A Dead Dog's Slumber (Janice)

I look behind me to see Jason on one knee. His body was a disheveled mess which lie against the wall. As his head resurfaced from the shadows, beads of sweat could be seen streamlining his face. He stood up still gripping the side of the granite wall; which, was now nearly reduced to dust in his palm.

He looked at me. He looked exhausted.

“Did I over do it?” I thought.

He took a deep breath as he stepped forward. His natural dark skin was flush. I felt bad. He could tell.

“I’m fine, Janice,” he tried to reassure me.

“Clearly, you’re not.” I mumbled loud.

I tried to approach him, but he waved me away. He shuffled past me to examine the doors.

“Jesus,” he exclaimed.

He looked in my direction, motioning for me to examine the door. I got closer to survey and was shocked. On the other side of the door, there were engravings outlined in a dark black tar substance carved into it. The substance was strong and burned my nose with the smell of burnt ash and….. decay.

“What the hell,” I whispered.

I swung the metal door back to the other smooth, clean, cold side to examine it further. It was blank. It was completely blank.

“T-This is a one-way barrier,” I stuttered.

I looked at Jason. His eyebrows were arched. He was clearly confused, and so was I. Indeed, it was an old-fashioned one-way barrier meaning it was meant to be only OPENED from ONE WAY.

“The barrier was made from the other side,” I could hear Jason whispering behind me. Repeating my thoughts.

It was. It would have been one thing if the barrier was made from the side we were on, but the barrier was created on the opposite side. Meaning….

“The caster is still on the other side of these doors,” I finished.

I looked past the door and was met with a long stairway drenched in darkness. The air reeked of blood, mildew, and decay. A dark foreboding feeling rushed over my body. I felt like I was unwanted. It was almost like I was…trespassing.

A bright light appeared behind me to my right. I turned to see Jason holding a floating bright blue flame in his palm. He glared down the dark passageway. I lift up my hand. With the flick of my wrist, a bright red flame formed in my hand as well.

“I guess we’re going down, huh?” I asked. All I got was a grunt in response.

“ I’ll lead the way,” I muttered under my breath. He grunted again. He’s gone quiet again. I reached out my hand and he grabbed it.

“We don't know what else is down here. Stay close to me,” I said.

No response. All he did was nod his head.

I took one step and slowly, but surely, we descended down the dark stairway. Our flames illuminated the walls which stopped the darkness from swallowing us whole.

“What do you think is down here?” I muttered under my breath.

It was silent for a moment. Jason’s shoes clacking against the cold stone floor was the only sound heard in the stairway.

“I don’t know,” he said finally.

We went further down into the darkness. The air began to cool around us as we descended. Magic began to fill our nostrils the deeper we went. The stairway was long, dark, and cold. The feeling of unease groped my skin and wrapped around my bosom as the darkness seemingly got thicker. I was on high alert.

“I don’t like this,” I whispered, “I don’t like it period.”

Not because I was scared for my safety. I was scared for Jason’s safety. I’m afraid he might get harmed. He’s strong, but..... he’s not ME strong.

I looked back at Jason. Jason didn’t say anything. He gently pushed me forward, urging me to go further down.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” he whispered in my ear.

I flexed my hand and the flame in my hand grew brighter. Jason did the same as we continued to decline. A few minutes of descending went by. After a while, we finally reached the bottom. Jason tugged on my hand motioning me to stop.

“What?” I asked.

Jason outstretched his free hand that carried his flame. Flexing his hand, the flame left the palm of his hand.

“Guidance,” he hissed.

Suddenly, the flame separated and then disappeared. After a moment, light could be seen at the bottom of the stairway. Dust and smoke rushed gently up the stairway as the light grew brighter. We both looked at each other. We didn't say a word. All we did was listen. We heard nothing. I took another step downward. Jason held my hand tightly. He raised his hand slightly behind me, preparing himself. We walked further down to the last step and was greeted to the scene of a handsomely furnished den.

Jason and I stopped dead in our tracks. We both looked at each other confused. Of all the things to find down here, this is the last thing we’d expect. Especially, so far down in the earth's crust.

However, just because we were surprised doesn't mean it wasn't unusual. With all the magic that floats around now, it's not uncommon to find hidden realms, pocket dimensions, or anything for that matter.

Jason and I examined the living room. The room itself was huge. The entire room was furnished with victorian era furniture.

Bookshelves and paintings of all shapes and sizes lined the walls. Opened books lined the crimson carpet rested on the floor. Some with missing pages. Others with none. A large black chair lay toppled over on the floor. In the middle of the room was a large black object that lay on the carpet. The object was illuminated only by the fireplace.

Jason and I approached the object and noticed that it was a coffin. Jason and briefly eye each other.

The coffin was wrapped from head to toe in chains. Some were barbed with spikes. All highly rusted.

Intrigued, I knelt down and took a closer look. I touched the chains and jolt back. A sharp pain lurched up my arm. Then, as quickly as it had came it was gone. The chains were enchanted.

My interest skyrocketed. I traced my fingers along the hood of the coffin. It was worn down with age. Scratches and missing paint lined the coffin. On the surface bared a golden cross. I dragged my fingers across it.

"It's real gold," I whispered.

I examined the coffin some more and noticed a word engraved in. The word was Romanian and was barely visible, but it was there.

"Black," I said aloud. I looked at Jason looked at me. We both made eye contact. His eyes widened and so did mine. A small smirk broke across my face. I looked at Jason and his face said it all. We were very aware of whose coffin this was.

"We can't leave him down here," he said.

He took the words right out of my mouth.

"There's no way we can leave him down here," I agreed, "Now that he's been found, he can't stay here. There's no way of telling what would happen if someone else had found him."

I stood up and turned towards Jason. He looked at me. His eyebrow was arched.

"You seem to all of a sudden have something up your sleeve," he eyed.

I looked back at the coffin.

"Probably,” I started, "It all depends on how he behaves."

I turn back towards Jason.

"Either way, he’ll get what he wants,"I said.

Jason nodded his head and grunted.

"And what's that?" he asked.

I looked back at the coffin.

"The end of his misery, of course," I explained. "The man that resides in this coffin has been through a lot. Understandably, he'd just want to be at peace ......isn't that right?"

Something inside the coffin began to gently stir, as if disturbed by the mere mention of its presence .

"Hmmm," Jason muttered, "He seems to be in deep-press slumber."

I nodded.

"Let's take him home and wake him up at the lab," I said, "It's time for The Count to go on his last voyage."