Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 6

I blinked. All I could see was black. I was lying on the ground, my body hurt. It was hot and dry. There was a persistent smell of rotten eggs. I rolled over and Gregor sat cross legged beside me. I got up onto my elbows. A stabbing pain squeezed my head like a vice.

I grabbed my head, "Fuck!" The pain spread from the back of my head to my eyes, pressure pressed against the inside of skull. My head was going to crack open.

"Fuck," I muttered, tears gathered in my eyes and poured out. Gregor moved closed and placed my head on his lap.

"It will okay, the pain will pass," he whispered.

"Don't talk," I cried. His words banged in my ears like cymbals and made everything worse. The pain grew, pulsed, beat and ripped the inside of my head. It was like there was a monster with massive claws trying to tear its way out. The pain would not stop and the tears flowed freely. My eyes felt sore, swollen and throbbed. I squeezed my eyes shut. Fuck it hurt, everything hurt, fuck! I dug my nails into Gregor's leg and buried my face in his lap. He stroked my head. The sensation sent a prickling feeling down my spine and made me feel nauseous, but it was comforting so I did not protest. Gradually the pain and throbbing eased and my tears stop. Gregor kept slowly stroking my hair. I sat up and Gregor moved his hand away.

"Are you feeling better?" asked Gregor.

I nodded, "my head still hurts a bit." I moved closer and hugged Gregor, more like I clung to him. I still felt dizzy and sick but the pain was not as bad as before.

"Yeah... it's hard to travel through portal at first. The first time I went through a portal I ended up throwing up," said Gregor.

"Really?"

"Yeah... but I was five at the time," replied Gregor and rubbed my back.

"It doesn't count if you were five. Kids throw up all the time for no reason," I chuckled.

"No, I think it does. It gets better, you get used to travelling through portals after a couple times," said Gregor. My head stopped spinning and I could probably be fine but I didn't want to let go just yet.

"Gregor," I muttered, "where are we now?"

"Well... about that. Good news and bad news. Good news is that we are in the demon kingdom and the bad news is that it is a minor realm," whispered Gregor in my ear.

"How minor?" I asked. "Minor as in the size of a country or minor like the size of a village?"

"Er... think smaller. Probably less than 6 miles in diameter because I can see both the edges of the realm near the horizon," said Gregor.

I looked up, still clinging to Gregor. It was dark, the ground was all dark and the sky starless. And just like Gregor said I could make out the end of the realm where the ground abruptly ends above the vastness of subspace.

"Where is the light coming from?" I asked. There was still some light and heat (so much heat) but there was no sun, moon or stars.

"Probably from all the fire," said Gregor. His tone had a hint of sarcasm.

I hesitated but let go of Gregor, looked behind me and indeed there was fire. A giant black fortress surrounded by a moat of fire. The fire burned bright and flickered two feet high.

"I thought the demon world wasn't all brimstone and fire," I said looking at the huge fires. Just beyond the castle was a lake of molten lava which dripped over the edge of the realm.

Gregor snickered, "we can't all go against the stereotypes, they did come from somewhere."

"What do we do now?" I asked. Gregor stood up and placed his hand on my shoulder.