Bam!
A hand slammed down on the table.
"Hahahahhahahahah!"
A manic laugh echoed through the huge, dark room where seven other figures sat in silence. The sound bounced off the stone walls, wild and unhinged.
"THE BOY IS ALIVE! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!"
The voice was deep and demonic, vibrating through the air.
"He has the ruby!"
The creature finally sat down again, his dark, shadow‑soaked face splitting into a grin as eight eyes slowly peeled open,eyes that leaked black mist as they stared around the table at the others.
To his immediate right sat a woman with a disfigured body, her limbs bent at impossible angles. Thick, dark liquid dripped constantly from her skin, pooling beneath her chair in slow, sticky streams.
Beside her lounged a gorgeous blonde woman, her beauty almost unreal until she smiled. Two razor‑sharp teeth jutted past her lips, and her bright red eyes glowed in the dim light.
Across from her sat a massive, muscular man with four legs and eight arms, each limb twitching with restless strength. His chest rose and fell like a caged beast barely holding itself together.
To the blonde woman's left sat a tall, skeletal figure wrapped in rusted chains. Every breath made the metal rattle softly. His face was hidden behind a cracked porcelain mask, and faint whispers leaked from the cracks,multiple voices speaking at once, none of them human.
Next to him, perched casually on the table itself, was a small creature with paper‑white skin and a smile stretched too wide across its face. Its hollow eyes were bottomless pits, but something moved inside them shifting, crawling, alive.
Across from the skeletal figure, a hooded being flickered like a dying flame. Sometimes solid, sometimes smoke, sometimes nothing at all. His form split and reformed in slow pulses, as though he were barely anchored to the world.
And at the far end of the table, opposite the eight‑eyed creature, sat a woman with long, tangled hair that floated around her as though underwater. Her eyes were pitch black, and every few seconds a second face flickered over hers,angry, grieving, screaming before vanishing again.
"Master will be pleased if we get him alive," the eight‑eyed creature growled, his voice low and hungry.
"We shouldn't rush to capture him," the woman at the far end said calmly. "We should wait. Wait until we see that old lizard. Wait until he unlocks that rock. And wait until the boy is at his happiest… then we crush it. It'll be far more entertaining."
The blonde perked up, eyes gleaming. "Oh, so I get a taste of the others' delicious blood? It's been years since I've had anything as sweet as younglings' blood." She licked her lips slowly, savoring the thought.
The muscular, eight‑armed brute slammed two fists together. "I don't care, as long as I can crush those pathetic hum—"
"Silence, you imbeciles," the eight‑eyed shadow snapped, though a grin crept into his voice. "But… a great idea, Sheria. It would be much more entertaining that way."
"I'm glad you agree, Aisare," Sheria replied, her smile unwavering. "But even if you didn't, I still would've gone with my plan."
Aisare's shadowy eyes twitched, just slightly.
The mist around his face rippled like disturbed water. But he said nothing.
Sheria's smile widened, slow and poisonous.
From the blonde's side of the table came a soft, hungry hum. "If we're waiting," she purred, "then someone needs to keep an eye on the boy. I volunteer." Her tongue flicked across her teeth, leaving a faint smear of red on her lip.
"No," the skeletal figure in chains rasped. His voice was layered,three, four, five tones speaking at once. "You'll try to kill him. And the prey will run too soon."
The small white creature perched on the table giggled, legs swinging. "Let him run! Let him run! I like when they scream." Its smile stretched wider, skin cracking faintly at the corners.
"Enough."
The hooded, flickering figure spoke without lifting his head. His voice vibrated through the room like a low chord. "If we wait, we must do it properly. No mistakes. No impulses."
The eight‑armed brute snorted, crossing all eight arms at once. "I don't make mistakes."
"Your existence is a mistake," the blonde muttered.
He slammed two fists on the table, making the wood groan. "Say that again, leech—"
"Silence."
Aisare didn't raise his voice, but the shadows around him surged outward, swallowing the edges of the table. Every creature froze.
He leaned forward, all eight eyes glowing faintly.
"We wait," he said. "We watch. We let the boy believe he is safe. We let him trust the old lizard. We let him unlock the ruby."
Sheria nodded, pleased.
"And when the moment is perfect…" Aisare's grin widened, teeth sharp and too many. "We take everything and kill that old lizard."