Blackmoor Chapter 34

"Look who decided to crawl back from the abyss. Welco back, Sleeping Beauty." Eric said calmly to Jimmy, who was struggling to break free from the thick, woven cords.

"Don’t sweat it. If it was that easy, we’d be out by now," Eric advised, watching the fruitless effort.

"But... but how? When? Why?" Jimmy asked, raising his head to Eric. He was exhausted, his body finally too tired to endure the stress of straining against the ropes.

"Long story, kid, long story" Eric replied, a calm but pitiful expression on his face.

Finally giving up on breaking free, Jimmy allowed himself to spectate his environnt, a fairly lit room filled with large, specialized machineries and strange devices.

His gaze collided with Yelena, who had been silent the whole ti, her head tilted slightly away from them.

Noticing this, Jimmy turned his head to see what was holding her attention. A man stood a little distance behind them, in front of a wall decorated with brutal weapons of all kinds.

The man moved about, caressing the weapons with an almost intimate reverence.

"Who’s he?" Jimmy asked, his tone calm but filled with curiosity as he looked over his shoulder.

"A psychopathic maniac hellbent on destroying the universe!... for no bloody reason," Eric replied loudly, making sure his voice was audible enough for Brygo to hear.

Eric’s reply instantly sparked a realization in Jimmy’s mind. He turned his head back to Eric, his eyes wide.

"The Monarch?" Jimmy asked, sounding surprised and curious. He was trying to confirm if this was truly the man they had been chasing this whole ti.

"Close enough. He’s the herald," Eric replied, the words coming out with a hint of difficulty.

Jimmy beca extrely stunned. He turned to look behind him once again, a wave of cold realization washing over him. He now fully understood why they were all tied up against their will. The herald they ca here to find had actually found them first.

"So, what’s the plan to get out of here?" Jimmy turned back to ask.

Eric was slightly puzzled by his calmness.

"You’re awfully calm for soone who’s tied up and about to get murdered," Eric said, raising an eyebrow.

"Let’s see, uh... I was hundreds of feet up in the air getting swallowed by a black hole, so yeah. This is definitely less terrifying," Jimmy replied calmly, his tone slightly unbothered by their current danger.

His response brought a genuine smile to Eric’s face. He couldn’t believe the kid who always seed to panic in heart pounding situations was finally brushing off their unfortunate circumstances with such nonchalance.

"Well, would you look at that. Finally grew a proper pair of balls. Now this version of you I bloody like" Eric said to Jimmy, a large, happy grin stretching across his face.

"How are you, Jimmy?" Yelena chipped in, her voice calm and soft, her gaze fixed on him.

Silence followed, not her silence this ti, but theirs. Both Eric and Jimmy turned their heads, eyebrows lifted and eyes widened in complete surprise.

"Doing well... I guess. How about you?" Jimmy replied, his voice still calm.

"Tied up," Yelena replied, her voice calm but cold, her face expressionless.

"Well if it isn’t the ice cold queen, finally breaking her own silence,"

Eric said, a slow grin spreading across his face. He moved his head, his eyes sparkling with playful disbelief.

"For your information, I was devising a way to secure our freedom,"

Yelena shot back.

"Now that you ntioned it, why are you not breaking free? You’re strong enough to do so, right?" Jimmy said calmly, curious and a little confused.

"She can’t. Looks like that bloody wanker over there did sothing to her," Eric replied, referring to Brygo.

"All systems are currently offline. My abilities are nonfunctional, and I’m experiencing a significant loss of strength," Yelena responded, her voice and expression remaining flat.

"Alright, people. Happy monts are about to be filled with pain and sadness and ultimately... Death," Brygo finally spoke up, turning away from the wall.

He was now holding a handful of brutal looking weapons as he approached.

He stood in their midst with a soft, unsettling smile, taking a good, slow look at each of them.

Eric, Jimmy, and Yelena remained completely silent, staring at him with mixed emotions as he pulled out a small table and dropped the weapons onto it with a clatter.

"The universe will be reborn a paradise, but sadly, you all won’t be alive to see it," Brygo said, his voice echoing with a sinister tone, his gaze focused.

"To make things interesting, each of you shall pick an instrunt of choice. Now... who’s first?" he added, his look turning cold as he leaned on the table with his arms, raising his gaze to Eric.

For a mont, there was complete silence in the room. The air pulsed with a terrible stillness, a silence so sharp it humd, pressing against the walls and crawling up their spines like a cold hand.

Their eyes flicked from the grueso weapons to each other. The weight of the mont wasn’t just in the choosing, but in the certainty that whatever they picked, they wouldn’t be using it on him.

"Pretty casual for a bunch of torture weapons," Eric finally broke the silence, his tone surprisingly nonchalant.

Stunned by his response, Brygo raised his head slightly higher.

"What?!" he asked, his tone and expression a confused one.

"Look, I’ve been through worse, yeah? Hell, I’ve seen worse. This... It’s just child’s play," Eric said, rolling his eyes.

"Take a good look at the lady here." He motioned toward Yelena.

"She’s a bloody super soldier, and you plan to torture her with... with what?... A bunch of sticks with nails and blades on them? Mate, you’ve got to be joking," Eric concluded with a scoff.

Jimmy and Yelena were slightly confused by Eric’s sudden behavior. It felt wrong that he would sohow ask for sothing worse, but at the sa ti, it felt like he was coming up with so sort of plan.

"Spare the performance, Eric. We both know you’re just stalling for ti, and we both know it won’t matter," Brygo launched back, his voice regaining its sharp edge.

Jimmy, feeling like he understood what Eric was aiming for, suddenly chipped in.

"Yeah, I an, take for example. I’m not even bothered by what’s going on, because I’ve been through worse. I was even chased by huge, terrifying creatures trying to kill on a speed train. This is nothing compared to that," Jimmy said loudly, his voice filled with feigned bravado.

His sudden input gave Eric a slight, genuine surprise. Eric held a serious look, but beneath it, a huge, warm smile stretched across his inner thoughts.

***I bloody love this kid.. Nice one, Jimmy***

Eric whispered in his mind, a soft, warm smile creeping onto his lips.

"You wanted to have fun, right? At least give us a death that’s more terrifying," Jimmy added, pushing the bluff.

"Hmmmm," Brygo humd, falling silent as he took a closer, more critical look at the weapons on the table in front of him.

"Perhaps you’re right. I misjudged you all... And now I shall and my mistakes," Brygo said, standing tall with his hands clasped behind him before slowly walking away from their presence. His aim was clear, to retrieve more terrifying objects to satisfy his sadism.

Seeing him leave, Eric imdiately turned to Jimmy with a huge smile on his face.

"Nicely done, kid. I could kiss you right now," Eric said softly, his eyes brightened with excitent and a happy grin.

"That’s disgusting," Yelena said coldly to Eric.

"Piss off, princess," Eric replied, his voice laced with affection, the urgency of the mont overriding any desire to be polite.