Chapter 4

2 0 0
                                    

Louey reached forward and grasped her wrist. As he did so, the bright white of the Celestial world around them crumpled away. It shattered into a thousand shards of red darkness, which re-arranged themselves to show them a flat, forsaken land bathed in a light akin to the color of blood. The plateau that they appeared on was desolate and empty except for them. 

"The only way to learn the emotions of your soul again to experience them at extremes, as I already stated. How do you feel now?" Louey's eyes seemed to beam even brighter and with more malice than before.

"I... this is lonely," She replied softly, fearful her voice would draw unwelcomed visitors, "And...scared, maybe? It's a feeling deep in my gut..like I should run or... fight." Clarissa's eyes widened as she spoke, trying to identify the emotions swirling around in her stomach.

"You're getting there." The man said, releasing her and seeming to look to her heart or chest. His eyes swirled in a specific, magic-ridden way.

From the earth before them, a horrible creature erupted. It was at least twenty feet tall, and was basically an abominable centipede. It's mandibles clicked, and it emerged fully from the earth. From its jaws thousands of small insects began to fall forth. They flooded the area before Clarissa and Louey. All of the things then began to march towards them.

This brought the vague emotion in her stomach to sharp clarity. She wasn't scared or frightened, she was terrified. "Oh my god," she whispered, clutching her arms in front of her as she backed up, stark terror causing her vision to swim and legs to move on their own accord, "What is that thing?"

"It's a creature of Infernum. Not a demon... Just, a creature." Louey turned to face her as she backed up. "It's actually just releasing its young after brooding for a few months, but you get the picture." He explained, shaking off what young tried to crawl over his shoes.

"Oh my god, please. Get me out of here. I can't..." She stumbled and began to fall backwards but caught herself - barely - and continued to move away, "Please... it's... this is horrible."

"Yes, yes." The man said, taking a few steps over the vermin and grabbing her wrist. Instead of the cracks that had came from under his shoes, there was a loud pop and the two were back in the bright room in Celestia. Louey turned to face Clarissa directly. Once a silence had befallen the room, he spoke. "How are you now? How do you feel?"

Clary grasped for words but failed terribly. "I-I," she tried, shivering as she held her arms, "Fearful. I'm scared...and...disgusted, I think. That was...." She shuttered, sitting heavily on the bedside.

"You have been taught fear. Other than fear, you still feel apathy, yes?" Louey asked, taking his seat once more beside her bed. "We've to work on the lighter side of emotions once you've calmed down."

"Okay," She nodded quietly, her shivers subsiding after a few minutes. Her hair was wild and untamed from her time in a bed, and her eyes had a fearful sheen to them. "How will I learn lighter emotions?" She asked, curiosity - her original emotion - piqued.

"Those are a bit trickier. That's why it's much easier to construct demons and evil beings instead of happy, nice people like you. From what I've seen, there's not easy remedy but time. I've already gotten Raphael's permission to help you, so that's what I'll do." Louey stood up and summoned up a pair of black sunglasses. He slid them over his eyes, and with a snap of his fingers they teleported once more.

The room there were now in was wide and expansive. Clarissa had been teleported onto a couch, while Louey had been placed himself in a chair across from her. There was another chair to the couch's other side, and a coffee table between them all. The floors were made of dark gray tile, and only a persian rug colored the floor beneath them. In front of them was a roaring fire, accompanied by red brick and otherwise dark red and flat walls.

FallenWhere stories live. Discover now