From the Darkness

Welcome to the BPRD, do you have any Advil?

Chapter 2

"What is it that makes a man, a man? Is it his origins, the way things start or is it something else, something harder to describe." Professor Broom

Present day

Nix stood at a round table looking through magazines and newspapers that were scattered on top of the table. She looked up and around her corner of father's library while Abe was swimming past his books. She went back to looking through the various forms of media that had titles and headlines that read 'U.S. Gov't hides the truth about "Creature,"' with a blurred picture of Hellboy beneath it.

"Seriously, Red you just have to get your picture taken, blurry the images may be. Manning is going to have a field day with this! I wouldn't be surprised if father grounds you." she mumbled to herself.

"You know he just sneaks out to annoy you...and to see Her," Abe remarked, leaving his books to swim closer to the wall of glass next to her.

"Yeah, I know, but is seeing Her really worth being discovered. Especially when he'll end up ground-" she started before a spike of pain shot through her head and she saw snow covered mountains...

~2~

Birgau Pass, Moldavia

Present

In the thick of a snowstorm, three figures climbed the icy steps of a massive rock formation. They move through a narrow passage until they reach a dead end.

"What you seek is in there," the guide said as he stopped and pointed at the wall of the dead end.

One of the figures stopped and brushed snow off of a symbol that was carved into the rocky wall. The figure consulted a leather-bound book, matching the symbol up with an illustration within. Before them laid a doorway of ice, the figure used a hammer to break the ice, creating a doorway. They walked through the corridor until they reached a descending staircase, where they saw a massive labyrinth. They walked down the stairs to the entrance of the labyrinth. They entered, using the leather-bound book as a map, moving past humanoid statues that guarded the inhuman architecture.

They reached the center of the labyrinth the stone floor was covered in grooves radiating from a shallow stone pool. One of the figures removed their mask revealing an unknown man.

"This is a sacred place," the man said. "Give me my gold. We shouldn't be here."

The second figure dropped a piece of gold in front of the guide. He bent to pick it up, when he stood up he examined it to see a swastika embossed onto the gold. The second figure stabbed him from behind, through the chest. As the guide fell, his blood filled the grooves in the stone floor.

The remaining figures removed their face masks revealing Ilsa and Kroenen. The blood from the guide flowed into the design of the grooves, to the center pool, filling it. A body rose out of the blood, Ilsa and Kroenen moved towards the center pool, stopping short a ways away from the pool- and the body.

"Master," Ilsa whispered gleefully, while the head of the body rose, "your eyes." She said her tone turning to worry, "what did they do to your eyes?"

~2~

"Eyes... no eyes," Nix moaned from her slumped position against the table.

"Nix," Abe asked, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Abe. Just a slight headache." She answered him, as the scenes faded away and she straightened from her slumped position.

"You had another one of those visions, didn't you?"