"Where am I?" she questioned but could not hear her own voice properly. She was dizzy. Everything was turning around her. She was able to stand but regretted it immediately afterwards. Leila sat back and waited for everything to go back to normal as if there was still a normal in her life.
"Ahh!" she faintly heard a loud scream coming from behind. Soon, she heard similar screams coming from her right then her left and even from the front. The voices were coming from all directions. They were all high-pitched voices. The layered voices made her go crazy. Leila blocked her ears with her trembling hands. She closed her eyes tightly and crunched up in a ball. She wished for it to all be over.
"Save us..." they all said one at a time with voices that had lost their power.
"I- I- How do I save you?" she asked in tears. Her voice echoed throughout the vast darkness. All the other voices had disappeared leaving a spine-chilling silence. Leila could not see nor hear anything but she sensed something dark around her. Hesitant to look at her side, she began shaking. She mustered her courage and turned to face this unknown presence. To her surprise, there was nothing, or maybe it was just too dark to see. It was too early to be relieved, and she knew it. She brought her hand up to her face before realizing it wasn't there. She felt the hand on her shoulder but couldn't see it. She sat crying and crying until there were no more tears left.
She gasped loudly as she sat up instantly in a cold sweat along with a small tear that fell from her eye.
"What happened to you? Is it normal for humans to look so angry when they sleep?" Kieran had asked her.
"I wasn't angry. I was scared because of a weird dream." She replied, looking around. Leila was relieved to see those familiar blue and red lights, the rough sofa she laid on and the warm blanket that covered her.
"What kind of dream was it?" As a night creature, he could not understand this concept of dreams well. He had never dreamed before when he slept.
"I'd rather not talk about it. I don't want to remember." She answered, brushing it off.
"Alright, then more training?" he asked but was interrupted by a rumbling sound coming from Leila's stomach.
"I think eating comes first."
"Paté of bugs?"
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Leila said, giving up.
Kieran went away to look for food while Leila stretched her arms and legs. She carefully folded the beige blanket and placed it on the end of the sofa before getting up.
"Don't you get cold? Is it your only blanket?" she asked him.
"Are you seriously asking if a demon gets cold in Hell?"
"I just felt that maybe you slept in the cold because you gave me the only blanket you had."
"Nonsense. I don't get cold." He said as he placed a couple of cans and two spoons on the table. The cans looked similar to the ones found on earth, only the cover was odd. It was blood-red with a bright yellow circle in the middle.
Leila took a small can and read: "paté of fine bugs. Fine bugs?"
"I eat quality food."
"I don't recall bugs being fine foods. It's the word 'fine' that is making them look like quality food. Would you think fine excrement is quality?" she said, teasing him.
"You're in a different place which has different standards. Get used to it!" he said, sneering at her every word. She popped open the can as far away from her face fearing the smell or the visuals. At first, it looked like a regular paté except for it being black. She swirled her spoon in it only to realize that the texture was pretty normal. It didn't emit much of a smell, Leila highly appreciated that. "It's filled with proteins," remarked Kieran.
Leila took another look at the paté and felt nauseous.
"I can't eat that."
"Do you have another choice?" he said as he took a bite. His lips formed a smile of satisfaction. "It's really good, trust me."
"I wouldn't usually trust you but okay." Leila scooped out a tiny bit of it before bringing it to her mouth. The flavours hit her tongue and she squinted.
"Why is this so salty?" she exclaimed.
"I find it a bit bland. I usually have to add some salt or some hot sauce."
"I can only taste the salt in this. Do you have water?"
"I do," he replied.
Kieran soon came back with a bottle of water. Leila took it in her hands and remarked that it wasn't what she was talking about.
"Why is the water brown?" she frowned.
"If you want clean water, you need money and connections."
"What do you mean?"
"Clean water is so rare in Hell that you can only find it in the kingdom."
"Is this water at least somewhat safe to drink?" she questioned, giving up on the clean water. Simply hearing the words 'rich' and 'kingdom' made her realize that it would be impossible to get.
"You probably won't die. For us night creatures, it's fine. For humans, I'm not sure."
"I have no choice, If I don't drink water, I die either way." Leila pinched her nose as she gulped half the bottle. "Tell me, this brown water, is it expensive? Is it okay for me to drink so much of it?"
"Go ahead, it's cheap." Hearing that, Leila drank the rest of the brown water.
"It's surprisingly not so bad if you drink it fast and pinch your nose."
"It's filtered brown water," Kieran added.
"On earth, if it was filtered, it wouldn't be brown," she mumbled, provoking him.
"Well, this is Hell. You still haven't realized?" Kieran took his can and devoured it. Hunger took control over Leila and she devoured hers too. He chuckled at the sight. It felt like he had won for once.
"Knock knock!" a familiar voice yelled from outside.
"Luke! What are you doing here again," Kieran said as he stood up annoyed. He opened the door to Luke and Lucie.
"We're here to see Leila, not you," he teasingly said.
"Luke! Lucie!" Leila happily stood up to go and greet them.
"We're here to take you out," she told Leila.
"But I still have a human smell," Leila remarked.
"Wear the dark cape and drink a special potion and you'll be all good," Luke said.
"Special drin-?" She started before having Luke shove the content of a small glass bottle in her mouth. He made her drink the black potion in one go. "What is this?" she said, gasping for air.
"The special potion," he answered carefreely.
"This potion will increase your dark energy, it's used for long and difficult missions or simply for tired creatures." Lucie had explained with more detail than her brother.
"I wish you'd tell me first," Kieran said, biting his nail. "She has more than enough dark energy, she just doesn't have control over it."
"Is that so? I don't feel dark energy from her," Luke remarked.
"She already formed dark energy?" questioned Lucie, all puzzled.
"It's too long to explain, but Lucie, can I trust you with her? Come back if you feel that there is too much dark energy coming from her. It can be more suspicious than having a human smell."
"Don't worry, Kieran, you can trust me," Lucie had told him.
"What about me? Why don't you ask me?" Luke popped the question, all offended.
"I don't trust you," he turned to face Leila, "Don't linger too much and come back soon. You have some studying to do. Actually, why don't you bring your books with you?" Leila opposed his suggestion and pushed the books he tried to give her away.
"Come on, Kieran, you're no fun," started Luke. "Let her see Hell and get her nose off of these books." Luke liked to stay outdoors more than Kieran and didn't enjoy books. He preferred an action-filled quest rather than having a cozy reading session on the couch.
"I hate to admit it, but this time Luke has a point," Lucie started, "It'll be a great learning experience for her to see Hell in action." Her wise words convinced Kieran. He motioned for Leila to go out.
"Aren't you coming with us?" Leila asked him.
"I don't go out. Now go!" He had quickly said before crawling back into his small office. Secretly, he was glad that these two came to take her out. He was able to earn some time for himself and his art.
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