Demon Heart

Chapter 11.2

Since arriving to the Spiral, Evabelle had dealt with a lot of light and dark. The light of the campfire on the beach, the light of the rising sun, the light of small fairies collecting together like a spotlight, the light of candle-like energy balls, the light of the full moon, the light of from the floating happy emotions in the Auxilia Gaudium fountain.

Then she had also dealt with terrifying, confusing darkness: when first hitting the magical barrier around the first wall, then the darkness of being blindfolded and lead through unfamiliar territory, the darkness as magical vines covered windows, the darkness of the underground garden where the elves kept their dilapidated portal, the darkness of these terrible caves that continued getting darker and darker until they did find a light. Only it was the light of burning treachery.

However, now there was no light at all. Never in all her life, had Evabelle opened her eyes and seen absolutely nothing. At first as she was slowly coming to, she blinked several times, expecting the darkness to fade, or for at least some little form of light to gradually allow her eyes to adjust, but neither happened.

Evabelle brought her hand in front of her face and she squinted hard, but there was just... nothing. Blinking hard, Evabelle started to push herself up, when finally she remembered what had happened just before this.

Adrenaline and fear lit her veins again. She quickly rolled up and tried to leap to her feet, but was quickly stopped as her head collided with the extremely low rocky ceiling. She let out a loud cry and crumpled, hands clutching her head.

"Are you okay?" A high disembodied voice warbled out from the darkness, making Evabelle freeze. She looked up again, but that didn't help, obviously. Never had she before thought of darkness as having weight, but now she might have to change her view on that. It was so thick, and even just cautiously reaching out her hand, it almost felt more difficult to move through it.

Evabelle's lungs were having a very difficult time taking in the proper amount of air. At first she figured it was from her minor claustrophobia, but now another thought was slipping into her mind. Had the elves blinded her? What if she was in a lit room right now, but she was now as blind as the elf princess? It was a strange thought, but she had never experienced anything quite like this before.

"H-Hello?" Evabelle finally whispered back to the voice.

"Hi,"

Evabelle's stomach tightened. It sounded like a young boy, just a child.

"Um," She wasn't sure how to phrase this. "Can you see me?"

Silence for a moment, then she heard a bit of shuffling across the gravelly ground. He didn't sound very far away. "Well, not right now."

Evabelle tilted her head. She opened her mouth to ask what that meant, when the kid started to explain.

"We're in some magical rocky pocket in the ceiling right above some big fire. The holes in the ceiling where the smoke was getting through aren't where we are. I think their more around it. Only those pointy eared things can open it up. I've been in here for what feels like hours but probably not that long, when they opened it again and threw you in here." It was subtle, but Evabelle could hear a tremor it the boy's voice.

Evabelle was about to try and say something comforting, when something in the kid's explanation clicked to her. "Pointy eared things..." She murmured. "You don't know the elves then?"

"No, but I guess if you go off the fairytales that makes sense."

Evabelle knew the next question was going to be an odd one, but considering the world she had come to know, it had become less so. "Could I ask, what are you?"