Darkness into Light - Espresseleine

Chapter Twenty Five ~ A Special Experiment

Tw: heads up for:
- weird touching/uncomfortable situations.
- depiction of vomit/throwing up.

~

Espresso pried his eyes open, blinking at his surroundings. He groaned, realising he was having yet another weird 'nightmare'. At this point he really didn't know what the hell these reoccurring dreams even were. All he knew is that they were absolutely dreadful.

The mage was in pitch blackness, again, feeling around the dead silent room to see if he can find some sort of exit. He tried to remain as quiet as possible, so as not to alarm whoever would make a surprise appearance.

Ugh, I just want to wake up already.

Espresso tried slapping himself, "Wake up, goddammit!"

With no luck, he continued forwards, feet creating a soft splashing noise against the floor that wasn't even wet. Still, there was nothing but insanity-driving silence.

He opened his mouth, "Hello?"

But immediately regretted it as it echoed, blaring in his ears. The mage winced, hands hovering over his ears to cover them. Suddenly, the room glowed brighter, bright enough so he could see the path in front of him.

He squinted his eyes, his vision blurred. Espresso reached up to touch around his eyes. His glasses were missing, of course they were. He hadn't noticed earlier due to being previously isolated in total darkness.

The mage squinted harder, trying to make out whatever thing was in front of him. It was a figure. Someone was here with him. He hoped it wasn't Dark Enchantress again... or whoever that other woman was.. that pale, magenta-eyed woman. He still needed to figure out her identity.

"Espresso.." a voice cooed.

His eyes widened as he recognised the voice. But why is he in his dream..?

"Madeleine?" Espresso whispered uneasily, shivering slightly as he stepped towards the figure.

But then all of a sudden, something latched onto his arms. A bright flow of light magic wrapped around his arms like tight ropes and pulled him backwards, away from 'Madeleine' who was still standing there unmoving, but radiating the dullest amount of glow.

Espresso opened his mouth to shout but his throat felt dry as his limbs became heavy. Things started to fade as the magic dragged him into the darkness. But as his eyes glanced at the magic sleepily, he realised that the magic was no longer a light blue-ish white, it was now black with red pulsating throughout it. It was Dark Enchantress's magic.

"You can't escape from me Espresso.. that boy, he won't save you," her voice rang in his ears. Espresso gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut and clapping his hands to his ears in a desperate act to shut her out.

"I know Espresso. I know you've developed an unnecessary fondness for that knight commander.." she whispered, "You're delusional to think he feels the same about you. You think he cares for you, don't you?"

Dark Enchantress's voice cackled, the shrillness making Espresso want to scream at her to stop, to just leave him alone.

"You remember what happened Espresso... how could you forget such an awful occurrence?"

For a moment he felt like he was falling. Falling into a dark void, his stomach twisting and turning until his eyes were suddenly snapped open. He was sitting down. On the ground.

The mage got up quickly, looking around in what appeared to be... his old cell?

Why did she bring me here?