Secrets Held Within
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Chapter 2
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Dark found that his night wasn't entirely peaceful, and he acquired little sleep. It seemed that every other moment he awoke from a horrid nightmare, drenched in a chill sweat. Eventually, Dark gave up all together and sat up.
He blinked several times, his violet eyes adjusting to the darkness. Out of habit, he looked through the glossy window, noting the flowing rivulets of water sliding down the glass. "Still raining…" He mumbled, stifling a yawn.
Having waited a good, long time before he actually got off of the bed and changed clothes, Dark now stood on the porch of the inn and watched as the sun began to lightly illuminate the sky through the heavy clouds. Dark stared at the horizon, ever so vaguely aware of a figure nearing him.
"Excuse me…sir?" Came a small voice behind him.
Dark turned his head slightly, and eyed the boy behind him, noticing for the first time the presence of another boy accompanying him. "Yeah. What can I help you with?"
"My friend and I—we just go into town, you see, and we need to know if there is a place where we can stay. Uhm…" The boy paused for a minute and blinked his red eyes. "Do you know if there is?"
Dark's brows furrowed and he placed a hand on his forehead. He closed his eyes and shook his head, before, a moment later, lowering the hand and peering down at the children. "I must have misheard you. You didn't just say you came into town."
The boy frowned. "No…well, yes, that is what I said, but-" The small red head was cut off by the taller, blue haired boy. "Daisuke, let me talk."
When the smaller of the two nodded, the newer one looked up at Dark. "Yes, we just got into town and we require a place to rest. Would you happen to know of a place such as that?"
Dark's mind slowly began to work. "Wait…" He said after a moment. "You said you just got into town?" He paused again and continued to speak after the two boys nodded. "How is that possible—the roads were blocked off."
The boy called Daisuke lowered his eyes, and once again the blue haired boy spoke with his emotionless apparel. "I believe the one who watches over the road block is not aware of our entrance."
Dark nodded and smirked. "So you snuck in?"
"Satoshi and I didn't mean any harm!" the small one said, his gaze violently jerking off of the ground to look into Dark's eyes. "We just didn't want to stay where there was fighting!"
Dark smiled at the small boy, and shook his hands to calm the boy. "Whoa, whoa, calm down! I would have done the same thing. I'm sure that the owner's of this inn can take care of you."
"Thank you Mister…" The boy said as he fumbled for words.
"Mister, is too formal for someone like me. Just call me Dark."
"Thanks…Dark," He said, trying out the name before turning to his companion. "This is my friend, Satoshi, and I'm Daisuke."
"A pleasure," Dark said as he looked onto the horizon, where the sun had tinted the sky several shades a lighter gray.
Daisuke smiled and whispered something to Satoshi and in return the other nodded.
"Thank you very much." Daisuke said as his friend leaned over and said to him, "We should go in. You and I both should get some rest."
Daisuke nodded, and the two slipped inside without another word. Dark watched them, his brows raised in mild interest.
Eventually, the sun rose higher into the sky and glowed faintly under a sheen of dark clouds. This was what pushed Dark to go into town and buy several small miscellaneous items—including a few candles made in the village and some fruit from the grocer.
With a bag full of other items, he walked back to the bar he had been at last night, and retraced his steps until he found the winding road that led back to the mansion that had mystified him only just the night before.
An eerie silence spread across the land as soon as the town was out of sight, and Dark felt himself often jumping when a twig would snap or a bush would shake.
"Why does everything in this village have to be so weird," He muttered after another few steps. He reached a gloved hand up to wipe a forehead devoid of sweat, and continued trudging down the muddy path.
It wasn't long before he reached a very familiar sight—A particular bend that he recognized as the one nearest to the mansion. His heart racing, he jogged the last few steps and stood still as his eyes roamed over the premise of the mansion. Even though the sunlight was dim, Dark was able to see much more than before.
Behind the mansion was a large lake, lapping off into the distance. Trees circled around not only the path to the mansion, and the mansion itself, but also around the lake and off into the distance. Blue mountains sprouted in the distance.
"Wow…" Dark said, suddenly at a loss of words and breath. It hadn't occurred to him how breathtaking the building really was until he saw it's magnificent beauty in true light.
Even though his eyes still lingered upon the building, he began to walk foreword, and then eventually observed where the house was located, and the sights one could see from it.
Dark took longer strides than normal, and in only a matter of moments had reached the front door. A thick door, he supposed, it was carved of dark brown wood. A silver doorknocker of an eerie design was half attached to the door.
Dark shrugged and removed his glove, pocketing it into one of his pouches. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
Not surprising, there wasn't one. He knocked louder, eying with disdain a cobweb resting on the rafters above him.
Still no reply.
Growing impatient now, Dark reached for the handle. He gripped it firmly and twisted the knob, only to find the door open almost too easily.
It hadn't even been locked.
The initial surprise didn't last very long, and soon Dark entered the building. "Hello? Anybody home?" Dust coated everything, and his voice left only an eerie echo.
"Okay, stupid question," He muttered to himself as he took a few cautious steps towards the stairs before him. He climbed them effortlessly, not sure why he'd even bothered to come upstairs. Once on top, though, he had a choice to enter one of at least a dozen rooms. In the end, he decided to go through all of them, starting with the rooms on the far left and working his way to the right.
After about the fourth door, Dark was noted that everything was the same. Inside the rooms, ornate furniture, all of matching sets, was everywhere. A dresser, bed, table, chair…each and every room had at least one. The colors decorating the room were all the same, Mahogany furniture and crimson rugs, lampshades, cushions, blankets and pillows. The furniture must have been expensive, though Dark found himself most interested in the paintings he would find.
There were at least two or three painting in each room, all of the same style. Frequently the paintings were of holy beings—Winged figure garbed in flowing white robes. Freqeuntly the painting were of unholy beings—Wretched figures donning black. Even though only art, Dark could clearly make out an emotion within the image. He was moved a few times by the sheer beauty of it all.
This was not an easy thing to do.
By the fifth door, Dark had come across a most peculiar sight. Often in the rooms there had been a bit of a rusty spot staining the carpet, or a chair or bed, but in the fifth room Dark had found the same color stain slapped up against a wall, where the brownish stain had crept down onto the rug.
The traveler kneeled before the thing, and was unable to determine what the dried liquid had once been, and shrugged it off.
Several hours passed as Dark explored the top floor, and eventually he grew tired and sat down in the middle of the hallway to eat his lunch. He pulled out an apple and bit into it fiercely. "I'm not getting anywhere…" He muttered after swallowing.
Dark, out of habit, waited for an answer. He wasn't surprised when he didn't get one…just a little let down.
He finished the apple and decided to look around for only a few more moments. Standing up, he turned to the very last door on the right of the hallway and walked towards it. He reached out to open the door and found a smirk firmly placed on his features when the knob didn't turn.
This one was locked.
"At least there's change," He said, bending down and examining the doorknob.
It was old and rusted, and Dark declared to himself it would be no hard task to pick it—and he immediately set to work on this. He pulled a wire out of one of his pockets and began fiddling with the lock. He tinkered with in for only a moment before a tiny click was heard, and with a grin he rose, pocketed the pick, and pushed open the door.
This room would have been a sight to look at—had it not been horribly destroyed. Where as the other rooms had just been stained a little by some unknown substance, this room was completely demolished. There were no stains in this room.
In the walls there were deep slashes, as if someone had cut it with a sword or knife. Slashes of this sort were frequent upon the walls, and in nearly every other object in the room. The cushioned furniture was in shreds, the padded seating ripped to fine little pieces and wads of cotton in piles. The wood rested in splinters.
There was a broken window, and Dark noted that it looked as though someone had jumped out rather than in. pictures ripped and torn, ornaments shattered, metal items bent and broken. Whatever happened in this room…
Dark shuddered. He didn't want to know.
Dark turned quickly and hastily made his way downstairs. He stopped once he reached the lower floor and turned for one last glance at the sight before he turned himself in for the night. Satisfied with the sight, Dark gave a quick nod of approval and turned again towards the door.
His breath caught in his chest, and he took a step backwards.
A tall, blonde figure stood in the doorway, a thin smile on his pallid face. "Hello."
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Before I end this completely, I wanted to apologize to all of the anonymous reviewers that may have wanted to review this story and couldn't—I hadn't realized that I had blocked reviews from people who were not logged in—if you would please forgive me and review this chapter, I would be eternally in your debt.
I would also like to apologize if this chapter was boring, but I had to explain what was going on before I could introduce new characters and such. The next chapter will have far more dialogue and more interesting events, If you can just wait until then.