Garden Of Poison

Emily watched as Logan picked up something from the table, then bent down, pressing a piece of chalk against the ground. Once he started to draw with it, the chalk emitted a grating screech, making her skin crawl. The unpleasant sound persisted until he created a circle. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"I was planning to make your death quick, Emily. For old times’ sake, you know," Logan said softly as he started writing something outside the circle he had drawn. He then stood up to face her, watching her through the translucent barrier. "Speaking of old times, I missed you, Emily. Did you miss me? I heard I have been making appearances in your sweet dreams."

Emily’s expression hardened, and she remarked, "You don’t scare me, Logan." When she saw him picking up a matchbox, she stated, "Your mother will burn along with me."

Logan gave her a nod. "True, but that is fine. I don’t need my mother to look like she did before. For now, her coming back to life is more than enough for me. You did see how good I am at creating likenesses," he laughed.

Seconds ticked away, and her life dangled dangerously on the frail thread of this precarious situation. Emily wished she could do more than just sit and await her impending demise in this chair. The translucent, ice-like shield stood firm, but when Logan lit a matchstick and allowed it to fall to the ground, the circle promptly ignited into flames. The fire started to warm the shield before her, causing it to heat up.

"This is no ordinary fire, Emily. This fire is drawn from the depths of Hell," Logan informed her with a sinister smile, waiting for her to ignite.

"Bringing your mother back to life won’t divert her attention from Raylen," Emily asserted, gesturing towards him, her fingers moving silently in prayer. Please, let there be something more within me, Emily beseeched anyone who might be listening to her.

"Raylen was the one who killed her; she will choose me—she knows I am the better son. Isn’t that right, Mother?" Logan said, turning to look at his mother’s skeletal remains.

"Are you sure about that?" Emily asked, watching the ice begin to melt.

Logan didn’t like Emily’s question, and he gritted his teeth in frustration. "I will make sure your death is excruciating. Not because you’ve done anything, but if I have to pay Raylen back, I know it can only be done by hurting you. He killed my mother, taking her away from me. It is only right that I show him the true meaning of pain."

"A tortured soul from Hell is forever changed," Emily replied, and it was true. "It becomes charred."

However, Emily noticed that Logan appeared unfazed by this prospect. He seemed satisfied by the mere presence of his mother, alive and breathing beside him. Taking a deep breath, she asked him,

"Do you know why your mother disliked Raylen?"

Logan laughed. "Isn’t that obvious? He was the Devil’s child. An evil being, who—"

"It was because of her that he was brought into this world. Because she was barren until he arrived," Emily responded, her gaze unwavering as she stared right into the empty eyes of the man before her. "She was scared of the malevolence he might carry and wanted him gone. What do you think she will say when she finds out the horrors you have committed all this time?"

The man’s smile faltered, as if he hadn’t considered it from that perspective before. He shook his head, pondering for a moment, before stating, "That’s not possible. Mother preferred me. She wanted me to ascend the throne. I was her son—"

"So was Raylen, the son whom she dearly awaited," Emily’s voice dropped even lower than before. "You bring her back to life, and she will shun the son who has proven himself to be far more evil than the one she feared."

Logan retrieved the knife he had earlier used in his attempt to kill her, as the flames at the base of the barrier began devouring the ice and causing it to thin. "And who is going to tell her? You? You, who is going to die in a minute?"

Emily felt adrenaline surging through her veins, her blood pumping so rapidly that she saw Logan raise his hand in what seemed like slow motion. An icy chill coursed through her arms, and she heard soft cracks emanate from her wrists. The sound came from the ropes, which had frozen and snapped the fibres within, freeing her wrists and subsequently her ankles.

As Logan directed the sharp tip of the knife towards the ice shield, Emily took a deep breath before exhaling. The previously translucent shield turned opaque, and she got up from the chair. Emily gently placed her hand on the skeleton before stepping out of the back of the circle.

The knife pierced through the shield, the ice shattering into numerous pieces while transforming into a fog that momentarily obscured Logan’s vision.

When the fog gradually dissipated, the fire Logan had ignited was long gone, as was the Barter Soul that he had tied to the chair. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched in irritation.

"Where do you think you are going to hide, Emily? I know this place like the back of my hand," Logan declared, his voice loud enough for Emily to hear. He took a couple of steps forward, passing his mother, but something caught his attention.

"What... did she do to you?!" Logan exclaimed, his hands clenching into fists.

The muscles he had meticulously crafted on her body with love and care were covered in frost, and upon a closer look, he realised that the frost was consuming her. In a state of hysteria, he hurriedly began to remove the frost from her body, but it had already corroded her skeleton, and he heard something snap within her. In the next moment, her skeleton crumbled, turning into a pile of dust, with her soul vanishing from the remnants.

"YOU BITCH!" Logan screamed in a fit of rage, his eyes hollow with fury, and he quickly followed Emily’s trail.

Emily ran as fast as her legs would carry her through the dimly lit passageway. Hearing Logan’s enraged scream, her heartbeat intensified, and she glanced over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t pursuing her. It took her a while before she realised she was in a world parallel to the living realm, for she was within Storm Castle.

The fact that Logan could access it, and she was here as well, only meant they were in a passage between the living realm and the dead.

But how was one supposed to escape from it? Emily asked herself. There must be a way to either reach Hell or return to the living realm, she considered, before continuing to maintain her distance from Logan so that he wouldn’t be able to catch her.

"Wait a second," Emily whispered, her voice barely audible.

Her hand quickly reached out for the wall, her palm pressing flat against it as she tried to read the marks left by those who had previously touched it. However, she was met with a sudden jolt, akin to an electric zap, as the first thing she heard was a piercing, bone-chilling scream, causing her to pull her hand back in alarm.

Not giving up, she continued to place her hand on the walls ahead of her, not realising that her fingertips were leaving a frosty imprint on the surface.

’Don’t send me there! I don’t want to go there!’ Emily heard the whisper in her head. ’I won’t come out of here, I—’

"I’ve finally found you!" Logan exclaimed as he grabbed Emily by the back of her head, yanking her hair painfully and causing her to scream. "How dare you disintegrate my mother’s body, you bitch?! I will make sure to cut you into pieces!"

"AHH!" Emily screamed as the searing pain shot through the back of her head. In an attempt to stop him, her hands instinctively pushed upwards against his jaw. Her fingertips didn’t spare him, and they began to burn his skin, and he became the next one to scream.

"Fucking hell! ARGH!" Logan’s grip on her loosened, allowing her to grab something from beside him before dropping it as Logan swiftly caught hold of her wrist, twisting her arm. "I will break you and make sure this place is painted with your screams. Scream louder!"

Tears welled up in Emily’s eyes, and she used her other hand to thrust her fingers right into one of his eye sockets. She felt a gruesome squishing sensation as she pushed her fingers in as deeply as she could before hurriedly sprinting to the lower ground floor.

"Ahhhhhh!" Logan screamed, clutching his left eye in agony as traces of frost appeared around it. He clenched his jaw tightly, and when he lowered his hand, leaning forward, his crushed eyeball fell into the palm of his hand, blood dripping from the now hollow socket.

Upon reaching the lower floor, which, even in the absence of any torches, was dimly lit, Emily looked along the corridor before she opened the door of the room to finally find the person she had been searching for.

It was the previous King of the Storm Kingdom. He looked haggard but less corpse-like on this side of the world.

"How does one escape from here?!" Emily questioned the man.

"There is only Hell to go to... from here," the man replied, fear evident in his eyes.

"Where?!" Emily urgently inquired.

"The kitchen," the man answered in a lifeless voice. "You will find the path to Hell there."

Emily stealthily climbed the stairs, her breaths deep and controlled. As she prepared to walk towards the kitchen, she suddenly glimpsed someone coming from that direction and quickly hid behind a wall, realising that it wasn’t either of the Storm brothers, but Nathaniel.