ACT II - Chapter XI
Eric dived through the slit, as the pendulum abruptly changed direction, causing a violent crack to appear in the ceiling.
He was riding on the top of the pendulum, and it arced through the air, and the air rushed through Eric's hair. He felt suddenly exhilirated. As if everything was fine. For that brief moment, there was no pendulum, no Gods trying to kil him, just pure happiness.
Then he came close to the platform.
Eric threw himself, covering his head with his hand. He hit the wall, and rebounded back, rolling off of the platform.
He was falling through the air, but some sort of 6th sense deep inside his soul, shoved his arm up, and he grabbed the edge of the platform. He was dangling.
Below him, were many bloodstained pikes, with the carcasses of those who had tried to escape wedged between the steel pillars.
He swug his other arm up, and hoisted himself up onto the platform. He was safe.
There was a mechanical click below his feet.
The platform began to receed into the wall...
Sarai opened the door, as quietly as possible, and was shocked to see that it led into Niko's dining room. The very room, where what seemed years ago, Niko had spiked their drinks, and had left them in his killing rooms. That was, assuming, that the others had had chances like Sarai.
She crept through the dining room, and heard Niko speaking in the lounge.
"Yes. They will die. I know, the laws of Ragnarok say they must have a chance to escape, and they all do, a very, very slim chance. As soon as they wake up, the mecanisms to kill them wil start. Sarai will burn, Aaron will drown, and Eric will be sliced up! I know, the Gods will reward us greatly. Me especially? Well thank you, I hope to see you soon, Father." Niko hung up the phone, and looked up.
For a second, Sara thought that he had seen her, but he was just looking around, pleased with himself. Sarai snuck into the halway. She knew that there was another entrance to the lounge, a door, directly behind the tall armchair in which Niko was sitting.
She crept silently, thinking about what Niko had said. He had called the man on the other end of the line Father. Sarai knew that Niko was orphaned, so he must have meant some sort of priest.
And then it struck Sarai. There was a cult.... a cult that heavily supported the ideaology of Ragnarok, a cult that belived the Norse Gods would reward them when they descended, they were fools of course. The Gods were ruthless, they would tear the priests apart, just like the rest of the human race.
Sarai came to the second entrance to the lounge. sure enough, Niko sat, his back turned to Sarai, reading some sort of book.
Sarai looked to her left, and saw a large, ornate sword. It looked a bit like a Katana, but it had several jewels encrusted in the handle, and in the blade itself. She quietly removed the sword from its mount, and weighed it in her hand.
It was light and supple, and it felt very comfortable in her hand. She twirled it, and felt that the sword was very natural to her hands.
She crept over to Niko's chair, and raised the blade.
She swung it, full force, all of her might thrusted into the sword, straight at the side of Niko's exposed neck.
The sword collided with Niko's jugular vein, and something strange happened.
The sword stopped. stopped dead, just lightly touching Niko's neck. Niko turned around.
"Why hello Sarai!" he smiled.
The sword began to shake violently, and it began to heat up. It was scorching, and Sarai tried to drop it, but she found that she couldn't.
"You are a very foolish girl." he said, standing up, "Do you expect a mere few children, to overpower the might of the Gods?" he chuckled evily.
Sarai struggled, the sword was actually burning into her flesh now, she felt the nerves ignite, sending messages of excruciating pain into her brain. It felt as if her flesh was bubbling under the immense heat. She tried to shake the sword loose, but to no avail.
Niko walked around to stand beside her.
He leaned in close, and ran his finger down her shaking neck, "Such a beautiful girl..." he whispered in her ear, " I will enjoy watching you writhe in pain..." he smiled.
The sword turned to ash, and Sarai was terrified to see that her muscles were visible.
Niko raised a hand, and terrible pain flooded into Sarai.
She collapsed, jerking wildly, the aching rushing through her body. The pain was in her bllod, spreading itself through her, causing her to jerk violently.
"By the time I'm finished with you," said Niko, crouching down so that he was face to face with her, "you will be begging for death."
~End of chapter~
Theres a nice long chapter to make up!