17 Chapter 15

A throbbing pain from the side of her head woke her up. Muffled sobs rang through her ears. Her eyes forced themselves through the fog of sleep and woke up. A moist grey brick ceiling greeted her. She turned her head to the side. Colourful bars kept them inside. She sighed and force herself off of wherever she was. There was a pain in her lower back and a few cricks from her spine. She stood and stretched the sleep and pain out.

"How could you stretch at a time like this?" Sari's voice broke through the unnerving silence.

She turned to her friend lying on raised concrete which served as a bed. "Sari? Where are we?"

"In a dungeon with demons guarding us."

"Demons?" that was a new response.

"Yes. Sharp fanged, grotesque, with wings and tails demons."

"Did we die?"

"I hope not because if this is hell I want to be alive to apologise to my creator."

Damn. Her eyes darted around the room. It was a cell the size of a studio. A white porcelain toilet on the side of the room. Black brick walls covered in grime and brown rust. Most likely blood. Random puddles of slime or water on the ground. Two pieces of flat wood attached to the wall and a thin blanket served as a bed. She moved the bars and tapped them. Plastic? That was a weird choice in dungeon decor. She kicked the plastic. It was thick hard plastic. Most likely needed an equally hard force to break it or a good fire to melt it. Sari sat on a bed, their knees to their chest, fiddling with their shoelaces.

"Turn around." She said to the visibly shaking person.

Sari did as she said. Mbilu removed their hair ribbons and ran her hands through their braids. She hummed a hymn her church enjoyed singing. When all the loose braids had fallen, she started plaiting the braids up. She'd plaited four cornrows straight down then took the tails and made a braid crown around their head. The hair ribbons were used to secure they're hair to their head.

Sari turned around once she was done. "Thanks. I don't know how to plait your hair." They sheepishly looked away.

"It's alright." Mbilu removed her hair ribbons and did the same style to her own head.

She climbed onto the bed and took Sari in her arms. She hummed a new hymn. She felt her friend go stiff before sagging in her arms. They rocked forwards and backwards until Sari fell asleep. With her friend asleep, Mbilu could think clearly. She didn't remember much of the previous day. After talking with Sari at the street corner, it had all been a blur after that. Was it a fainting spell? It couldn't be a fainting spell. She'd never fainted before. But she knew she wasn't knocked out. There would've been immense pain in her body. So what really happened?

"Hello." A voice startled her from her thoughts.

Piercing silver eyes pinned her to the spot. A lilac hand pointed at her and told her to move forward. Her grip around Sari tightened. The hand swerved up. Pain erupted in her chest, a buzz floated in her head, her eyes wired and she couldn't catch her breath. Air entered her chest with such a force she thought her lungs would burst. The hand gestured for her to move forward. Without delay, she gently placed her friend's head on the bed and moved towards the being.

Up close she noticed that the being was a woman. Shining hair as white as clouds on a sunny day flowed straight to her knees. A sheer tunic dress leaving nothing to the imagination revealed her barely visible body. It almost as if nothing was there and the dress floated on its own. Her heart face, small monolid eyes, small pursed lips and slender arms were the only indicators that she was female. Those silver eyes dipped down then back up again. A disgusted sneer formed on her face.

"Nothing." a low growl escaped her.

"Sorry?"

"There's nothing special about you."

Mbilu's eyes darted to the side then back at her then to the side again. She wasn't sure what to do. It's not everyday a random Internet troll comes to life and says things to your face. The woman waved her hand. The plastic bars moved to the side. A sweaty hand grabbed her arm. The woman shrieked back in anger. Green welts bubbled on her hand. She bared her teeth at Mbilu. She stepped back into the cell. The woman spun her hands in a circle. The air surrounding her clustered together around her hand until she had a rope. The rope moved at an unimaginable speed and wrapped itself around her arm. Mbilu grabbed the rope with her free hand and tried to pull. The woman's silver eyes darkened to a stormy grey. She pulled the rope towards her and yanked Mbilu to the ground. The young woman fell with a thud on the ground. Grime and dirt scraped onto her shirt. The woman turned and walked away, pulling the rope as she did. Mbilu quickly forced herself up and grabbed onto the rope before it left burn marks. Panic seized Mbilu. Sari would be alone when they woke up. She'd be terrified and panicky.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Mbilu yelled at the woman. She didn't slow down or look back. She soundlessly marched down the corridor. Mbilu kept looking back. The bars had closed after she walked out. She called out to her friend. When she didn't hear a response, she'd assumed Sari was still asleep. A shiver ran down Mbilu as the rope precipitated down her arm. She tried to pull her arm back but the rope's grip was stronger than she thought. A brick wall came into view. The woman marched towards it. A splat on the wall was not the way she wanted to leave life. Her fist tried hitting the woman but it went through her instead. What the hell was she?

"That's a wall! That's a damn wall!" Mbilu screamed.

The woman touched the wall. It dissipated into mist.

Water droplets covered her glasses. She took them off and quickly wiped them. Her feet panicked as the ground vanished too. She gasped in a flurry of panic. The rope's grip tightened. She placed her glasses back.

There was nothing but orange yellow thick fog surrounding her. Her legs floated and she lost her balance until she was floating side ways. Gravity was not a factor up here. They floated in a space of a sunset painting. She stretched her hand out to touch her surroundings. Her hands went through. It's as if she were floating in clouds. The woman's bottom half had completely disappeared. They moved through the rosy red space. Feeling nothing and touching nothing. Looking down, Mbilu wondered what would happen if the rope snapped . Would she fall to her death or land safely on a cloud? She doubted the latter. Clouds were just foggy water in the sky. She would definitely fall to her death if she wasn't struck by lightning first.

Laughter and chatter faded in and out the clouds. Clothes and vague facial features swirled in the fog. Random directional breezes would blow past her. Often accompanied by children's laughter. The beating of wings would blow the fog in different directions often at times giving her more than a glimpse of the beings around her. They were all humanoid yet they were not.

Gravity slowly pushed onto her until her feet touched the solid cloud. The fog swirled. Creating buildings as it did. The chatter had sources from beings that were physical air representations. A dark grey cloud-like being walked next to a gale of wind in a jumpsuit. A few beings were humanoids with wings. They paid her no attention when she walked by. They did pay attention to the woman forcefully dragging her to some place. They rushed out of the way and bowed their heads. Mbilu tried to look at their faces. A few wouldn't meet her gaze, those that did looked at her with pity in their eyes. A man even shook his head in despair for her. Her stomach sank, her heart skipped a few beats. With a scary thought, she realised fear was setting in. Why would a being from another world be afraid for her? What was the woman going to do to her? Her arm instinctively pulled back. She didn't want to find out. But she couldn't leave Sari. She also wasn't sure whether the clouds solidified in general or just for her at that moment. Her movements slowed down. She didn't want to go. She attempted to pull the rope away from the woman. The woman held strong. She continued pulling. A sharp pain made her shout out. The woman turned around. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw clenched and she yanked Mbilu towards her.

"I paid good money to get you here. You either behave or you die. Understood?" the woman snarled. A row of fangs revealed themselves as she spoke.

Mbilu nodded quickly. The woman spun on her heel and kept walking. There was an odd stinging coming from her arm. She'd have a bruise by tomorrow. Mbilu kept her mouth shut and quietly followed the woman.