'Why can't I move?'
A bunch of questions filled Domhall's mind as he tried to raise his one foot, but to his disappointment, his feet were glued onto the floor... Like some sort of gravity was pulling him downwards.
He doesn't even know why, but he can feel a huge amount of energy trying to devour him. It was some sort of wicked aura he just couldn't ignore.
"Ah!" he couldn't help but jump in shock and scream when the chaotic place went on fire as a flash of lightning from the sky struck in front of him.
At that time, he almost forgot how to breathe. He bit his lower lip as his gaze went from left to right, monitoring if people knew what was happening to him, or even to the place where all of them were staying... But to his surprise, those people he was with started to disappear out of his sight like ash floating onto the wind.
Even Louisanna.
"Sir?"
Domhall came back into reality when he heard a female voice in a gentle tone call him. He even flinched when he felt Louisanna, the woman in front of him, held him lightly onto the hem of his shirt, trying to make him look at her.
"W-What?" he asked, confused, as he shook his head and blinked his eyes twice.
He observed the surroundings and noticed that the place had already gone back to normal. There wasn't a fire or a bolt of lightning that almost made him jump onto the edge of where he was standing.
People were minding their business like how they used to, and when he tried to move his body, he did it effortlessly.
"Are you okay? You look like you're in pain," she asked, worried, as she let go of his shirt.
That's the time she realized it wasn't the best way to wake up a customer from his thoughts.
Louisanna Lohengrin knew that if she wanted to stay in this company for a long time, she should know how not to intervene in someone's business... Yet he couldn't do that with Domhall, one of the VVIPs in the bar she's working at.
Something mysterious was pulling her onto him. She tried to ignore it as she made herself busy with her tasks, but here she was, getting worried for the guy as she noticed that he's been standing in front of the crowd for a long time.
That's not the only thing that got her attention, but his whimpers while stunned made her approach him.
"Would you like me to accompany you in your seat?" she even asked as Domhall stared at her with a questionable look.
'Did I do something wrong?' Louisanna asked herself as she raised a brow and played with the hem of her shirt using her fingers. She was nervous as sweat was dripping onto her forehead.
The reason why she never gets the work schedule where Domhall regularly visits was that she didn't like to be with him in the same place.
She'll stay out of trouble for as long as she can. Louisanna knew that serving a top VVIP client would bring her headache.
But looking at him this close, she couldn't feel the hate she had for him for the past years.
"Sir?" Louisanna calls him for the second time.
"No. I'm fine," he answered quickly before massaging his forehead.
Like her, Domhall also couldn't believe how mesmerizing her facial features were. Even her gentle voice sounds pleasurable to his ears. One of the things that caught his attention was her sweet scent.
He's not kidding when he says that it seems like an angel went in front of him... and even when she walked away, he couldn't avoid his gaze at her.
Louisanna just nodded before she left him alone and cleaned the table on their right side.
He can hear what she was saying but he couldn't answer properly as he was still half-conscious. There was a mixture of amusement and fear in his body because of what happened earlier. He rested both of his hands on his knees as he bent a bit.
"Never again, fuck," he mumbled as he blamed the whiskey at the back of his mind. It was his first time trying to drink a whiskey, and probably would be the last time.
This is the time he realizes that what he saw earlier was only a dream or a product of his hallucination since he drank too much alcohol, but in a split second, he suddenly screamed in pain when a ball of fire appeared in front of him.
The heat was scorching as he can see vividly how the bits of fire bury his skin, leaving a scar. Domhall's screams were heard all over the place as the pain went intense.
The fire went bigger, bolder, and hotter to the point it felt like it was rooting inside him. He unconsciously kneeled on the floor as he was trying to tap all over his body to stop the fire from scattering, but it was to no avail.
In the middle of his agony, a female voice echoes in his mind. A gentle yet intimidating one.
"Domhall..." He temporarily stopped shouting, but it doesn't mean that the pain he felt come to an end.
He tried to find who was communicating with him, but no one was already in the place except him.
"You can't escape your fate."
With that, Domhall immediately lost balance as he fainted on the floor. His vision was blurry as his head felt like something was pounding on it, but before he lost consciousness, a woman with white hair appeared in his mind.
Her delicate skin, her innocent and pure eyes, and the unusual gold sparkles on her body made it hard for him to forget every detail that happened that night.
Without him knowing, an enormous power went to him as his body and soul were transmigrating onto another world no one had ever reached before, except for those people who needed to atone for their sins, even after death.
A ray of orange fire scattering and multiplying into pieces rotated onto every part of his body as his figure started to float mid-air.
Domhall was already unconscious as his body couldn't take the power bestowed upon him beyond his capacity. However, he didn't have the choice but to take all of it. It was the power he had resisted for a very long time... not until the last eclipse.
The fire was dancing like they felt elated because someone they have been waiting for years came back for them, and it was Domhall, the one destined to be the Inferno's demon king.
"Ah... my head."
Domhall opened his eyes as his head felt like breaking. When he looked at his surroundings, he almost thought he was going crazy as he was already in a different place... Inferno.
This place depicted the image of how inferno was described in those movies and books he had watched and read.
The only difference is the aura of the place. It was more dark and evil, to the point that the fire at every corner of the place never gave him the warmth he needed. Fire surrounds him but he felt cold.
He walked into the middle of the room where a brown seat was located. It was also glowing as he closed his eyes for a second because the light was hurting him.
"Am I dead?" he asked himself as he thought that he was alone in that horrific place.
"No. It's the opposite."
Domhall opened his eyes and he almost jumped out of panic when a woman wearing a red dress with a black hood appeared in front of him. He almost had mistaken her for a ghost because of her pale skin and the traces of blood on her clothes, but then, he realizes that it wasn't a ghost... but a devil herself.
He even confirmed it in his mind as her red eyes went brighter and darker.
"I have waited for a long time to meet you down here," the woman even added as she was already in front of him in the blink of an eye.
She moves like a flash, even faster than the wind. It's the power the majesty has given her to guide Domhall for centuries. She was his guide spirit, his bodyguard, and his protector. Ellaine had sacrificed her life and freedom for a long period of time for the royal family.
"I still couldn't believe the fact you're already here. It feels surreal."
A genuine smile showed on her lips as she intertwined both of her hands, swinging her body a bit, while Domhall couldn't even understand what was happening.
Is this his punishment for being a sick bastard? Did he die because of drinking too much and thinking about the person Clark told him not to?
"I don't even know you," Domhall answered without hesitation. "Are you one of the people I fucked with when we're alive?"
Instead of answering his question, the woman laughed and it echoed all over the place. Her laughter was dark and sarcastic.
She even held her stomach as she couldn't maintain her balance, but she immediately stood up straight and cleared her throat when she realized that the man in front of him wasn't the boastful guy she needed to monitor over the past centuries.
After the last eclipse that all of them have waited for, their King was resurrected to rule the afterworld.
"No, and we're not dead. We're alive," the woman even added in a serious tone. "It feels weird to hear that from you, my King."
"Y-Your what?" He wasn't even sure if he heard it right.
"King," she answered so quickly he wasn't even able to grasp. "You are the demon king, Domhall Palmer. The king who was destined to rule Inferno for centuries."
"No. I don't want to be a king." Domhall shook his head as he tried to find the phone in his pocket, but it was nowhere to be found. He knew that it would be a ridiculous action, but he was desperate to get out of here, although it doesn't show. "I wanted my old life back."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," she responded, almost in a whisper. "And I'm afraid you won't have the courage to do that."
Ellaine pointed to the right side of the room where the mini-fire lake was located, and Domhall immediately walked in that direction to look at his reflection.
There, he had his eyes wide open as he couldn't recognize the man who was in front of him. In his appearance as of now, calling himself a monster or a beast would be an understatement.
"This is your fate, Domhall," Ellaine told him in a convincing tone as she waved her hand.
A spark of fire was building onto her index finger as she pointed it in Domhall's direction, bestowing her power to give him the blessing he needed for his official coronation.
"And you can't do anything about it."