Chapter 74 - Incandescent
Her lips parted at the sight that laid before her. A dungeon? What on earth?
The place was surprisingly very large that her lamp was not enough to light up the ceiling or the far end of whatever this place was.
And then, she suddenly stiffened. She had the prickling feeling that something or someone else was down here together with her. There was a living, breathing presence in this place. Something, no, someone was here.
Evie was frozen still. She could sense something dark. A shadowy coiled energy pulsating with quiet and deadly power was making her shiver violently.
She knew she should run before it was too late. But why did she suddenly pictured Gavriel's face in her mind? This quiet and dark power… why did it feel so familiar? That's right, she once felt something close to this same sensation towards Gavriel before. What she was feeling right now was far more intense, but it still strongly reminded her of Gavriel. Why was that so? This was getting so strange.
Suddenly, Evie remembered herself thinking earlier that Gavriel's men seemed to be lying about her husband's whereabouts. And she could not help but reason out that perhaps, this presence has something to do with her husband no matter how unlikely it seemed to be.
Steeling herself, Evie moved and walked ahead, very slowly. The dark energy kept getting thicker and more unbearable as she stepped forward. She fought for strength, fighting the fear that threaten to consume her by filling her mind with thoughts of Gavriel. She reminded herself that this place was still Dacria and that she would be safe here, like how he promised her.
She halted, choking back a startled squeak at the sight of a man's shadow sitting ahead of her. The inky darkness did not permit her to see him clearly with the meagre light of her lamp, but she could faintly make out a pair of incandescent eyes clearly in the darkness and they were looking straight at her.
Evie tried her very best not to scream out and crumble to the floor in fear. She gritted her teeth and stiffened her frame, forcing herself to stay upright and not show any outward panic. When she looked closely, those intense eyes were becoming more familiar to her with every second that passes. They were impossibly bright like Gavriel's but something in those bright eyes does not seem to belong to her husband.
She remembered seeing eyes like this before. Eyes such as these usually belong to deadly and heartless predators. And yet, that niggling feeling deep within her told her they felt the same as Gavriel's.
Evie did not know what to do. She was paralyzed by the indescribably fearsome presence coming from that unknown person whose scary looking eyes belong to. On the other hand, her heart was moving and aching for something. What was it? Why is it aching? She did not have the answers to it. The only way to figure out the answers was for her to step closer despite the warning bells blaring away in her mind.
She took one brave step forward and peeked at the person. However, the owner of those killer eyes remained still and unmoving. It reminded her of the dangerous stillness of a predator just before it attacked. Evie paused again, inwardly shaking her head, trying to clear away the residual terror.
Refusing to blink, Evie never took her eyes off those pair of incandescent eyes glowing in the darkness.
A little bit more and she would be able to see his face. Who was he? And what was he doing in this place? Why was his quiet power so terrifying? And most of all, why did he feel like her husband and yet feel like a different man?
Taking another step, Evie's hand shook as she lifted her lamp and the moment she saw his face, time seemed to screech into a halt. G-gavriel?!
Evie could not believe her eyes. The man was her husband. What was he doing all the way down here? What happened to him? And what is…
She could not even make a sound at the sight of something dark and ghostly that seemed to be wrapping itself around him.
How many times had she imagined during the past few days of what she would do the moment she saw him? She imagined herself jumping on him and hugging him as tight as she could and kissing his dearly beloved face all over. She even thought about scolding him for not showing up first and making her worry to death.
Yet now that she finally saw him, and was right before her, she was frozen to the spot, not knowing how to react. Her knees were trembling, and her lips felt numb to the point that she could not even utter a single word.
Fear had gripped her to her core. She never once thought she would ever feel this kind of fear towards him. Why? Was this man really her husband? But looking at his face, it was truly him in the flesh. Then why did he looked like he was seeing through her? Could he not recognize her anymore?
The thought made her heart shiver. She must speak. She must call his name. Perhaps, that ghostly thing enveloping him had possessed him!
Evie forced herself to break free from the fear. But as she struggled, a sudden aggression and bloodlust punched through the ceiling.
Evie subconsciously stepped back as he finally moved and without warning, he lunged directly at her.
A life-sucking panic gripped Evie's entire being as she watched as a large dark shadow flew upwards menacingly. Then there was a blur of motion lunging through the air seeming to explode out of the darkness with such an impossible speed. She knew it was him and he was going to...
"Gavriel!!!"
Evie's scream ricocheted off the cold stone walls of the pitch black dungeon.