At the demon’s ball. Gothic

“Come back to me, Emily,” was still heard from the cliff, where the deathly pale Madeleine stood in a fiery dress, but she could no longer see her. Fatigue fell on her. Her heavy breathing echoed over the shore near the cliff and mixed with the sound of the sea, which illuminated the beauty’s tired face with its blue. She moved away from the cliff and tried to walk a few steps in the darkness of the night, but only the old sea cemetery greeted her with its gloomy, gothic beauty. Stone crosses, gloomy graves, among them, in the eternal peace of death, lay her love. Her beloved was dead, sudden death was sent to him by the forces of darkness.

Slowly, convulsively holding her side, she reached the middle of the cemetery. Tears of grief and despair gushed from her beautiful eyes, and the beauty involuntarily fell to her knees before the lonely grave.

– Forgive me, my love,” she whispered, “forgive me, if it were not for me, you would be alive, but I am glad alone, you died before the forces of evil touched your soul, and now they do not have power over you.”

“You’re sure of that,” the same cruel, mocking voice rang out over her.

She shuddered all over at the sound of a voice so well known to her, and her wary gaze quickly ran all around. Suddenly cold hands with long sharp claws grabbed her, squeezing her shoulders with their icy weight and strength.

She almost screamed at the sudden wave of sudden fright that came to her heart.

Jumping to her feet, she realized that again, barely getting out of there, she entered the realm of evil, and this time nothing would have been able to rescue her from here. She ruined her love, and now the hour of reckoning has come. She also ruined her own life.

She tried to look her enemy in the face, but a clawed hand held her shoulders with its inhuman strength.

“You are still as beautiful as you were many, many years ago. Time spares you and your face. After all, it still has so much nobility, so much purity and innocent beauty. Your heart is not subject to time, time is not powerful over you because your heart is not the heart of a person, it is the heart of the dream itself.

“It’s you again,” she burst out. For the first time in many years, the memory of the past returned to her again.

“Yes, from the depths of time,” he responded, “fate itself helped me to find you.”

She shuddered, and a clawed paw ran over her beautiful face. There was no longer any sea or rocks around, only darkness enveloped the gloomy crosses and Emily’s blond hair shining in the darkness with golden fire. She cautiously scanned everything around, but the clawed hand, as before, tightly squeezed her shoulder, preventing her from turning around.

“You betrayed me, Emily,” he whispered, “and you were one of us, but your heart was split in half, it became half the heart of a man.

“I don’t want to be the evil creature of the night anymore,” courage returned to her and filled her beautiful blue eyes with rage, forcing her to half-turn, “I don’t want to be what you have become, I don’t want to be death, I don’t want to be evil.”

“Yes, your beauty, it does not allow you to like that, but you betrayed me, Emily, you fell in love with a man, but love cannot save your soul from the power of darkness, even if you have the beauty of a dream and a human heart, but you were born at night, and you also my child, a child of blood.”

They stood, black darkness and radiant light, evil and good, monster and beauty, a beautiful blonde girl against the background of a terrible black figure. The forces of darkness pursued the beautiful princess. The bloody flames of hell from the unfathomable darkness of the ages haunted her all her life with the cold wind of a cruel legend.

A feeling of pain, emptiness and unbearable sadness filled Emily’s heart, bursting in the throes of terrible losses, suffering, but still managing to retain a drop of kindness.

Bitter tears poured from the eyes of the beauty, full of grief and confusion, and yet they managed to make her face even more wonderful, crying about the misfortunes of her love, a beautiful angel.

“I have nothing more to grieve for, demon,” she whispered through her tears, “you stole my dreams.”

“Dreams of youth, my princess, this is just the remorse of nature, cruel, evil, depriving, like life. You did know their charms on yourself, but you are a dream, Emily, you have embodied all the beauty of a ruthless world, for which people in vain plead with a merciless fate. You are a beauty, and even at the expense of the suffering of others. Do you hate yourself for that?”

“Not for that,” she whispered, “for the fact that, by the will of fate, I became a nightmare creature of the night, like you, a dark creature of evil with a soul full of darkness and secrets, eternally thirsting for torment and blood. I hate myself and you for this, but at the last moment of repentance of my soul, I pray to the God forgotten by me to bring to life the witchcraft prophecy. May your death finally find you. May, when I die, she will kill you, a dream. Maerlin, remember she is your death and your curse, which, in spite of everything. will come true.

His evil eyes lit up with fierce fire, and long claws sank deep into the beauty’s shoulder.

“Damn you, Emily,” he hissed, “damn your witchcraft beauty. You betrayed your heart, you became a human, and with this you ruined your immortal love. You are cursed forever with me. Unless your daughter Maerlin saves you, she can’t. She bears the same curse, she is half human, half her soul belongs to the call of the blood. Only she can become my death, but this will not happen, she will die today the same night as you.””

She shuddered involuntarily. Her death stood before her in the face of a nightmarish demon. She will die like the fiery witch Madeleine, like thousands of other victims of the demon, like the one she loved.

“Emily,” he said gently and passionately, and the claws of a terrible hand with a lightning movement passed along the snow-white neck of the young girl, and as if from a sharp dagger, a long bloody trail remained on her.

A wild cry of unbearable pain pierced the silence of the lonely cemetery. He became a prophecy and a curse, condemning a bloody demon to torment, who invented new tortures for people, but was not used to suffering himself.

This cry promised that the prophecy would come true, and the cruel demon himself would finally die at the hands of a beautiful dream.

The beauty fell to the ground at the stone cross. Her blond hair scattered over the cold earth, illuminating her with some kind of magical radiance, the eyelids of her beautiful eyes closed, one snow-white hand covered with blood stretched out at the crucifix, like the only ray of pure beauty in the darkness of night and evil.

“It’s your fault, Emily,” the demon said quietly.

“I will find your daughter, the call of the blood will lead me to her, and then I will know if your prophecy is true,” he whispered. It was his oath, an oath of eternal vengeance from evil to beauty itself.

“I’ll find you, Maerlin,” echoed mysteriously in the darkness of the night cemetery. The body of the beauty barely stirred in death throes, the wind of the cold sea brought ominous words to her, and this was much more terrible than any death. The demon’s eyes were bloodshot when he saw this subtle movement, but then from the side of the sea there was the sound of steps and a loud cry came:

“Emily.”

The sound of footsteps came closer and closer. Behind the bend in the rocks, footsteps were already clearly audible, and the stately figure of a young man became visible. The cruciform hilt of his sword embodied the very struggle for life and immortal faith. The wary gaze of the demon turned into the gaze of a wild beast, and in a moment the dark figure soared upward like a black bird, a hawk of death, which flew towards the gloomy castle.

In the old cemetery, a handsome young man knelt in front of a dying girl. Pain at that moment overwhelmed his heart.

“Emily,” he whispered, squeezing an ice-cold, snow-white hand in his hand. At that moment, the beauty’s eyelids, closed in death throes, slowly opened.

“It’s you,” she whispered, barely audible, moving her dead lips with difficulty.

“It’s me, Emily,” he said anxiously, “you shouldn’t have come here, the dead still remain dead, and there is no need to ruin your own life because of it.

“No,” she cut him off, “that was my destiny, and there was no escape from it, no escape. The only thing I beg from you, save my daughter. Now all the forces of darkness are up in arms against her. She’s at my house, just off the coast. Take her out of there, take her away from these rocks. They contain the terrible power of all the blood that is spilled on the earth, a bloody demon dwells in them, death itself lurks in them. Take my daughter away from here, save her, please. Call her Maerlin, her destiny is to be the finest dream in the world.”

The gaze penetrated the very depths of his blue eyes.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he replied, “I’ll call her Maerlin.

– Never a bloody demon, not another of the devils of hell can harm her.”

She nodded. He did not want to leave, and she knew this, she knew that there was love in his heart, to which she could not answer. Now she was dying and prayed to the God long forgotten by her, and yet who was her last hope, to help her. She fervently believed that her prayer would help her save the beautiful Maerlin, who could kill all evil on earth.

“Please, take Maerlin away from here as soon as possible,” she said, “I pray to God that he will help you and that he will forgive my soul. If my daughter survives, if she destroys evil, give her this symbol that her heart should always remain with faith in God forgiving me.”

With a trembling, cold hand, she held out a small golden cross to him.

– May she never part with him.

Her cold hand for a moment squeezed the hand outstretched to her. The eyes of the beauty closed in endless sleep, but her soul remained with God, who forgave, and this hope burning in his heart helped him overcome the unbearable pain, because he knew that his own heart had sunk with her into the darkness of endless death forever.

The winds of the sea returned to her face the freshness of life and the purity of true faith, which managed to save her soul from the power of darkness and make her here, among the rocks of sorcery, the only symbol of light. He gently ran his hand over his cheek, where a tear had frozen before, and gently touched his cold lips with his lips. She was beautiful, and he would have been looking at her forever if he had not suddenly heard some strange sound. A black bird flew over the sea with a melancholy cry, but it was not an ordinary bird, in the rustle of its wings was the ominous whisper of death itself. She was black as night itself, and her wings concealed a destructive power that no human could possess. The flames of hell itself seemed to be lurking in her evil eyes. Roderick realized that he heard the sound of the wings of death itself, and he realized that bloody death, indeed, has lightning wings. His heart also knew that he shouldn’t die now, no matter how much he wanted to. He had to stay alive at all costs, find and save Emily’s daughter.

The bird of death has already rushed at him. Its sharp claws flashed like ominous lightning in the darkness, its eyes glowed with blood, and a shrill cry erupted from its steel beak. Rows of claws like sharp swords flashed once more in the darkness and dug into his left shoulder as deep as they could. Roderick almost screamed in pain himself.

He had to win, although it was impossible, but for Emily’s sake, he was ready to do anything. Pain ripped through his body, and red blood gushed from the pierced flesh.

“Emily,” he whispered with gritted teeth, “help me, Emily, my love, God help me.”

With force, he tore from himself the winged demon who was drinking his blood and drew a glittering sword from its sheath.

Reflections of the silvery light of its point fell on the black plumage of the gloomy bird, and it, soaring high into the sky, began headlong downward to inflict a wound in Roderick’s back.

Another moment, and he would have been dead, but he, despite the bird’s evil designs, managed to dodge, and he himself struck her so strong that he pierced his wounded body with pain. Now Roderick felt his victory. The rustle of wings subsided, the fiery lightning of bloody eyes no longer tormented him with their deadly gaze, something shot up in the darkness, and a wild deafening cry echoed over the cemetery, but in the next moment everything disappeared. Calm reigned here again, but it was an oppressive silence that foreshadowed danger. Somewhere behind him there was a noise, and Roderick turned sharply, holding the sword tightly in his hands and always ready to fight. But there was nothing to be seen anywhere. Then, as if out of the darkness itself, a tall and sombre figure in black clothing emerged.

“And you are still true to your dream, young prince,” the black monster whispered with malicious mockery, and his bloody eyes flashed with fierce fire. Only now Roderick saw that the grim demon’s left shoulder was covered with hot blood. Before him stood his worst enemy, who killed Emily. Roderick hated him as he never did.

“You are brave, since you could come here, right behind her, for your sad love,” the bloody demon said in the same mocking voice, “but now you are in my possession. The same fate awaits you as your beautiful Emily. Because of her, two hearts are already dead: her unfortunate lover and yours. I will not allow her daughter to ruin many more lives with her beautiful face of the dream itself. She is my death, but remember, Roderick, I am stronger than God who blessed her.

“No,” Roderick whispered, “no, I know who you are, you are darkness, you are evil, but you are not stronger than good, my love is stronger than darkness, and the forces of light are even more powerful, like my God. After all, contrary to your black desires, the world has faith in it, there are dreams, there is love, and I believe that a dream given by God can prevail over you.”

“No,” the fire demon laughed, “you must die with her today, and her daughter will die with you.”

He looked at Emily’s body lying at the stone cross, and his gaze burned with blood. Roderick, looking at Emily’s beautiful face, gained new strength.

“You will never defeat me, demon,” he protested.

“So come on, try to save your dream,” an ominous smile reflected in the eyes of the bloody demon.

“I’ll save her,” Roderick shouted, running away from this devilish place to where he wanted to find salvation for his last hope, but for a long time behind him sounded the laughter of a bloody demon.

“Run,” the demon whispered, “try to catch and save your dreams, but I will still win.”

He walked over to Emily’s corpse and stood next to it. He was given to command the world of shadows, but it was not in his power to kill eternal love. She was lying on the cold ground, beautiful, pure, light, as before in her life, and even more beautiful than then. But he did not want to succumb to the charm of her beauty.

“You are beautiful, Emily,” he whispered, “but you are dead, as will your daughter. I hate love and I despise people’s dreams. I am stronger than fate, and by killing her, I will prove to you that I am the strongest of all, This is my oath, and let all the forces of evil come to my aid.”

His gaze flashed with fire again, and he extended his black arms as a sign of his strength.

“I will destroy anyone who gets in my way, even my own heart,” he shouted. “I will kill you, a human dream, you are dead, Maerlin.

This mad scream echoed along the entire coast, and the magic rocks themselves seemed to shudder from the hatred and anger that filled it.

Meanwhile, Roderick quickly ran along the coast to a lonely house. He was supposed to fulfill his vow, but still behind him he heard the dreadful and blood-curdling laugh of the demon. Roderick fled with a drawn sword in his hand, he was ready to fend off any danger, he knew that now all the forces of evil rose up against him. He was helped by a sincere love for the beautiful Emily. Even if she herself died, love for her will live in his soul, in his heart and in himself. He had to keep his vow to Emily, a vow to defeat the forces of darkness at all costs and save her daughter Maerlin. Roderick was ready to keep his oath even at the cost of his life in memory of his love. One thought drove him forward along the sandy coast, past the magical rocks, the witch’s castle and the forces of evil embodied in them. In spite of everything and in spite of all the forces of evil that want to destroy him, he had to win, he had to get to a lonely house by the sea before the demon descended there. A black-bloody fog lay on the ground, and before the eyes of the tired Roderick appeared the grim victims of the vampire devil, who after their death became his voluntary followers. Seeing their crazy and terrible face, Roderick was glad that this did not happen to Emily. A bloody ghost of a fire witch stood in his way at the witch’s rocks. Her wild eyes glared directly at Roderick. Her deathly pale face was like a snow-white mask, shining in the darkness with a predatory grin.

“Come to me,” she called to Roderick, holding out her long arms to him.

Her call made the prince run even faster. He gathered all his last strength and tried not to notice either bloody visions or witchcraft fog. At the same time, he did not notice his own fatigue.

Finally, the ring of rocks ended, and with it their magic power ended.

Just a little, and he will get there. Roderick saw a fork in three roads, one leading to the sea, one to the rocks, and the third to Emily’s house.

Where the roads diverged in different directions, there was a stone cross.

Roderick stopped involuntarily to see what was written on him in small letters that cut deep into the stone. For a moment it seemed to Roderick that a black bird was sitting on the cross, thirsting, as before, for his blood. However, instead of a bird from the darkness creeping on the ground, a huge black wolf appeared with the same bloody eyes glowing in the darkness with magical fire.

Roderick managed to dodge his jump and found himself on another road. He boldly moved forward along the mysterious road, and nothing could stop him. Now the road turned into a viscous quagmire, then the branches of forest trees clung to him and tore his clothes, then someone reached out to him from the very darkness of the forest.

A gap had already appeared behind the trees, there, by a small lake, was Emily’s house.

The root of the tree wrapped itself around Roderick’s feet and, involuntarily falling, he dropped his sword. The earth opened up, and against the background of fire and darkness, the silhouette of a bloody devil clearly loomed. At the very last moment, he managed to jump up from the ground before it fell into the depths of hell. As soon as he raised his sword, everything was quiet again.

“My God,” Roderick said, gripping the sword tightly in his hands. Only now did he realize that the ground around him was soaked in human blood, rivers of blood had spilled here, but Roderick knew that Emily’s daughter was still alive.

Suddenly, some strange darkness again enveloped everything around, and in its misty veil on a huge stone near the house there appeared the clear outlines of a slender figure sitting on it in a beautiful dark red dress.

Or an obsession, or in front of Roderick, Emily was resurrected on a stone. Roderick, bewitched, froze in place. Life and death did not matter anymore. Now only one vision of a blonde beauty existed for him all over the world.

He did not move, but he could not close his amazed eyes, and only his numb lips, barely obeying him, could whisper:

“Emily.”

She sighed heavily, as if bitter sobs were about to burst from her pain-pierced chest, but she did not raise her eyes to look at him, she knew that he was there.

“Roderick,” she said, and although it was her beautiful, sonorous voice, it seemed now that it didn’t come from her at all, and it didn’t have the same life at all.

“Roderick,” she repeated with a start, and her pale lips moved strangely in a faint semblance of supplication, but her beautiful face remained the face of a marble statue.

She shook her head as if in a dream. Her eyes flashed for a moment with a bright dazzling light from under lowered black eyelashes.

“There is a kingdom of darkness, and a humans’ love cannot disturb it,’ Emily said quietly. ‘How could you leave me there, how could you get out of there at the first onslaught of witchcraft, from which you swore to protect Maerlin, but the dream does not need anyone’s help.

Perhaps, to the surprised Roderick, it only seemed that in the last words of Emily there slipped some kind of malevolent note that he had heard somewhere before, but could not remember where.

“I don’t understand,” the prince whispered, but Emily cut him off with a slight movement.

“Come to me,” she whispered, “forget about everything, don’t leave me. Roderick, not knowing how, but against his will and common sense, involuntarily approached her.

“Come,” it sounded again in the silence, “don’t leave me”.

A snow-white hand, still lying motionless on the stone, reached out to him. Roderick almost took the hand outstretched to him, almost touched her shoulder, wanting to calm her.

“Emily,” he said, already reaching out his hand to her.

As soon as he touched her shoulder, a shining lightning ran down her and with a sharp blade of a knife struck his palm, forcing him to withdraw his hand, along which blood flowed from a huge wound.

Roderick stared at Emily in dismay, but it was no longer her, but a monster created by a bloody demon.

Roderick lifted the fallen sword from the ground with lightning speed and dashed away from the monster. He ran into the house and found himself in a completely different world that kept the memory of Emily. The prince found himself in a long corridor with many doors. Roderick thought Emily was calling him to one of them. Roderick barely touched the handle of this door, and it immediately opened slowly, as if from a gust of witchcraft wind. Roderick froze in amazement on the threshold of the great dark hall. The first thing the prince saw in the hall was a beautiful portrait over an old fireplace. Roderick would recognize him anywhere. Emily’s beautiful face looked at him as if alive from the depths of the picture. If Roderick didn’t know that she was dead, he probably would have thought that she herself was now standing in front of him.

Roderick involuntarily came very close to the portrait and peered into her face. It hid some kind of secret that no longer remained with the real Emily in the cemetery. This mystery, as if by magic, is now completely transferred to the portrait, giving the beauty’s face a half mysterious, half ominous expression.

The shadows of evil that had left the repentant soul still continued to live in the portrait and cast their ominous reflection on her beautiful face. Suddenly, Emily’s lips slowly parted into an ominous, secret smile. A tremor ran through Roderick’s entire body in a quivering wave, and perhaps it was fright at the thought that the devil might again take possession of Emily’s soul. A sudden call came from behind him.

– Roderick.

He turned quickly. Once again, the beautiful Emily stood in front of him and smiled mysteriously. Roderick turned his eyes to the portrait, and a smile filled with hellish evil burned his gaze. Suddenly, from the depths of the gloomy hall, Roderick heard the quiet cry of a child, which brought him back to real life. Emily’s vision, a devilish smile – everything disappeared, and there was only this salutary cry calling him to her.

Roderick involuntarily flinched from crying, now that the devilish vision had disappeared, he could remember who he was and why he had come here.

Roderick walked swiftly to where the body of a crying child shone like a bright star in the darkness of the great hall. Roderick took the baby in his arms. The child was as beautiful as the dream itself.

Suddenly a wave of terror swept through Roderick’s body and made him turn around. Shrouded in a mist of darkness, a bloody demon stood before him, emerging from the very darkness, and his fiery eyes shone with a fierce triumphant fire.