Chapter 124: The Dark
It was the middle of the night.
The tired Minotaur was resting after having been treated like a true king upstairs, up on the rooftop, by April. It was a shame that she decided to go sleep in a different bedroom than he did. But at the end of the day, that didn't ruin anything for him. Junk was so exhausted after such a demanding mission to retrieve that cauldron shard from the man with the disgusting, spiky bones that he could hear his bed calling him almost as soon as he was done with the elvish woman on the rooftop. Everyone went to their respective rooms to get some well-deserved rest. Including September, even though she wasn't seen by either Junk or April after they had come back from the rooftop. The night was peaceful. The night was soft and tranquil… Up to a certain point. All of a sudden, something woke the Minotaur in the middle of the night. One second: He was all deeply and peacefully asleep, the other: He was sweating like hell and panting as he woke up. What could be so wrong with him? A dream? Worst, a nightmare? Junk wasn't sure yet.
He was still panting and sweating long after waking up. Then, he managed to scratch his eyes, getting rid of everything that he was gifted by the generous sandman. He squinted. He could finally see a bit better now. And when he was able to see again, the Minotaur managed to witness something on the other side of his bedroom. There was something on the edge of the room, near the door. At first, he thought it was fog. Something that was quite difficult to make out in pure darkness, or near total darkness. But he saw it. Barely caught a glimpse of it, but he saw it. He saw a foggy shape. A foggy, floating shape at the edge of his room.
What the fuck is that? He thought to himself. The foggy, floating shape vanished as it came through the crack-opened door and disappeared out of the room. The Minotaur only briefly saw it and thought he was going crazy, but then, he remembered all the other insane things he witnessed now that he was working for September. This was just another weird thing that had just happened. Was that foggy and floating shape responsible for him suddenly waking up in sweat and terror and in panting after he had been peacefully sleeping for so long during the night? He had no idea really, but he was too curious not to try to find it, so he got out of bed and walked across his bedroom, completely naked, as he often did. He wasn't tired anyway after being woken up like this, so he didn't care. He slowly walked out of his room, pushing on the door, opening it wide before making his way into the corridor.
He wasn't expecting anything at this point. He was hoping to perhaps find the trace of this foggy mass he just saw in his room for a split second or so. If he didn't find anything, he didn't really care. He'd be able to get himself a little snack from the kitchen. He was kind of hungry. Anything would do the trick, really. The only thing he was hoping for was to find something to eat that was not weird potion ingredients, such as insects, hairs, monster eyes, slime, or something like that. Some meat would be nice. Some actual meat, but he wasn't expecting much. He wasn't expecting it at all.
However, to his surprise, the Minotaur did find something interesting as he pushed on the door of his bedroom and walked into the dark corridor. He saw it again. The floating and foggy shape. It was right there, on the edge of the corridor. He received a much better look at it this time. It wasn't normal fog. It wasn't a cloud of smoke or anything like that. It was a shape. It had a humanoid shape. It was still foggy and floating, but the shape reassembled the one to a human or a humanoid creature at least. He saw it for only a few seconds.
What is this? Am I still dreaming? He thought. The floating shape disappeared again into the corridor. The Minotaur followed.
Junk was able to follow throughout the tower, until the floating shape brought him outside. It was bringing him somewhere. Bringing him on a ride. Once outside, in the dark night, which was strictly illuminated by the full moon, up in the sky, or the moon of sorrows, as April called it earlier that evening, he realized that the floating figure was gone.
The Minotaur was alone, in the darkness, outside.
He realized that this was stupid and that he shouldn't have followed something that was there, but that wasn't truly there, since it was barely a foggy silhouette that was moving through the air and nothing else. Nothing too interesting to be honest. The Minotaur regretted everything. Shrugged his shoulders and ultimately decided to turn back around. Uninterested in investigating any longer outside.
As Junk turned back around and fully intended to go get himself a snack in the kitchen of the tower this time, he was shocked to discover the humanoid, foggy, and floating shape had returned. He was right there. It had been floating behind him for the past few seconds. Now, finally up close, Junk was able to see it better. The entity, the shape, was a real person. It was a human being.
It was a woman. A gorgeous-looking woman at that, as well. She had huge breasts, and she wore a Victorian era-looking dress.
"Oh, shit!" the Minotaur shouted as he came face to face with her at first. But then… "Hey, hello. Need anything?"
"She is not only interested in male souls. Any genders work for her, as you can see…" the foggy and floating shape told him.
The ghost wished to inform him about something.
"Um, what?"
"She wants more souls."
"What are you talking about?"
"We don't have much time. You have to help me," the lady ghost told him.