelier made of deer antlers that had candles fitted into it. Glittering trinkets hung from it by strings with some dangling lower than others. Some had crystals, others rocks and bones.
There were two chairs with armrests that were covered in so many different animal hides that they looked quite soft, as well as bulky. Between them was a small round table with another candle that he lit, while in front of them was a fireplace and chimney.
She wiggled her toes when she realised there was something soft and ticklish beneath her feet and found herself standing on fur. Her eyes didn’t stay downturned,
however, as she once more marvelled at what she was standing in.
It looks like a log-cabin. The walls were made of thigh-sized, thick logs that had been neatly carved to all look the same diameter. The timber was distressed and old looking.
She knew a second layer must be on the outside because there was not a single gap between them, and she couldn’t feel a single drift of air.
“This is your home?” she asked, her bottom lip falling in disbelief.
But she knew it had to be his home by the single fact that the air smelt like timber, fur, and, most importantly, his smoky mahogany and pine scent.
He answered her with a grunt and a singular nod.
