The Dungeon
In the middle of the night, a nagging feeling worried Elora. She wasn't sure why but she felt like her husband was somewhere within the walls of the mansion. Perhaps she wouldn’t have felt that way if she hadn’t heard the hushed conversation of both Adam and Draven when they passed the library a few hours ago.
The whole day, she’d pretended not to be worried about Rafael’s disappearance, especially after the incident of the previous day. A series of questions kept playing in her mind. Now alone in the middle of the night underneath the cold bedsheets, the questions returned. Was the prince dying? Was it truly the curse? If Hula’s words were true, then…then…
Feeling a sudden tightness in her chest, Elora threw the covers off her and stood up from the bed. For a minute, she paced round the room, chewing the tip of her fingers. She walked to the dressing room and threw a cloak over her long flowing chemise.
She grabbed a small fire lamp and barefoot, slowly opened the door and tiptoed out. To the servants, the princess was already asleep, and she didn’t want to alarm them; otherwise, they could convince her to return to bed.
Elora passed through the hallways, swiftly avoiding any servants that she came across. Since nighttime was vampires’ day and they didn’t need sleep as much as humans, they were on and about as usual.
Where could the prince be? She wondered. She knew that there was something that Rafael’s men were keeping away from her. They’d acted suspiciously throughout the day and had avoided any questions about the Prince from her.
After peeping through all the rooms in the mansion without any trace of the prince, she tiredly placed her hand on her waist and breathed in.
‘I was just overthinking after all,’ she whispered to herself. Her expression was grim. Maybe he was out for work.
Just as she was about to whirl around and retire again to bed, her eyes came across a metal door. Although she knew that the result might be the same as the rest, her feet led her to the door. Her hands fell on the door’s handle and with a slight push, it opened.
She edged inside and in the darkness of the night, the lamp shone through the large room.
It was probably the largest space she’d come across in the mansion. It was cold and windowless and as she stepped closer, she took notice of the things on the wall and the floor.
“What are those?”
Walking even closer, she finally recognized them. They were weapons. Turns out the room was just the weaponry.
Swords, spears, knives, row upon row of steel lined the walls, glinting in the darkness. Her eyes scanned the room, and just then, something caught her attention. It was a golden armor.
Striding closer, she stretched her lamp toward the armor. It was old, dusty, and large.
“Did this belong to him?” She whispered, reaching a hand toward the breastplate of the old armor. It indeed belonged to him. Her fingers brushed across the breastplate and the letter ‘R’ that was carved on it.
All of a sudden, the air shifted. A soft metal sound suddenly erupted from the armor and then the wall beneath it.
Elora jerked backward.
The armor creaked roughly and then slid to the side. She watched as a section of the wall loosened and then a narrow opening appeared.
She gasped.
“Wh…what in the world.”
The sight alone was enough to answer her question. Was it like a secret room or something? At that point, she knew that she needed to turn away and leave but curiosity got the better of her.
She took a trembling step forward, heart thudding wildly. Beneath the opening was a long stairway. Holding the lamp even tighter, she boldly tiptoed down the stairway, the lamp making the space visible to her. She got to the bottom of the stairs and sharply took a turn to the side.
Her eyes enlarged and she unconsciously took a step back at the sight that she met with. Elora swallowed hard.
Heavens. It was a dungeon. Her breath increased rapidly.
The lamp shone brightly. On either side of her were iron gates and they stretched along till the other far end of the wall.
Low snarls and groans from inside the gates caused her legs to tremble even further. Realizing that she’d wandered off to a forbidden place and that she stood in a deadly dungeon, she froze. Her face paled and her legs began to slowly move backward.
“Rughhh.”
Elora screamed and jerked backward at the sudden roar from inside the iron gate at her side. Another roar resounded. And then, another. Quivering like a leaf, she ended up tripping on her chemise and fell on her butt.
Her shrieks grew louder with each passing second of their roars. Cocking the lamp to the side, her eyes came in contact with a creature, and heaven, she felt her soul disappear from her body.
It was unlike anything she’d seen before. The pale creature was snarling at her like food, angry and bloodthirsty. His fangs extended and his claws stretched through the holes in the gate as if trying to reach her. Thick black veins ran across his entire face and his face was contorted. She held the lamp to the other side and a similar creature was also inside the cage.
Their groans grew louder and they pulled at the iron gates, their fingers stretching forward to try to reach her. Elora panicked and pushed backward, her eyes beginning to burn with tears. Was it perhaps a nightmare? Like one of those she’d been having recently? If it was a nightmare, she prayed to wake up from it immediately.
Oh heavens, she cried inwardly. If she gets out of this situation, she definitely would never snoop around again. Gathering the courage, she shakily rose from the floor.
She was about to turn and sprint out when one of the creatures snatched her cloak and pulled her to him. The lamp crashed onto the floor and broke, halting her sight.
Her scream tore through the cold walls of the dungeon. But just as the creature was about to wrap his sharp claws around her neck, her hand was suddenly seized.