Surprise Smile
“We’re not leaving,” said the man’s voice. “I don’t know why you came, but we aren’t going anywhere.”
The woman’s laugh was a high-pitched cackle like wind chimes made from bones and teeth. The two voices were too close for comfort—the sound of their laughter echoed around me with no chance of escape.
I tried to move again, but this time my muscles refused my command. They trembled as if they’d forgotten how to work correctly. My body ached all over, and every inch screamed at me that I should be running away or trying to attack them in some way.
But I couldn’t seem to do either, though I desperately wanted to do both. And it wasn’t just my body that felt so weak; my mind also failed me on a fundamental level, like I could only think about what had happened once instead of being able to remember anything else in any sort of meaningful fashion. It was hard to even recall where I was, let alone what they might have done to me.
“You must be tired by now,” said the male voice, “so I’ll go ahead and finish your sentence for you: You can stay here until you die.” His voice sounded calm as if he spoke these words with a smile on his face while having an easy conversation rather than uttering threats.
“And then you will die anyway when you reach the bottom of the cliff. So there’s nothing to worry about after all. We just want to give you a place to rest before the end.”
It was impossible to tell how big their mouths were, but somehow they seemed to grin at me from all sides at once. I wondered what lay behind those smiles, whether they meant to mock me for falling into such a simple trap… or simply laugh themselves silly because they knew they’d finally won.
I heard footsteps approaching, and then a hand gripped my ankle firmly and pulled me back down onto the floor. I tried to kick the legs off whoever had grabbed my leg, but my movements didn’t help me any more than my own arms had.
The same went for my teeth, which I bared in an attempt to bite them apart. But the hands holding me remained unyielding. As soon as one set of fingers left my ankle, another instantly wrapped itself tightly around it. A strange sensation ran through my entire body—a tingle of pain mixed with numbness.
My limbs started to spasm uncontrollably, making it impossible to hold still even for a second. All the air suddenly rushed out of my lungs, and my heart felt as if it would burst from its chest. For a moment, I thought I would suffocate, and then something heavy fell on top of me, crushing me under a mountain of rock-hard flesh.
There was only enough space for my nose, mouth, and eyes above me. Everything else was buried alive beneath an avalanche of flesh. I was completely crushed by the man’s weight, and I lost all feeling in my body except for my lungs and my brain.
Then I was lifted up into the sky.
The world spun wildly. My head was filled with bloodlust, and my vision narrowed to just one thing: the man’s throat.
I bit him.
My jaws opened wide, and I gnashed and chewed with all my might. But the man held me tight, pinning me against his chest, and refused to let go. Blood flowed freely from the wounds in his neck, but the flow stopped almost immediately. It was clear that he was dead—but my hunger wouldn’t accept that answer.
With a final burst of energy, I pushed my fangs deep into his jugular and sucked.
Blood poured out of the man, soaking me with crimson. He groaned, but I kept on sucking, wanting to drink everything inside him. Then I felt the pressure change as my body began to collapse. My lungs were full of fluid, and I gasped for breath; my tongue swirled around in a pool of red. And just then…
A flash of light shot through my eyes. The last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed me whole was a beautiful young girl who stared at me with a surprised smile.
***
The next morning, I awoke to find myself lying on a pile of rocks. It took several tries for me to open my eyes properly, but eventually, I managed to see beyond the blurry mess in front of my lids. When I focused on the first object, my vision cleared quickly.
The cliffs loomed in front of me, covered with thick vines and trees that grew wild. Beyond the cliff was a huge canyon, like the Grand Canyon stretched on for miles and miles until it reached an unseen horizon. A stream flowed lazily across this vast emptiness.
On one side of the river was the sun, bright and strong, while on the other stood an endless dark shadow made by night. The air was cold, and I could feel the snow falling upon us. I was wearing the clothes I’d been given the previous day, but not the shoes. Instead, I wore a pair of leather boots. They were too large for my feet, so much so that I had to keep pulling them down as I walked.
When I looked back at where I’d come from, I found myself in a different world entirely.
I’d woken up at the foot of a giant, ancient stone statue of a woman, which seemed to rise straight from the earth, defying gravity. She was carved out of a single block of stone and stood nearly eight stories high, towering over the surrounding landscape.
I couldn’t see the tip of her nose, but even from this distance, she looked majestic, like a goddess standing sentry at the edge of a vast plain. And she was smiling, as though to welcome visitors to some magnificent palace.
Her face was painted beautifully in gold and blues. Gold hair, golden eyes, blue lips, and nails. The most striking feature of her beauty was the crown of jewels encircling her head. Her gaze seemed to pierce me directly with her intense stare as if she could read every thought in my mind.
There were two smaller statues nearby: one of a man and the other of a dragon. Their carvings were no less intricate than the one I was looking at, and they were both larger than any human or animal ever should have been.
This had to be an altar. A shrine of sorts. And these were the remains of an ancient race, who had sacrificed themselves to appease their gods—and now lay buried beneath the ground.
It was hard to believe this ancient civilization had once existed here when there wasn’t a speck of evidence of it visible above the dirt. This was the land of giants, a place of magic and mystery where legends were born and time forgotten.
If only I hadn’t heard what happened during my fight with the Archdemon, maybe I could’ve believed it all. The truth would never be revealed to someone like me anyway. The knowledge would stay locked inside my memories forever.
I’d lost consciousness for a short period after drinking too much blood, but I remembered nothing more. I tried opening my mouth again, but the wound in my throat felt as though it were still healing. It was a little painful, but I didn’t need much time to heal, and I’d had plenty of practice fighting off pain long before I came here.
I’d even had experience killing vampires and werewolves—and humans in my younger days. But the Archdemon’s blood had brought something new to my senses. An overwhelming sense of power that left me feeling as though my life would always remain at the mercy of another.
No matter how much I trained or fought, there was an undeniable difference between the way things used to be and how they are now.
And yet, this wasn’t something I needed to dwell upon anymore. As soon as I got my strength back, I was going home.
In fact, the more I studied the area around me, the clearer it became that I’d somehow arrived here by accident. At least, by mistake. My body ached from a lack of rest, and my throat still throbbed when I moved my jaw around.
I must have fallen somewhere nearby after the Archdemon had drained me of every drop of blood. I knew my injuries weren’t life-threatening because I’d lived through them once already.
That meant it was likely I’d be able to find a cave nearby, a hiding spot from which I could watch the Archdemon and his army pass by. Maybe I could even get lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him himself. That was the first thing I planned to do. I had to know why he wanted to destroy this place and all its inhabitants, and I also had to figure out just how powerful he really was.
A chill ran up my spine when I saw a flash of movement at the base of the altar. There was someone sitting next to it, hidden from view. I stopped walking forward and turned slowly on the spot.
My breath caught in my lungs when I finally saw her, and not because she was beautiful. She was a creature straight out of legend; a monster made of flesh. She sat cross-legged at the foot of the altar, wearing the same dress she had worn in my dreams.
She wore a necklace of black jewels that reflected light brilliantly against the darkness. The stones were arranged in perfect order, as though cut from the exact same piece of jewelry. Each jewel shone with the brilliance of starlight, as though they had been polished so thoroughly they glimmered with their own inner fire.
And then I realized they were alive, each glowing with its very own soul, pulsing with such intensity that it was almost hypnotic. In the midst of all the jewels, a single ruby seemed to shine brighter than the rest. When I looked into the center of it, I felt as though it pulled me toward her. Like a magnet, drawing me to her, to see if she was real.
“You have returned,” she said calmly.
I glanced behind myself, expecting to see her standing there, but she hadn’t moved. She was still seated at the foot of the altar, staring directly at me. “Where is she?” I asked, turning back to look at the woman beside the altar.
The red-haired beauty smiled gently. “I am the guardian of this holy place. I welcome you.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “As do your kind.”
Something about her voice sent shivers down my spine. She spoke in the tongue of the elves, but her words were different somehow. Different from any others I’d ever heard before.
She was speaking as though she’d seen me before. As though we’d met before, and she knew exactly who I was. And yet, I’d never laid eyes on her in my entire life.
She was looking at me like I’d just arrived home. Or rather, as if I’d come home for good.
But that couldn’t be possible. I didn’t know this woman. Not until yesterday afternoon. I’d never seen her face before, and I certainly couldn’t remember meeting her. She couldn’t possibly know my name either. How would she know who I was? What did she mean by my kind? Were there other people like her here? If so, where were they now? Where were they all hiding?
It made no sense. This was the first time I’d ever set foot in this sacred place. Why would I suddenly appear here now, when it had taken me decades to find my way here at last?
“What happened here?” I demanded. “Why am I here now, and why do you speak to me like we’ve known each other forever? We haven’t even met!”
Her dark eyes flashed with annoyance. “We don’t need to meet to know each other’s names.” She gestured toward my sword. “You are the warrior known as the Defender.”
“Yeah, right! You can forget it. No one knows who that is. It doesn’t exist anywhere, except in fairy tales and fantasy novels.”
“No.” She sighed heavily, shaking her head as if to tell me this was unnecessary. “If you’re referring to the book of the same name, it does not exist.” She paused, and then added, “At least, not anymore.”
The Archdemon was going to destroy my world and everything in it. I might only have days left to live. But I had to find a way to stop him. Even if she wasn’t telling me anything new, I needed answers.
She looked me over carefully, studying me with a cold gaze. I felt as though she could read my mind with that piercing gaze, and that it was impossible for me to lie or hide anything from her. She knew every thought running through my head.
She seemed surprised when she saw how badly my body had deteriorated since the Archdemon attacked us. She took my hand in hers, as though to check my pulse for herself. “Your wounds will heal quickly,” she told me. “You’ll feel better soon.”
Then she let go of my hand and walked around me, examining the ruin of what had once been an elven temple. “This isn’t natural.”
“How do you mean?” I asked.
“Look at your hands.” She stepped closer to my side, examining me with a critical eye. “These are old injuries.” I watched as she lifted my left sleeve, peeling back the leather bandage and looking at my palm. “But they aren’t recent. These scars predate the Archdemon’s assault.”
My heart sank. She already knew something I hadn’t been able to tell anyone else, even myself: It was true. My body had begun to deteriorate in some terrible way, and no one could explain why. Every wound I got, I healed immediately.
The only thing I could attribute this strange phenomenon to was the Archdemon himself. His touch was destroying my body. He was poisoning me slowly and steadily, draining away my strength without mercy. Soon, he would claim my entire being completely, and leave nothing inside of me but a husk of a man.
A few weeks ago, I should have been dead by now.
“There is another explanation for these scars.” The Archdemon had spoken of it several times before the magic that was supposed to protect me from his power.
But I’d never really believed it was possible. And now… “What do you mean?”
“Your skin is too smooth for someone who has endured battle, yet your flesh bears many old scars. They seem to date back decades, which means they must have appeared after the Archdemon’s attack—and yet, I cannot imagine how such wounds could have caused them unless they are related to the very magic that protected you.”
“Magic?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, and I believe this is where it comes into play. You were touched by a great deal of magic, weren’t you? You were granted protection against the Archdemon’s poison, were you not?”
I glanced down at my hands, then up again, trying to make sure she wasn’t pulling my leg. “Yeah. As far as I know, I was.”
But she shook her head. “As far as you know? How many times did you attempt to destroy the Archdemon’s essence before your spell failed? Was it dozens? Hundreds?”
“Thousands,” I admitted reluctantly.
She frowned as if trying to work out what she was seeing. Then she said, “That was too much magic for one man to handle on his own. Not even I would dare to use such power.” She paused again, then continued, “Or perhaps it is the other way around.
Maybe it was this same magic that was responsible for the Archdemon’s attack, and now it is killing you. Perhaps the Archdemon himself has done this to you.”
I stared at her blankly, struggling to come to terms with it.
“Do you think so?”
She nodded gravely. “It would explain a great deal.”
The End