Reincarnated into a Snow Griffin-Chapter 177

Alas, it has come to this.

We were back in the Demon Island, Rotherhithe, and the world was set ablaze, the source of all the chaos and deviant creatures burning like hell itself that even the skies seemed to reflect its orange flames.

"Seems like our backup got here before us." Indeed, they managed to be faster than us but is no wonder that Natasha and Lea got the information about the Demon Lord’s strange troop movements before us out there, when they were on the demon island themselves that is.

"Quite so." I say, thinking that to fight off a Demon Lord we are glad to have another one at our side.

But how about two?

Charismatic as Natasha comes, being one of the most popular and strongest of the Demons Lords that have ever existed in Demon history, it does not come as a surprise when she managed to build an army with little of a few months on her back, her mere name and renew freedom causing ripples on the water that became a tsunami.

And that they are as they keep advancing like an unstoppable force of nature, a devastating beauty cutting her way toward the Demon’s Lord castle, the high towering building that I saw from very far away on my first visit to this place.

And yet me and Ethan stand now on neither one side nor the other, we had come out from the gate on top of a hill where we have a clear view of the armies invading the place gathering at the door that lead to the Castle City surrounding the castle itself, the houses set ablaze as the army advanced towards the Demon Lords throne, but for that they had to face against his army as well, positioned to withstand any attacks towards the defensive castle walls.

As much as Natasha had advanced on her own, this final barrier could prove to be impenetrable and cost her greatly, such constructions made for war long before we knew what that even meant, with bridges and pits and long windows for archers.

The irony then, that the Demon’s Lord’s plan of popping these gates straight into the main continent to invade has led us past these ancient barriers and right past the gates, is not lost to us as we look at our immediate vicinity and take in the stone circle with four stone empty gates around it, surrounded by trees and a garden.

The number, exactly the same as the Hell Gates, did not go unnoticed to me, as well as the fact that, here, the shining and pulsating teleporting gates, are all but empty squares of stone with no light, a no turning back point.

There is a path going down the hill at the back of the castle, apparently we had come in by the castle’s garden, so we do not waste any time and use the opportunity and distraction in our favor and start running towards its gates, avoiding being detected and using the advantage of surprise as much as possible, avoiding flying for now.

But soon however I see a problem and that is this castle is big, way too big, and the many windows, corridors and floors already hint at the maze the insides must be, and as we push the double spiky door I am already unsure at what to do, knowing full well how time was of the essence and how a silly thing like this could cost us precious minutes as is.

I worry about it long enough, staring at the first of many hallways, that Ethan speaks up:

"I have been here before but is hard to tell where he will be coped up at... but this is... this is strange, I feel some sort off... of a pull of sorts, I can feel how he is connected to the gates and I think it leads to the... throne room? I’m not sure how, but I think I can find him."

I had completely forgotten that it wasn’t the first that Ethan had come here. "Is our best bet, lead the way." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The inside of the castle should have hinted a bit about the person we are dealing with, reflecting all that I had heard from the Demon Lord so far, being flashy in a dark way with black obsidian walls reflecting the light from how smooth the stone is, embraced my red long carpets, high ceilings with big multi layered chandeliers illuminating the place from above, leaving the shadows to prowl underneath.

The red carpet goes for long, covering even the steps of the stairs, and even the eventual furniture follows the same pattern, red in black with a velvet look to it, making that even the fire on the torches seem more red and alive somehow, a deep crimson that feels as suffocating as a place set ablaze, even though there is no smoke.

Eventually we reach the main hall, two big doors closed to the front, probably the main entrance to the castle by the grandeur of the place, with red drapery curving up in waves and flowing down on the sides around the black walls, framing the huge chandelier set right at the center, followed by a double set of stairs twisting up at the back, with metals bendy and turning and completing the image of the big black door right at the center, still on the ground floor and surrounded by all of this, with red flowers at each flowerpot, the thorns big and inviting over towards their dark green stems.

Some of the red petals had fallen, untouched by any wind, staying put and scattered, adding to the look around the carpet and resembling blood stains on the black floor.

With a glance between us we approach those doors and with a rasping heavy sound they loudly open up to reveal the same stone throne room we have seen before, but not as bare as the one inside the hell gates with wooden furniture, torches and stained glass work on the long windows, with roses and hearts and red all over, turning the light coming from outside into its crimson counterpart.

Only that, this time there was much more crimson in this area, and it was not part of the decoration.

The smell of iron and flesh reached us first, but the path of blood already dragging from the front door is a minor indicative of what we see next, of the bodies, so many bodies, dried down like leaves, crumbled like mummies to be forever frozen in the expression of horror they died with, but worst it is to see that most were human women with a protuberant belly on them, ripped apart like a cracked egg.

There is no way that image would not affect us, and for a moment we stare, widen eyed, at the visions of his ruling, of carnage and hell before us.

"He is feeding, keeping the doors open is draining his power, this is our chance." I hear Ethan say, but is far and almost a whisper, easily lost with my loud racing heart beating on my ears and my mind running to keep my emotions in check.

Still I manage to nod, and once we find a stone staircase on an opening on the floor going down further into the dark abyss of this place, once hidden under the now pushed aside heavy throne, we keep moving forward, if only not by merely wanting to avoid the horror of that room, wishing that further in would be better than before.

But of course that, down there, it would be worse, much worse.