1:00AM
"Hey, watch it!" Demitri growled as a cloaked man roughly adjusted his cuffs to suit his size. "When these cuffs come off, I'm gonna burn this entire place down!"
The man kicked Demitri hard on the stomach, moving on to Zayne and Lauren.
'That bastard…!'
Quickly, the man left the cell, making sure to lock on the way out.
The situation was not looking good. Demitri wasn't sure what time it was, where exactly he was or even what had happened. One moment he was walking towards a dilapidated house, then he was in a beautiful house with his Mother, the next he awoke here. It was disorienting to say the least. What made things worse was the company he shared with in this dark, dingy cell.
Orion had been staring daggers into Demitri the entire time. "You're such an idiot…"
"Me the idiot?! You got caught too!" Demitri spat back.
Orion snarled. "We had a plan! Now that you're here, we have to adjust, you idiot!"
"What plan?! You and Lauren's brother are trapped here with us, I thought you were supposed to be the 'Morning Spear' of the Fourthbringers!"
"I am the Morning Spear, and you WILL talk to me with more respect! Or until you finally unlock your heritage, because guess what, you haven't yet!'
Demitri sputtered, a vein popping out of his forehead.
"Aww, is baby angry? Well, then maybe the baby shouldn't have come here in the first place!"
"YOU BIG, FAT-"
While the fiery brothers were in a heated argument, Lauren too stared at her brother. Dylan was unmoving, face cold as ice as he gazed at the ground. It was unlike him to ever make mistakes. In her entire life Lauren had never seen him so much as wake up late, so seeing him here, cuffed to the same wall as her, scared her a little. 'Brother…'
"So, what was it again you said you lost to?" Zayne cut in the middle of Demitri and Orion's argument. "Something tall, dark skinned with horns? Kinda sounds like a demon!"
Orion turned to face Zayne. "That's because it WAS a demon." He frowned deeper. "It was just too strong. It caught me and Dylan off guard, but don't worry, now that we know how strong it is we'll win for sure."
"That's good and reassuring, but that's if we get out of these cuffs." Zayne shook his chains to prove a point. "With dark silver absorbing magic and all."
Orion took his gaze away from Zayne, staring up at the ceiling. "Don't worry, we have people coming to get us. They'll make it here any minute now."
'We have somebody too…but I don't know how he's doing.' Demitri scrunched his face. 'You better be alive, underestimating you will be the downfall of these guys.'
,
Matthew was strung up to the ceiling, dangling upright from a long web over an ocean of darkness. Surrounding him on all sides were grotesque human spider hybrids, clinging to the walls and ceilings. They were all humming a hypnotic harmony.
Matthew looked pale, his eyes unfocused and distant.
Suddenly, the walls shook and all the abominations panicked, scattering as they ran away from the source.
From the pitch black abyss came eight giant red eyes.
"Where's Hazel?" Matthew asked Mother, tiredly rubbing his eyes as he looked around the room. "Mommy, have you seen Hazel?"
Mother clicked, chittering, "who's Hazel?"
Matthew laughed. What kind of question was that? Hazel was…she was…who was she?
'She's my…my…'
"She's not important, my dear." Mother stroked him. "Go back to sleep."
Matthew knitted his eyebrows. "No…Hazel is important. I need to find her." He groggily got up from Mother's lap, trying to get off the couch.
Mother grasped him by his wrist, gripping hard. "No! You will stay! Who's more important, Hazel or Mother!"
"Let go, Ma, you're hurting me!" Matthew tried to pull away.
Mother's mandibles opened, letting out a terrible hiss. It chittered rapidly before regaining composure. It then tilted its head, eyes glowing a deep red. "Hazel's at school~ You're sick today, dear, that's why you have to stay with me~"
Matthew's head ached terribly, his vision spun wildly as he fell to the ground.
Mother's brown hair flowed beautifully down her perfect skin, it looked at Matthew kindly with two bronze eyes. "Come on, Matthew, lay back down on Mother's lap."
Delirious, Matthew was pulled from the ground and put back onto its lap.
"It's going to be alright, Matthew. Just go. Back. To. Sleep." Mother leaned in to kiss Matthew on the forehead.
The head of a gargantuan arachnid arose from the endless black, its maw opened wide to swallow its feed whole.
His world going black, Matthew struggled to keep his eyes open. Weakly, he outstretched his arm and grabbed Mother's shirt. He tugged on it as she leaned in for the kiss, revealing a golden pendant that swung down.
As it fell, it hit Matthew on the head and opened.
And then the whole room flashed a golden yellow.
Matthew slowly came to, unable to see a thing in the lightless abyss. His mind spun, but also felt like a great burden had just been relieved from it. "...Dad?"
The very same sense of danger he felt before everything went dark flashed once again in his mind. He looked around frantically, feeling it before seeing. A horrid odour ravaged him from below. Looking, Matthew saw the dread glow of eight red orbs.
He stretched his senses outwards, immediately feeling nothing. He was suspended in the air. Something sticky was binding his arms, his legs were free. There was earth around him, it was just too far to touch, and to use earth magic he needed to be touching it. Luckily, he was ready for these situations, and luckier still, his feet were unbound.
Chasing away the delirium, Matthew willed the earth on his soles to shift. He put his feet together and pointed them to the side.
Before the unseen maw could clamp down on him, Matthew shot out a stretch of earth that rammed into the wall, pulling himself towards it. He heard a deafening snap as he felt the material go loose. Making a platform for himself, Matthew looked back at where he was a moment ago. As he did, he saw four red orbs staring hungrily at him.