Daevas -I- ✔️

Chapter 10.4: Judgment

They climbed the walls like spiders. The padding on their feet made a sucking sound with each step. Ari backed away carefully. Their eyes were bright and beady. Ari could faintly make out his reflection through one of them as they approached closer. Ari took off back up the steps before one could attack. He went down another hall and another until he was out of breath and soaking in his own sweat. There were no sounds behind him, so Ari relaxed his shoulders and leaned up against the wall far away from any opening. 

Cobwebs were everywhere and the place reeked of decay. When he glanced around Ari jolted away from the numerous bodies of dead seeres piled on top of another. He covered his nose and backed away, not wanting to find out how they died and what had done that to them. Out of the darkness came a voice which made Ari press himself against a wall. 

"Harun was a good god," Inge said.

"He was no god. Just a demon raised far too high," Ari retorted.

"He had done many good deeds. Made humanity prosper."

"And at what price?"

"Everything has its price, Ari. What matter is the price when they agreed to pay it?"

Ari reached inside his boot and searched for the small daggers he stashed inside there. When he felt the hilt of one, Ari grabbed it and pressed it against Inge's neck. Inge only smiled and pressed the blade away from his neck despite Ari's resistance. When Inge twisted his wrist Ari dropped the dagger and gasped from the pain trickling through him now. Inge pushed him up against the wall and wrapped his fingers around his throat.

"Close your eyes and listen. Can you not hear the beating of his heart? And his breath. Can you not feel it when the wind blows against your face?" Ari turned his head away, struggling for breath. "He is here and when he awakens, I hope you will come to realize, sooner rather than later, which side you choose to stand on." 

Inge loosened his hold and smiled. Before he could drag Ari off to some place, someone came from behind him and knocked Inge out with a large slab of concrete. Rein tugged him forward, but Ari stopped and pushed Rein to the floor as he saw Inge rising. Inge held his head and looked at the both of them.

"A pity how you are on the wrong side of things. Auovin will tell you nothing because he promises you nothing that we are not already doing."

"I do not believe you," Ari breathed.

"Of course you do not. You do not want to believe that he is capable of such a thing. But he is. Harun stood in his way, and you see what had happened to him. There is no good left in him. What he does is for his benefit. Who he is with is for his gain." A trickle of blood trailed down from Inge's forehead and onto his cheek. "You are no exception. And look at you now. See how far you have sunken into his lovely yellow pair of eyes. Have they enraptured you so much that you have become beguiled by them?"

Ari furrowed his brows.

"I once was with him in his endeavor, you know. I just found what Harun had to offer me much more... appealing."

"And what is that exactly?"

"A new beginning."

"A new beginning...?"

"The time will come. You will just hasten the inevitable if only you just come with me." Inge outstretched his hand, but Ari smacked it away from him. 

"All I hear is lies." 

"The truth is there. You just fail to see it. When the time comes you will see him for what he is... What you really are," Inge added before he wiped the blood from his face. He stepped closer to them causing Rein to rise and point a sword at his throat.