House of a Thousand Rooms

Chapter 50

As Cora led her merry pack of black-haired and red-eyed hellhounds through the twisting labyrinth, the hedges seemed to stretch and grow taller on either side of the path with every step they took. With hastening speed, Cora, Cerberus, Dyp, and Yeth moved onwards, around leafy corners and deadends, towards the dark warping breakage in the sky.

Nahemah, Orthrus, Luisen, and Barghest didn't follow them. The succubus and the other brothers stayed behind to guard the summoning circles.

When Cora and her three houndish companions, at last, came close enough to inspect the shimmering black hole up close, Cerberus growled, "Come, brothers, let us use our collective might to tear through that fissure and escape from this cage of long-dead memories!"

In a thunder of ear-splitting roars and howls, the hounds transformed into their beastly forms. Moments later, only the crimson of their eyes remained recognizable to Cora as three devil-black canines with oversized fangs and snake-like tails stood before her. Dyp was as large as an elephant. Yeth carried the same mass as a rhinoceros. Cerberus was the smallest out of his three brothers. He was only about the size of a horse.

Eyeing the fissure overhead, Cora turned to Cerberus and asked, "Do you think the three of you can tear through this realm?"

"But of course," he growled back in staunch tones. "My brothers and I might not be able to summon portals as you do to traverse through realms, but our claws and fangs have been blessed by the Dark Prince Himself! They can cut through almost any matter! Tangible or intangible!"

Cora frowned. "What do you mean by the 'intangible?'"

"Intangible—as in barriers forged by magic or metaphysics," Cerberus explained. "These barriers can be broken down, much like flesh and bone or steel and stone, by my kind."

She gasped, "Oh, my..."

"Yes, be amazed, my sweet," he yipped proudly, "my incredible potence allows me to hunt down wayward souls, like the witchy ones, who try to escape death no matter where they run or hide. In fact, this was how I managed to enter the gate in the first place."

"Is that so?"

"I gnawed my way through one of the fissures, and fate brought me to you in Little Cora's room..."

Cora's frown deepened as she grew more pensive.

Wait a minute—

If Cerberus possessed the ability to gnaw his way through fissures and realms all along, then why hadn't he tried to gnaw his way through the labyrinth that now entrapped them?

As though their thoughts were entwined, his beastly head drooped with seeming embarrassment.

Like a mind reader, Cerberus addressed Cora's question before she had a chance to ask him out loud, stammering uncomfortably, "It is because, at present, I am only, ah... experienced enough... to break through unstable realms—"

"What my little brother means to say," Dyp interrupted with a snarling smirk, "is that his powers are puny and lacking, and he, an inferior pup, cannot penetrate a proper barrier to a realm that has not been weakened by fissures or cracks!"

Cerberus glared at him and snapped, "Inferior? You dare to call me inferior? I would like to see you tear through that hole in the sky before me!"

Dyp rolled his blood-red eyes and scoffed, "Challenge accepted, little brother! We both know I am superior in every way!"

"Step aside, you fools," Yeth interjected with ferocious bark, "and I will show you how it is done!"

The hounds began trampling down one of the straight and narrow paths in the labyrinth, destroying much of the foliage on both sides, all the while chomping and biting at each other's heels. They gathered speed and leapt high in the air. Cerberus and his brothers flew to heights of nearly fifty feet from the ground, but, alas, time and again, each of the fearsome beasts failed to catch even a sliver of the fissure with their outstretched claws and snapping fangs. The hole kept dancing just out of their reach as though it was a tricksy, sentient being.

Testosterone and frustration levels rose to an all time high amongst the hellborn canines. Cora decided to intervene, to help them. Channeling her abilities as a gatekeeper, she plucked and pulled at the threads of Lianna's realm until they bent ever so slightly to her will. Sweat appeared at her brow, her muscles trembled with strain and fatigue, but, in time, the hollow in the sky began to drift lower, lower, and closer still, to the hellhounds.

Now that their target was in range and locked in place by Cora's powers, elephant-sized Dyp managed to land a successful swipe at the cavity, ripping through the borders with his claws like knives through paper. Yeth jumped up and took out another mouthful of the hole. Cerberus was the first of his brothers to catch his paws along the edge of the fissure. He pulled himself into the hole and began to do some real damage. The hole grew larger and larger and larger, and the skies around began to flicker and waver like a dimming light.

With bated breath and anxious eyes, Cora watched as Cerberus and his brothers tunneled through the fracture like dogs digging in dirt. It seemed as though their plan was working. She couldn't help but worry a little, though.

What awaited them on the other side?

Would they end up back in the In Between?

Or elsewhere?

Suddenly, as though he had read her mind once more, Cerberus' voice called out to Cora, "Do not fret, my sweet! I think I see something on the other side!"

"What do you see, Cerberus?" Cora asked eagerly.

To herself, she mused, Cerberus and I appear to be growing much closer. Our thoughts are suddenly so in sync.

"We are meant to be, my sweet," Cerberus called out in adoring tones, "not only are our minds in sync, our hearts beat as one, too!"

She heard an insidious laugh escape from Dyp and Yeth.

Dyp rumbled in amusement, "I thought you knew, gatekeeper..."

Cora felt befuddled as she prompted, "Knew what?"

Yeth chuckled some more and explained, "Once a hellhound claims a master, your mind opens to him whilst his mind opens to you, merging your thoughts and feelings together from now until your bond is severed..."