Larisa could feel her feet pushing forward, it felt like a strong gust of wind was blowing firmly behind her, pulling her strongly towards the infinite abyss. Her heart pounded hard against her ribcage as she felt her feet almost reaching the edge of the abyss, she tried to move away from it, but the presence pushing her towards the abyss was too powerful for her fragile body to stop.
She tried to scream for help as loud as she could in a panicked state, but her shrill voice only echoed back to her in the room, making her blood turn cold that no one knew of her whereabouts and she felt as though she would disappear into the dark abyss without a trace, if she fell into it.
She tried to move her body away, only to fail miserably, horror etched deeply all over her face as she regretted following the dark presence that lead her there. Hela had only lead her to her death and she mindlessly took the bait. She felt the stinging of tears at the back of her brown eyes when her body pulled closer to the abyss, knowing she might never see Lothaire again and was falling to her death.
She doubted she would survive being trapped in the abyss as she could feel the powerful darkness emanating from within the void of infinite darkness, the embodiment of endless torture, that she was certain she wouldn't last a minute inside.
Her face turned pale with a horrendous look on it and her body trembled in dread as her body was being pushed with immense force, by an ominous presence towards the abyss and one last scream filled with terror, erupted from her lips which echoed back to her in the eerie room.
She was about to fall into the abyss as she reached the edge, body stricken with fear until a strong arm wound around her waist, halting her abruptly in her forced movements. Her back hit against a hard chest, it was Lothaire.
She could tell it was him from the darkness he exuded from his body. She was still panting in fear with sweat plastered on her face when she felt his strong arms on her shoulder, turning her around to face him.
Her eyes aimlessly stopped on his gorgeous face which he had a grim expression on, he was angry and worried, but she was too shaken up to think, so she frantically wrapped her arms around him, embracing him tightly as she buried her head on his chest and he could feel her body shudder slightly as he heard faint sobs.
He stroked her hair softly, he wanted to scold her for coming into the Temple when he had strictly warned her not to, but she was still shaken up, so he let it go. The grim expression on his face disappeared, replacing it with a softer look as he carried her up in his arms effortlessly.
He figured she might find it difficult to walk since her body still trembled. Her sobbing stopped but she clutched his shirt tightly as he carried her out of the Temple and back to their room. He hadn't said a word even when she knew he was slightly mad at her, it was reasonable for him to be since she had almost killed herself.
He laid her gently on the couch, sitting beside her on the empty space, with slow precise movements which she had noticed he had already grown so accustomed to as his movements were always slow and precise, almost as if he was calculating his next steps, even the way he was running his long, slender fingers through his hair was equally the same way he calculated his movements in an elegant way.
"Snap out of it, love." His two fingers snapping right in front of her face made her jolt back into reality, leaving her startled and a bit confused.
She bit her lower lips, knowing it was time for her scolding to becom, as she was already recuperated from the uncanny incident she had deliberately placed her self in with her fragile life on the line.
"I..I.." She stuttered, trying to find an excuse, in her defense, a presence had led her there but it didn't seem like a good excuse even for her as she could have just ignored it and stayed in her room but she didn't.
"Were you longing for death? Why would you go there when I firmly told you not to?" He was mad, it was visibly etched on his beautiful face and she gulped, but he wasn't mad at her, he was mad at the fact that she would have died if he was only a minute late.
He knew how dangerous and powerful the abyss was, if it could trap a goddess as powerful as Hela, it would easily kill a mere human and she would not have lasted for more than an hour in it, it would crush her bones and destroy her soul.
"I..I'm sor.." Her words were interrupted with a glare coming from him and she pressed her lips meekly in a thin line when she remembered he told her never to say the word sorry to him.
"I won't go there again..." She corrected herself with lowered head as she fiddled with the hem of her dress, the room fell silent for a minute but she could still feel his golden gaze on her which made her swallow.
"Don't. It's dangerous, knowing how frail you are, I wonder why you deliberately went there...I didn't think you'd have it in you to take another step through that door but you surprised me, most vampires wouldn't even go through."
His voice held a tone of perplexity and confusion in it and she finally met his gaze, he was mad but perplexed. She stared at him with a spaced out face as she figured he was right. She was fragile and easily got scared, so where she got the courage from to go through that door was still a mystery to her.
Her face sunk in dread when she thought about the fact that Hela might have possessed her, but she didn't feel possessed, in fact, she felt perfectly fine and herself. She didn't feel like a mindless puppet, so she swept it at the back of her mind with the conclusion that her curiosity had gotten the best of her.
"I was just curious....." She said with a low voice, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
"Curious, huh? Curious about death or Hela or both?" She blinked numerously, she was left speechless as she wondered what she was curious about.
"Don't try to find answers to darkness, it's best if you don't know, they say ignorance is bliss." His voice low and somewhat dark as he spoke.
"Why did you trap her in the palace?" She asked with curiosity gleaming in her eyes.
"I'd rather educate myself about the darkness than let it consume me without having knowledge of it." She said when he stayed silent and a smirk appeared on his lips for a brief second.
"I didn't trap her in the palace, I trapped her underneath, in a dungeon." He replied to her previous question. She realised the room the abyss was placed in was a dungeon, but her eyes narrowed when she found it weird that a dungeon was inside a Temple, making her wonder if Temples weren't used for worshipping or she got it wrong.
"But why is there a dungeon inside a Temple?" She asked as curious as ever.
"Long story...The Empire wasn't all Empire D, it was two different kingdoms, one half belonged to the sorcerers, the other, the gods. The Palace once belonged to the gods and the Temple underneath was where the humans worshipped them in the past and the dungeon was for...well, prisoners I guess. Once I defeated both, I combined them together to make Empire D."
He explained and she nodded thoughtfully.
"But why did you choose to trap her there?" She queried inquisitively, big hazel staring up at him for answers.
"To prevent unwanted people stumbling into it, it would cause unwanted attention if the humans found it, that's why that part of the palace is restricted." He explained and she found reason in it, she still had more questions she needed answers to.
"I felt something pushing me into the abyss, it was Hela right? Did she possess me?"
Lothaire couldn't find the answers to give her, he himself wondered if Hela possessed her in that split second but the three stages of possession hadn't been completed yet like Laverna had said, so he wondered if maybe not.
"No."