Dmitri, still taking steps backwards away from the apparition, backed into a wall, a wall that hadn’t been there before. He quickly looked around; he was no longer in a stretching corridor, but a wide open cavern with a river flowing through it. This is where it had happened, this was where the Demon Akahaziel had clawed free of the ground. Dmitri saw again in his mind as Antonio summoned up needles of air and ice and launched them at the demon. He saw again the demon ignoring these pitiful attacks and turning his ire towards Antonio by marching straight at him. And as the barrage continued, he saw the demons clawed hand raise into the air and rake across Antonio’s small frame. The boy had fallen to the ground without a sound. Dmitri had left him there. Not without a fight though, he had used the most powerful magic at his disposal, he had summoned a fire elemental and rained fire upon the demon but to no avail, the demon just absorbed it all. Claudia had explained why later but- ‘Claudia, who is Claudia?’ his mind asked.
The figure that was Antonio staggered towards him, his free arm outstretched, “Dmitri,” he cried out once more.
Dmitri stiffened his resolve and held his ground, “I tried,” he said firmly.
“But you failed,” rasped Antonio. “And even now you are still failing. Don’t let my death be for nothing, defeat Akahaziel. He has you in his grasp now, you need to free Claudia.”
In his mind’s eye, Dmitri could see a beautiful auburn haired woman, the sunlight playing through her hair. The past few days flashed through his mind the auburn haired woman there the whole time.
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“Claudia!” he gasped.
When his vision cleared, he was no longer in the cave, but an opulent apartment. The furnishing was beautiful, the decorations many and the room seemed to reek of wealth. As he was looking around, the door burst open, the man he knew as Draycott stormed in, dragging someone behind him. Dmitri stopped and stared, it was Claudia! Draycott threw her onto the bed and started clawing at her clothes.
Dmitri rushed over to help, but suddenly the world shifted and they were gone; the bed unruffled and the door closed. Frowning, Dmitri went over to the door and put his ear to it. From on the other side he could hear Claudia’s voice raising as she delivered a blistering tirade, then silence. Dmitri slowly opened the door; on the other side was a private dining room. The table was laid out with so much food that it was straining under the weight. Dmitri only had seconds to take this in before Draycott upended the table with a mighty heave; he strode over to a stunned Claudia and backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling from her chair. He reached down and grabbed her arm and started to drag her towards the very doorway that Dmitri was standing in. Dmitri quickly closed the door and moved away from it. Sure enough, the door was thrown open once more and once again Draycott stormed in dragging Claudia behind him. Draycott threw her onto the bed and started clawing at her clothes. Then the world shifted once more! They disappeared again.
Going over to the door again, Dmitri could hear Claudia’s voice again. She is reliving her nightmares thought Dmitri with a shock. In the same way that he had been returned to the cave, she too was returned to this time and place. But mine was different, he thought, I was able to change things; the rope for one thing, they’d not used one, the cave wasn’t enough of a maze then. And I stood up to the grisly spectre of Antonio, who then responded as Antonio would have. Draycott threw Claudia onto the bed and started clawing at her clothes. Shift!