Seven Twisted Stars

Chapter 6: Into the Darkness

~AB dimension~

For what felt like hours, Zhaika waited in the dark. Every second took longer and longer to drag by — or maybe she was losing track of what a second was; she had no way of knowing. Her back ached from staying balled up and tense for so long, but she didn't dare make any movement beyond shallow, shaky breaths.

Above, she heard the guards passing by for what must have been the third time.

"Do you trust that Bluebell girl?"

Zhaika perked up at the words, breath going still and eyes stretching into the dark.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," the other guard responded. "I know she's a die-hard Allium supporter, which I appreciate, but-"

"Of course you would appreciate that-"

"I'm talking," the first snapped. "She's an Allium supporter, and she seems shy on the outside, but...I've never known her to be impulsive. So the fact that she just decided to come into the royal structures...yeah, no, I don't trust her."

"Think she's hiding something?"

If possible, Zhaika went even more still.

"No, I don't think she's hiding something," the Allium supporter sighed. "But I do think she's keeping watch on us for some reason or another."

Zhaika relaxed the tiniest bit in relief. They didn't think Bluebell was hiding anything. They only thought she'd been keeping tabs on them, probably because she thought it could help Allium's mission somehow. Of course, finding out about Zhaika would probably hurt Allium's image even more...

Her eyes widened.

Of course. That was why Bluebell was helping her. Not because she cared for Humans, not because she worried for Zhaika's safety, but because Zhaika's presence in this dimension proved just how incompetent Allium really was.

She gritted her teeth, feeling disgusted. What a fool she was for believing that Bluebell actually had her best interest at heart.

The guards' voices faded into the distance, leaving the air silent once again.

Zhaika's knuckles clenched around the bar she was still holding onto, before she slowly pulled her feet free and let go. She stretched her spine straight, and it cracked loudly a few times, but it felt so good that she had a hard time worrying about it. Right now, she just wanted to move, and go somewhere where Bluebell wouldn't find her.

Her hand reached out and jammed uncomfortably into the wall, which was closer than she'd thought it was. This caused her to float away from it slowly, until none of her limbs were in reach of anything.

She breathed out slowly. I really need to get the hang of this no-gravity thing. Once her shoulder finally bumped the opposite wall, she reached up to the metal lip at the top and pulled.

Instead of going straight up, this caused her feet to rotate back and her head to go forward over her hands. Her fingers tensed on the metal, trying to put her back upright, before she comprehended that 'upright' didn't actually mean anything.

Stilling for a second, she tried to let her mind get used to the rotation.

Alright, let's go.

Zhaika slid a hand up along a beam that was connected to the box, grabbing it firmly above her head before bringing the other hand up to match. She continued to make progress in this way, slowly for fear of losing her hold and getting stuck in the nothingness again. The movement itself was surprisingly easy — yes, her muscles were moving in weird ways, but the lack of gravity more than made up for it — but her mind still struggled to grapple with the lack of definite direction.

At least it required enough thought to give her some sort of distraction; she really didn't want to think about Bluebell's fake caring, much less Allium or Caesia. She knew she'd only just met the Demon girl, and she really knew nothing about her, but she'd been so desperate to have some sense of security that she'd trusted her blindly.

I am so stupid, she thought angrily as her fingers probed the air above her head for the next hold. They found a flat piece of metal, but the edge was too sharp for her to grab comfortably. What in the world are these structures built out of? Rolling her eyes, she felt to the side, but there was still nothing.

She rested her forehead on her shoulder, letting out a long breath. Shaking her head, she stretched a foot to the side and finally impacted some sort of bar. Through her worn moccasin, it felt less jagged than the thing above her head.

Three. Two. One. Zhaika pushed herself in that direction. For a second, she was suspended in the air, before her chest hit the bar. She stifled a grunt, wrapping her arms around the metal and letting her heart rate slow down.

After what felt like eternity of travelling, she heard voices ahead of her and stopped moving.

"What do you mean, we've lost progress?" It was a rich alto voice, speaking authoritatively.

"I mean, Iris tried to go through on schedule, and he said the Gate put up more resistance than it did yesterday." It was the guard from before who didn't like Allium.

"Not by a small amount either," another person added — the Allium supporter. Zhaika assumed this was Iris speaking. "It was almost as bad as right after Allium first went through."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Your Highness..." the other began hesitantly. "We have done our best to guard the Gates vigilantly, but it is possible that someone snuck through."

"I am aware," the woman said.

Zhaika realized the voices were headed in her direction and panicked, jumping backward into the open space. A second later, she realized how poorly she'd planned the movement — she had no idea what was behind her — but at least the Demons wouldn't run straight into her.

After a second, the woman added, "I am also aware that your loyalty to Demonkind is unwavering, so you needn't worry about punishment."

There were two loud sighs of relief.

"Thank you, Princess Larkspur."

"I am most grateful."

"However," Larkspur continued, "I may need to reassign you elsewhere, since your mistakes have led to such a drastic setback in our progress."

A pause.

"But-" Iris started.

"I will decide on your new roles tomorrow. For now, I want you to see if you can find anything to indicate who the traitor may have been. Iris, look around the Gates. Lily, check the main structures."

"Yes, Princess," Lily said dejectedly.

Their voices were growing further and further away, and Zhaika was still floating backward.

She reached a hand out, grasping for anything she might be able to hold onto, but there didn't seem to be anything near her.

In fact, she hadn't run into anything physical since she'd first pushed off.

Her heart rate sped up. How big was this dimension? How much of it did the Demons' structures span? What if she'd exited their territory altogether, and there was nothing behind her but the cold and dark?

"Help!" she screamed, throat constricting.