Fate's Vinculum

Chapter 3.

Darkness seemed to spill out from the doors. Sera and Rosalyn went in first, everyone scrambling after them. As soon as everyone was in, the door slammed shut behind them. Everyone whirled around, stopping in their tracks.

"I can't see," Sapphire whimpered.

"Shit," Marcus said, "I can't even see!"

Sera and Rosalyn began to glow. Even with their faint light the room was steeped in darkness. It seemed to be almost physical, butting up against their light.

Sera's eyes scanned the area but he also couldn't see anything. "This is an unnatural darkness. Everyone, stay close."

The sound of shoes shuffling against a hard floor rang out. The sound echoed. Wherever they were seemed to be massive.

"Ow!" Zoë cried out in spite of herself. "Someone stepped on my foot."

"Sh!" Sera spat.

"Sorry!"

"I don't like this," Sires' voice rang out.

"I said sh!"

"I know this place," Raven whispered. His voice trembled in fear. "I've been here before..."

Just then, flames exploded all around them. Everyone jumped. Torches ignited around them, one by one in quick succession. Eventually the entire room was illuminated and the group looked about themselves. By happenstance, Jeanette had ended up in the middle of the group, everyone facing outward from her.

The room was enormous. The ceiling was lost to shadows, higher than the torchlight could reach. The floor beneath them was made from black marble. Flanking either side of them were massive pillars of black granite, seemingly carved from the ground itself.

The most startling thing, however, were the rows of statues. They were carved from white marble. Some were beautiful, far surpassing the talents of Michelangelo, while others were twisted and disturbing, nightmarish creatures. Demons mixed in with angels, men stood with women. They were so life-like that Sapphire felt faint, fear gripping her that they would spring to life at any moment.

"Do you like my work?"

Everyone jumped, looking down the long hallway they stood in. At the far end of the room was a massive throne. It looked to be made from a mix of silver metal and black marble, the two materials swirling around each other.

Sitting upon it was a skinny man. He wore a black robe with a long cape, the lining purple silk. Black polished boots covered his feet, and the upper half of his outfit was military styled, much like Sera's. The piping was purple, and he didn't have a sash or belt like Sera's uniform. The shirt and his pants were unsurprisingly black.

Long, glowing, silver hair spilled over his shoulders. Hands, long and clawed like Marcus', held a glass of wine. He stared at the group through half-closed eyes. He rose from his throne and unfurled his massive, bare, raw-looking wings. He took several steps forward and then stopped.

"I made all these statues with my own two hands," Lucifer's voice echoed down to them. Abruptly, he broke the glass in anger, though his expression remained indifferent. "I've had a lot of time to myself to learn how to sculpt..."

Sires shuddered as the voice inside his cackled. They were one in the same, the voice and Lucifer's own. He had never been so petrified in his entire life.

Marcus, smelling the assassin's fear, grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Don't you dare run."

Sires' pride took over and he glared. "I'm not going to."

Zoë whimpered quietly. "Not this again..."

Sapphire was silently trying to fight off the same panic Zoë had felt in the courtyard with Marcus. She began to quietly hyperventilate.