Void Domain, Book 04 полностью

“I don’t know that we should–”

The floor shook as a thunk resounded down the cell block.

Juliana stumbled forward, catching herself on a combination of the wall and Shalise.

“What was that?”

“Aftershocks?” Juliana said as she pulled Shalise closer. She moved up against the wall with a safe distance between her and the cell windows on either side.

It wasn’t the best place to stand. If the aftershocks shook the catwalks loose, they could fall right on top of her. They could swing out into the middle of the hallway as well, but that was probably less likely.

Still, something made her want to press up against the wall. A little nagging in the back of her head.

Another four thunks followed the first. They came unevenly, as if it were an animal with a limp. Each one rocked the world.

Each was slightly louder than the one before.

Slightly closer.

“Those are not aftershocks,” Shalise said with her voice barely above a whisper.

Juliana didn’t dare speak that loud. She suppressed her voice to the quietest level possible. “Something walking?”

Every thunk reinforced that idea.

Juliana wanted to run. Each of the steps shook the ground enough that she had trouble just standing still while leaning against the wall.

Shalise went down on her knees and held onto Juliana’s legs.

That did not help matters.

Even if she could run, there was nowhere to go. Towards the noise or away from the noise, it was a single corridor with no alcoves aside from the closed cell doors.

And the noise was moving fast.

“What do we do?”

Juliana hushed the girl clinging to her legs. “Don’t move, maybe it won’t see us.”

“That only works on T-Rexes.”

Juliana did not dignify that with a response.

Another thunk interrupted.

At the edge of her vision in the direction from which the noise came, a metal pole appeared in the dim light.

A second pole slammed into the ground with a resounding thunk, followed by a third, fourth, and a fifth.

Following the poles upwards, Juliana had to crane her neck to see the top. Almost five stories up, a man had been impaled on top of the poles. Each arm and each leg had a thorny metal pole piercing straight through for several feet.

A fifth pole ran through his neck.

He lifted a leg, bringing up the pole with it.

His leg only moved forwards by a few inches, but the five-story pole swung out half the distance between him and Juliana.

It crashed into the ground with an ear-splitting thunk.

That broke whatever spell they had been under.

Shalise cried out.

It was all Juliana could do to clasp one hand over her mouth.

Her action came too late.

The impaled demon stopped moving. All the poles settled down before dragging themselves closer together.

It didn’t take long for Juliana to figure out why.

As the distance between the poles shrank, the human-shaped body impaled at the top moved, sliding downwards at an alarming rate.

Every inch the demon descended had it grow in perspective. Ylva towered over everyone in any given room. Arachne wasn’t far behind.

This thing would dwarf Arachne standing on Ylva’s shoulders.

The demon stopped a foot off the ground. Ignoring the pole piercing his neck, he twisted his head around, searching with milky-gray eyes.

Juliana’s own eyes were as wide as they went when his gaze met hers.

The moment lasted forever. All time and space expanded into an eternity while its eyes stared into her own.

And the demon’s head continued sweeping the area. He didn’t make any moves or acknowledgment.

Taking much smaller steps, the demon walked forwards before beginning his search again.

Blind?

It gave up searching after a few minutes. It ascending to the top of its poles was one of the most painful things Juliana had witnessed. On several levels.

With the thing right in front of them, yet no longer actively searching for them, Juliana took note of a few smaller details. The poles were not smooth shafts. Spines and barbed hooks staggered along the metal. The demon used the spines to climb the poles. Its flesh tore open, dripping black blood as it went.

Most agonizing of all was the sheer time it took to ascend. Its arm slid up, catching on a hook. Then a leg. The other arm.

By the time it reached the apex, Juliana’s arms and legs had completely locked up.

And then it started moving.

Juliana winced at the thunderous thunk. That single step took it almost to the edge of her vision. Two more and the only sign of it was the sound.

Even with the ache in her joints, Juliana did not move a single muscle until the last of the demon’s heavy thunks had quieted to murmurs.

Shalise moved far sooner than Juliana had wished. She peeled off the fingers blocking her mouth and took a deep gasp of air.

“W-what–that thing–it was enormous.”

“Y-yeah.” Juliana closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. Her words were not as steady as she wanted. As she needed. It was her responsibility to get Shalise through whatever mess they had gotten themselves into. Especially if it was her fault they were here in the first place. “P-please don’t scream again.”

“I-I’ll try.”