Chapter 13

I heard a door creak open, and the thorny vines disappeared in a flash. Jayin was standing in the doorway, looking at me from afar. The light of the outside world blinded me, causing me to not be able to read Jayin’s expression. His arms were folded, and his posture remained perfect as always.

“Hah.” Jayin scoffed.

I couldn’t say a word. I was speechless in the face of fear. I held my eyes open, watching every slight movement Jayin made. 

“It’s funny. You don’t know anything at all, truly the perfect weapon. Unknowingly killing things without batting an eye.”

This new information made me almost puke. The way he said it, truly he was not lying. I was a weapon. What did that mean? Or maybe he was lying. What had he ever done in order to earn my trust? Maybe every word he spoke was a lie.

Suddenly, the vines appeared from the shadows and slowly began to sneak up on Jayin. Jayin stayed calm and composed without ever turning the vine's direction. Jayin began to laugh wildly.

“You’re so dumb! Open your mind! See what threat you actually pose!” 

The vines climbed up the wall towards my chained hands. They broke the locks, and I climbed to my feet. My chest hurt, but that didn’t stop my desire to run past Jayin and escape through the door. 

“Come on! Don’t you want to save your rabbit?” Jayin said with a wide smile.

It felt like glacier water poured on top of my head. 

“Andrew?” I asked with a weak voice.

Jayin laughed once more. He looked at me with his evil purple eyes, staring at me intently, without a hint of mercy.

“Oh, so he has a name. How funny, he won’t need one soon anyway. I was going to kill him myself, but perhaps you would like to take my place?” 

Jayin was inviting me to fight him, and I took the bait. I sprinted so fast that I didn’t even notice I moved until I was face-to-face with him. Jayin was so much taller than me, it was like looking up at the sky. I had never stood so close to him, and I felt like I was about to get squashed. I had become so afraid that I forgot what I was wanting to do. Jayin kicked me to the ground, and I landed with a thud. I coughed violently, and Jayin looked at me with disappointment.

“That was sad.”

Vines pushed me upwards and made me stand once more. I stood once again face-to-face with the man who hurt me so much. 

I threatened, “Don’t hurt Andrew!”

Jayin smiled at me.

“Why not? Does he mean something to you?”

Once again, I was hit by a tall wall in my path. Something was not right, what was Jayin’s goal? 

It was then that I noticed. Jayin had never even questioned the vines that swarmed around me. 

Vines picked Jayin up like a throne. He sat, not even flinching at the thorns poking him in his thighs. I backed away until I ran into something. I turned my head sharply and I met the eyes of a child. The child's eyes were a bright yellow with tiny slits for pupils, like every demon. Except theirs was more sharp, more black. They had extremely wavy hair that reached to the middle of their neck. On their head they wore a crown made of thorns, and horns larger than their head. They wore a t-shirt that reached down to their knees. I turned my head sharply back to check on Jayin, but he was nowhere to be seen. The throne sat empty. I turned my head back once again, and the child was gone. 

“Where?” I asked.

“I am over here. Young demon.” The child replied.

I turned back again, and the child was seated atop the throne. The thorns were avoiding touching him.

I asked, “Where’s Jayin?” 

“Haha! You really are dumb! Surely you did not believe that? How cute.”

The way he spoke did not match that of a child's speech. It confused me.

“Who are you?” I asked, with power returning to my voice.

“Why should I tell you that? Oh, this sounds fun. Why don’t you guess who I am.”

“Guess who you are?” I asked once more.

The child stared at me while they expected questions, and I turned my head to think. Why would Jayin have a child in his dungeon? For all the times I had been here, he never had anyone but me in his dungeon because he would just kill anyone who opposed him. So him having a child locked away in a dungeon was strange. Why would he let me share a cell with anyone anyway? I remembered the moment the immortality curse seeped into my hands. I wondered if the child had something to do with the immortality curse, but that didn’t make sense. Wasn’t the curse of immortality an object? Why would it suddenly transform into a demon? I thought the curse came from the Overworld.

So many questions were flowing through my brain that I left the child waiting silently for minutes on end. 

The child frowned. “Do you give up? You made this game unfun.”

I randomly guessed, “Are you the immortality curse?”

  Why would a curse become a demon? This had to all be in my head. I had to be dreaming.

“Correct.” The child said.

Will tapped on his wrist to call someone, and once they answered, the two talked for a while. Andrew sat on the bench he and I once sat on together. He felt cold, so he crossed his arms in hope of gaining warmth. Andrew watched Will wander around while he talked to the other person. He could not stay in one place. Sometimes he was in a tree, other times he was jumping on stones. He seemed happy talking to the person on the other side, as proven by his massive grin painted on his face. His eyes showed so much warmth that Andrew felt his heart leap. Who else had looked at him like this before? Will lowered his wrist and ran to Andrew.

He spoke with joy, “My girlfriend will be here soon!”

“I thought you lied about that.” Andrew said bluntly.

Will seemed heartbroken by this response, and he lowered his head. Andrew had meant that half as a joke and was about to say sorry before Will slammed his hand on his chest.

“I promise! I will do everything to make it up to you! Don’t you worry, because I will always protect you!” Will proclaimed.

Something ticked inside Andrew’s head. He wondered if I would ever say that to him.

A door appeared in front of the two so suddenly that Andrew let out a yelp. The door opened widely and revealed a woman with an afro. She had black lipstick on, and she wore a black robe. In her hand she held a massive pink scythe. The scythe was decorated with hearts, and despite its unthreatening appearance, the weapon's aura was extremely terrifying. Will ran up to the woman and hugged her tightly. The woman hugged him back, and her cheeks became slightly red. Andrew was stunned, and he felt as though he had seen her before, but he couldn’t remember when.

“How the hell did you manage to win her over? You wear cardigans!” Andrew spoke, astonished. 

Will’s eyes lowered, and he scoffed, “What’s that supposed to mean? We are a happy couple, me and Ivy have been together for around seven years or so.”

“Or so?” Ivy asked, her smile escaping her face.

Will panicked, “I stopped counting after five years! Don’t kill me!” 

Will backed away from Ivy and guarded his face with his arms.

Ivy laughed and said, “Hey, it's alright. I stopped counting too.”

Andrew became disgusted by their lovey-dovey mess, and he felt the need to say something to change the subject. 

He asked, “Are you going to take me to the Underworld?”

“We have met before, Andrew. A couple years ago. Do you not remember? I guess you were drunk and all. I came to your house because Will said he could not leave your side after you broke up with your girlfriend.”

Andrew remembered almost instantly. Ivy had changed a little since the last time he saw her. She had a buzz cut before, and she wore a cropped hoodie and leggings. Her whole presence had changed since then, especially her aura. 

“Anyway, whether you can remember or not, of course I would join you both. I can’t let my boyfriend dart into enemy territory by himself after all.”

Ivy stepped out of the way of the door and welcomed Andrew and Will to enter. The door looked like it led to a room of darkness, it was extremely terrifying. Will waltzed in like nothing was amiss, and Andrew hesitated a bit before walking in. Ivy followed him close behind and shut the door behind them.