Chapter Five: Meeting the Djinn and My Demons
"Ahem, it's not nice to ignore people." The voice called out from behind me. A pang terror ran through my heart and I spun around, wincing once again as pressure was put on my leg. I was met with a young man with blue skin and dark hair covering half of his face and falling to his shoulders. He seemed to wear a shirt of bandages haphazardly wrapped around his torso with baggy pants that stopped at his knees and a loose sash around his waist. He had a gold and silver head piece, a matching gauntlet on his right hand, and a single gold hoop earring on the ear that showed in front of his hair. All in all, he looked rather annoyed.
"Just because a hell hound is chasing you doesn't mean it's any reason to ignore me." He continued, "But please, take a seat Miss No-Manners, your leg must be killing you." He grinned at the last statement, making the annoyance act seem rather counterfeit. Despite not trusting him, I sat down in the chair and set my bag on the table to retrieve my bandages and Neosporin.
"Sorry," I apologized to him. I didn't even realize he called out to me, but I did want to be on his good side; especially if he was who I thought he was. He grinned even more at my apology, fangs showing in his smile, and waved the notion off.
"Oh, you're a smart girl, Brii," He said, and I paused digging through my bag to give him a questioning look, "You know I was faking it. And you must be so curious as to how I know your name." I resumed digging out the disinfectant and moved my bag to the ground. I rolled my pants leg up to attend to it.
"I'm guessing you're the Djinn of this dungeon." I said, spraying the disinfectant on the wound. I cringed at the stinging and grabbed the roll of bandages and began to wrap it up. Hopefully it would stop hurting soon.
"Why, yes, I am. My name is Hilal." He said, "I thought I'd grace you with my presence to tell you how this dungeons works. If you haven't already figured it out." I rolled my pants leg back down and put my things away and properly looked at him.
"I'm guessing that every time I walk through a door I'm going to end up in a new place that's completely random until I make my way to the treasure room." I guessed. I didn't necessarily show a lot of emotion either way while talking, but he laughed happily.
"Oh, you are smart!" Hilal chirped, before returning to staring at me, "But you didn't quite hit the nail on the head." I raised an eyebrow at this, and he took it as my answer. "You see, every room has these chairs and table, right?" I nodded. "At each table you'll meet one of your, say… demons." I paled, causing Hilal to laugh once again. "When you finally deal with all of them, you'll be in the treasure room. But of course, for someone with such great transgressions as you, you could essentially be stuck here forever."
"Fuck." I cursed intelligently. I really didn't want to deal with this; I did enough of that each night when I couldn't sleep and my half-awake mind was whirling down the dark abyss of depression.
"Now, now, such vulgar language shouldn't come out of such a pretty little thing like you." Hilal chided, never ending amusement in his eyes. I stood up, picking up my things in the process.
"I'm going to get started. Anything else you want to add? Rub salt in the wound perhaps?" I asked. I probably shouldn't have provoked him, but I couldn't help it. I was going to submit myself to emotional torture in an attempt to save the world; or at the very least I hoped so.
"No, you already bandaged it up. We wouldn't want to make it worse." Hilal said with an almost singsong tone to his voice. He smiled innocently, but I knew better than trust him. I sighed at the bad joke before limping back to the door and opening it, dread at what lies beyond weighing me down.
I stepped out onto a floating platform, wind whipping my hair all over the place. I saw the table and chairs on another floating platform not too far off, but the rocky waters were wild in the wind. Looking around, I also saw shadows beneath the water. They were most likely some form of shark ready to gobble me up whole. I took a deep breath and held my hair out of my eyes. How was I going to get through this to the table to get this over with?
I looked around some more and found a rock jutting out of the water just close enough I could use it as a stepping stone. The only issue was that it was obviously wet and had a rather small surface that seemed to level out with the water around it in the lowest circumstances. The rock seemed a little too far from the other platform to immediately jump to, too. The shadows lurking in the depths caught my eye once more. I had some food with me. I could use them as a distraction to get a shark to float up to the surface to use as another stepping stone. I smiled with the plan, happy I got one out at all. I pulled my bag off one of my shoulders to grab a piece of jerky. It was rather convenient that we had these at the time.
Quickly unwrapping it, I leaped for the rock when it showed next. I didn't expect a shark to appear ready to eat me, though. It had jumped out of the water, precisely aimed to gobble me up in its stomach. I leaped lower than what was needed for the new obstacle, but clung to the shark's nose as tightly as I could while keeping my body as far away from the jaws I could muster. It fell back into the water again and the icy cold seeped into my bones quickly. My eyes stayed shut, I didn't need the fear of what was around me. I dropped the jerky and tried to swim to the surface, but the strap of my bag got caught on something. The ever changing waves tossed my body around even more now that I could hardly move. I felt where it was trapped, and luckily it didn't seem like a mouth. It was a rock instead.
My instinct to breathe drove my airways open; my better sense closing them as fast as possible. I couldn't see to untangle my bag, so I had to find something else. I found the weakest part of the strap, and began to fling my body weight as far away from it as possible. The strong tides and another rush of water, one accompanied with a presence, helped rip me free. I broke the surface; coughs of water spilling from my lungs. I was only a few feet from the other platform. I swam quickly, keeping a tight hold on my bag as well as struggling to breathe. One hand met wood, then the other. Just a small pull and I'd be safe on the platform. I tried to have myself up, but the water made me heavy. Once again, a push from below pushed me up and I rolled onto my hands and knees swiftly. I coughed up the last of the water, the wind chilling me even further.
Wiping my mouth, a slap to my behind startled me out of my survival panic. I scrambled into the chair, face alight and heart pumping pure terror into my veins. My eyes were wide and I was sure I looked rather stupid. Sitting across from me was Aaron, my grandmother's cousin. He was a balding old man with glasses and more strength he should have with his heart issues. The distinct memory of what happened with him flooded my mind and I coughed more, trying to get the rotten taste out of my mouth.
"Howdy, Brii!" He chirped happily. I stared at him in disbelief. He touched me.
"Get the fuck out." I said automatically. It was knee jerk reaction, an instinct, but my guilt-ridden conscience twisted in my chest.
"I hope you're doing okay," He said, smiling although it didn't reach his eyes. My hands dug into the arms of the chair until my fingers were white and almost losing blood circulation.
"I hope you die from a heart attack soon." Once again a mechanical answer. It was trained, practiced, precisely as I wanted it to be. I gulped to get the excess saliva to go down my throat before it came out on him.
"You're looking nice," Aaron said. I was torn. My responses were hurtful on purpose, a defense mechanism really, but they were practiced to be used around others, around my family. I was alone and he was stronger; surely he'd use it against me as another reason to scar me.
"Th-thanks…" I stuttered out something neutral this time. His smile put me on edge the same way his presence did. I could still feel his tongue on mine; I couldn't look him in the eye.
"So about what happened…" Aaron started, but then trailed off with a sigh. He looked regretful.
"What you did is unforgiveable," I said, and was met with his full attention. I still wasn't comfortable. "You an adult and should have known it was wrong. I still beat myself up over not seeing the warning signs sooner and letting you do it." I took a breath. "But I have come to terms with it." I admitted what I expected to put an end to my misery. However, a foot trailed up my leg and made me stand up to get away from it. I glared down at him, resentment and anger in my expression.
"Brii, come on, you seemed to like-" I drew my sword once more, stabbing it into the table right next to his hand.
"I was a naive and curious child, nothing more, nothing less." My voice was threatening, hatred ringing through the tone. My glare seemed to make him shiver and I put the sword back into its sheath. "Goodbye, I hope to never see you again." A door had appeared on the platform after I stood, and I took it as the immediate escape route away from him.
I slammed the door shut, the feeling reverberating through my body. A weight felt as if it was lifted off of my chest as my anger quickly faded. A loud sob quickly drew my attention to the table and chairs in this room. Turning, I saw snow was falling all around and it seemed to be wooded mountainous region here. The sobbing was coming from a girl younger than I was. She was a teenager, most likely barely turning thirteen, while I've turned into a young woman. Bright strawberry blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, pieces falling out of it here and there to cover her face, not that it was seen. She was hugging her knees, her feet on her chair, and glasses sat on the table. She was wearing dark clothes, including a t-shirt that seemed to be three sizes too big for her frame.
I slowly walked over and sat in my chair, setting my bag on the ground next to it. This got the girl's attention and she looked up quickly, tear stains on her pale freckled cheeks. She looked so sad and helpless. For a moment I forgot where I was and wondered why she was crying all alone in snowy woods.
"My life is in shambles," she suddenly sobbed out, "With every day, comes a new revelation that something went terribly wrong in my childhood. Molestation, poverty, death, what comes next?"
"Depression, denial, anxiety." I answered her honestly. This surprised her and she almost looked frightened. My chest began to feel heavy again. Not the light heavy-working of my fearful heart, but the sorrowful tug of it downwards toward the familiar black hole ever chasing me.
"What?" She asked, more tears flowing down her face. "But… But…"
"You're the manifestation of my depression." I stated, completely understanding this. "After that, I developed anxiety and denied my father's death for two years. During this, I gained a best friend. She helped me through it all, including the downfall of our academics and questioning family. Mom went back to college, got her degree, and now she's paid to tell the government how and why they went wrong and how they can fix it. I'm living with my best friend currently, and I finally have that cat I wanted." This was the extent of my life after my father's death. I knew that telling her things would get better wouldn't work, so I told her all the facts.
"R-really…?" She looked scared. The responsibility of the things I told her probably stressing her out. I nodded and stood, another door appearing.
"I know you aren't going to take my advice, so I'll just leave it at that. I hope you hang in there." I grabbed my bag and strode off to the door. My depression was something I didn't like to linger on, simply deal with when the need arose. Just before I did, a bear leapt out at me. I drew my sword, wildly slashing it about. I didn't make any cuts before the bear knocked the sword out of my hand by swiping at it, leaving behind a large gash. I pulled out the dagger, holding it clumsily in my left hand due to my right hurting too much to do anything. The bear reared back, and I took that change to lunge and stab the dagger into its heart. It fell back, my injured leg slamming heard against the ground. I crumbled to the ground as soon as I had to put my weight on it. Thankfully, the bear was dead and I wouldn't have to worry about it any more.
However, just as I was beginning to bandage my hand, I saw a small bear cub looking as if it was tearing up. Once it saw I noticed it, it ran off, high pitched wails of grief the only thing left in its wake. I looked at my hand and bandaged it without Neosporin. I deserved the pain for what I did. I stood up once I was finished, limping because of my leg again, and slowly opened the door. I used the frame to lean my weight against as I peered inside. This one seemed relatively peaceful. It was a rather green forest dotted with bloomed cherry blossom trees. Leaves and cherry blossoms slowly flittered to the ground. There was a small pond with a short waterfall next to the chairs. Flowers of various species and colors surrounded the small pool. Despite the peaceful atmosphere, I couldn't shake the feeling that there were enough people to make up a small crowd in there, although I saw no one.
I limped through, shutting the door behind me. As soon as I sat down, smoke from the opposite chair's skull wisped into the shape of someone who looked an awful lot like the grim reaper. It was difficult to see their face under the large hood pulled over their head. A long, flowy cloak shielded their figure from me as well.
"Hello…?" I asked tentatively. I wasn't entirely sure how to react to this presence. It somehow seemed familiar, but in a way that wasn't welcome. It was almost like a trigger for a bad memory that makes you cringe.
"Hello, Brii." The figure said. Their voice was strange. It sounded like hundreds of voices talking at once. A few distinct ones sounded eerily familiar.
"Who… What…" I didn't know what to say. It seemed to have perfect conversation though.
"I've been chasing after everyone you know, everyone in the world, since the day they were born." The figure spoke in riddles, but I had a sneaking suspicion I knew who, or what, it was. "You've always seemed to have a knack for seeing me around your loved ones, even as a child. The results of my presence usually cause you some trouble, sadly."
"You're death." I breathed the words out, disbelief read on my face.
"Your memory of me seems to have returned." Death said, giving off an air as if it was smiling at me. I wasn't sure how to react to a god basically giving me the look someone would give an old friend's or colleague's child. So instead of a proper response, I simply stammered a few empty syllables out. "Don't be so frightened and confused, Brii, I'm not here to take anyone."
"But why are you here? What are you doing? What's going on?" I rambled out useless question after question. For most of my life, every few years would mark another death of a family member; and I typically had this sixth sense about when they would die. My great grandmother, my grandfathers, and my father had all marked times in my life when this happened.
"I'm here as something troubling you, obviously." Death said, "You still have not completely come to terms with my existence."
"I understand you're a thing, so what does that mean?" I asked, confusion entwined in my tone.
"You'll have to figure that out."
