The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 35

Reich der Finsternis court

Liz expected to fall into a deep sleep, although her feeling was more akin to passing into an alternate reality where only desolation reigned. Her whereabouts were shrouded in a darkness that gradually faded as lights from a chandelier on the ceiling took possession of the area; she knew that her senses were progressively returning. She felt no odor, and to her surprise, the residual pains from her encounter with Holzmann's executioner had subsided. Still with blurred vision, she desperately looked around for Bernard, but his friend was nowhere to be seen. Liz became distressed, until finally, she managed to stand up and catch a glimpse of where she had ended up. She thought for a moment that she had awakened from another long sleep.

She found herself in a wide hallway with pillars built of linen-colored marble on either side leading into a partially lit room. She didn't have her gun or her radio transmitter, which upset her almost to the point of screaming in despair, though at the same time, she felt her breath had been taken away. Everything around her looked as if it had been devoured by a thick gray haze, which added to the desolate and depressing panorama. Those sensations were disrupted by sounds coming from the east side that were heading towards the living room.

She felt control of her limbs in spite of everything, and with a notorious gesture of desperation she ran towards the point where the scene was unfolding. To her surprise, her footsteps did not produce any sound in the environment, which she did not know if it was an advantage or a cause for concern.

Without realizing it, Liz entered an immense room where the shocking sounds emitted by demonic creatures ended the little calm that remained in the inhospitable environment. She found herself in a sort of large auditorium, with a wooden partition, behind which she noticed how the horrors illustrated in the frescoes of the palace materialized in front of her to torment her. Beings taken from the deepest circles of hell, invaded the whole area on a side that rose to where a throne was located, disfigured faces with sharp teeth and depraved looks, triangular faces with deer horns and covered with wrinkles.

Seated at that side was not the sorceress Anneliese Holzmann, but an unknown woman. She wore an elegant white dress with black fractions, and a necklace of extravagant stones that reminded her of the three gems of the statue stolen by the executioner. Her face had a spectral pallor, her lips painted black, and although she had a serious expression, her red pupils dilated as she frowned, suggesting that she was up to no good.

Terror gripped Liz, although none of the beings became aware of her presence; she concluded that those images were not part of her current reality or her tangible world.

Liz looked to the other side; the place where the inmates would be placed. On the sides, two opulent young people, wearing elegant blue suits and extravagant pirate-like hats, were posing. One of them, a handsome young man, spectral complexion, with his blond hair tied in a tail coming out from behind his hat, with a serious and calm expression; and on the other side, a young woman, also pale-skinned, blond, scarlet-eyed and very beautiful, although in her notorious smile stood out a gesture of cruelty and dementia.

"Angeklagte in den Zeugenstand (The accused to the stand)," ordered the young man after lifting a parchment to read something from it. At that, from the east side, some beings covered from head to toe with black robes transported people to the front of the room, several of them unknown. Liz had seen others of them being taken in the floats before. She distinguished the bald American man she had seen at the entrance to the palace, but it was the last of the image that most excited her.

"MAX!" Liz shouted as she saw her leader with his characteristic face full of resentment towards those who have surpassed him in something, with his hands tied behind his back. She took advantage of not being heard.