A crack. She felt like her whole heart was shattering into a million pieces, into the depths. Their sneering almost at the same time, yet still echoing through the void. That creature leaned in much closer, with her twisted nails still pressed into the girl's shoulder as it whispered low against her ear, sinister. Its eyes distorted out of shape, with a much broader, elongated grin.
"Let us help you, Hellene. We'll give him to you. Let us in."
Ene stoned in a spot, a sense of phantasmal, like drifting in a dream, was what she felt. Empty.
The world is swallowed into a void as she falls backward. Not to the chair once again, but into a drowning abyssal sea. Sinking deeper and deeper, not a single light was seen. Ene draped her arms across her face. She wasn't suffocating beneath the depth of the waters, yet she couldn't breathe; regardless, her emotions alone were enough to make her feel that way.
That sense of dread was too much for her to bear. Only one person came to her mind, as always, yet she knew it was wrong, not after everything. Her heart aches as her lips quiver, a sob, a much deeper sinking feeling than where she is currently.
"Malum..."
A hushed cry.
***
That stern gaze of his sluggishly drifted into wakefulness as Malum woke up, only to be greeted with an empty side. Much to his instant sinking to the heart, his eyes darted like lightning. Only to find that petite figure, already standing at a distance, to his own confusion.
She was awfully quiet with her back toward him. His muscles were rigid at first as he rose to his feet and made his way to her with deliberate slowness, treading carefully. He had realized that the cafeteria had become unsettling as shadows deepened, making the space feel menacing, thick with uneasiness.
"Are you... alright?"
His tone was slow and barely above a whisper, with muted emphasis. That girl in a crisp linen-white dress strewn with pastel petals and dainty blooms didn't move the slightest to his words. Which only deepens his early wariness, as his brows crinkled deeply. His words growled deep within, gritting his teeth, vibrating to the core, his white knuckles clenched, digging deep into his own pale flesh.
"You're not her."
That notion alone struck a nerve with him. Eerie giggles built in intensity to a sinister laugh as her shoulders bobbed, markedly more in time with her own rhythm.
She twisted her body 360 degrees, yet her feet were glued in place—bones cracking from the slow ripping sound of her contorted body, as the white, pristine dress drenched in red instead; it was her body, indeed, broken apart by that entity, whatever was occupying her. Yet, a calm feature he wanted to perceive is an uncanny, all-smiles grin, ear to ear, with gleaming, perfectly aligned, pearly-white teeth visible. Its giggle was menacing, lingering in the air.
The sight made him gnash his teeth hard, trembling, holding himself back from wanting to rip that thing to shreds. Ene is dead yet again.
"Where is she?"
A threatening and intimidating undertone, his body rigid under his own tensed muscles. His frame locked. Meeting the smiling eyes of those rosy eyes of hers. He knew, despite her body being deformed gruelingly in such a way, he could always mend her once more, but the one in front of him wasn't Ene, but something else. At the very least, he needs to make sure she returns to consciousness of her own body.
The entity unleashed a spine-tingling snicker, tilting its head hard until a snapping sound broke from her neck, as her head dangled low, with those round, widened eyes feigning ignorance. Malum was unable to hold wrath no more, as he warped in a flash before grabbing the mushy, disjointed neck of hers, as blood waters down from her mouth and eyes.
Seeing that once-gentle features misshapen in such ways made him more furious, much to the entity's satisfaction. Their eyes locked, seething with animosity, hate-filled.
"She's gone. She's broken. We broke her. What she truly wanted was death, so we gave it to her."
Another snicker escaped its vile mouth as it crushed its neck, before her body burst violently from his unheld back strength. Spilling to his all regal black suit, dripping red to the floor. The air changed as the setting appeared ever more battered, as if left to decay, growing increasingly dilapidated, with a musty smell around, though he couldn't smell it.
He watched the pooling, lifeless body of hers on the floor. This time, a bitter aftertaste. The terms "broke" and "broken," when spoken by an entity, only mean that she had left her soul to them. She's trapped, either a malevolent spirit or a demon, has taken her soul into possession.
Even if he had spared and beaten the hell out of that entity, it wouldn't end there. They were working together, lots of them. What they wanted from her, he would find out.
"Iblis."
Rumbling mutter vibrated through his throat, deep and tingling. Most demons only dreamt of taking more souls and sending them to their dreaded sovereign: Head of Hell, the Devil, Iblis. That was the first being that came into his mind.
Iblis had always lingered around, especially watching over his works. A deity of calamity, the calamity of humanity, what else could Iblis ever hope for? His pure hatred of the "piece of clay", if Malum was to quote him. All because they're the reason he was thrown out of Heaven, when obviously he disobeyed Him. Other than that, Iblis had always seemed to be interested in all his vessels in particular, and Malum never liked that about him.
If she is taken to Iblis... It would be hard to take her back.
Occured to him, he had guessed that, after that much suffering he inflicted on her, tormenting her mentally and physically, she would dream of that solution: her absolute death. Given her gentle nature, she must have wanted a peaceful death.
Probably... a sea...
Momentous, he remembered, how her hair swayed to the salty breeze, gazing out to the dark sea, outlooking thousands of stars and a glowing moon. It was chilly, nights like that, but she didn't mind sitting on those fine sands for hours on end.
"I like the sound of the waves."
Crashing of the waves had always calmed her, he knew that.
Malum looked over his drenched hand, warm, trailing red blood between his fingers and palm, her blood, and raising his finger slowly as he licked the rusted crimson blood. It smudged his lips red by the corner, as his gaze was blazing, determined.
"I won't let anyone take her from me. Not even her soul. I'll find her."