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Nothing. The room is silent, and as I lower my head in defeat, the jangle of my chains confirms I’m alone.
“I bet you regret rejecting me now.”
I’d recognize that twisted, croaky voice anywhere. But I still can’t see him.
He’s playing with my mind.
“Why don’t you untie me and say that to my face?” I taunt, pointlessly shaking my chains. Any way out of this captivity would be far too miraculous for my life.
He says nothing, perhaps hoping to question my sanity.
Then I see his gray cloak, just barely catching an indeterminate light source. And that’s all I need to notice the faint porcelain hue of his skin.
I can discern his menacing smirk, barely veiled under a hood. I almost wish I’d remained blind.
I shiver, but not from the cold of the room. As I look at him, noticing how utterly unfazed he is, I realize that I’m powerless. Shivers run up my arms and down my spine, a cool chill filling my throat like ice.
He could do whatever he wanted to me in here.
I want to kill him. I want to break the metal off of these bars and cut him with it.
“Did you really go to all this trouble just to look at me?” I ask him, hoping to get close enough to him to drive my skull into his throat. “Why don’t you come here and talk to me?”
I fidget with the chains, despite feeling them irritating my skin.
Then he laughs.
It’s a deep, throaty laugh that echoes against the walls and metal shackles, nearly deafening me.
“You rejected me,” he says shrilly. “You, the lowliest and poorest of humans. I could have made you great.”
I inhale deeply, feeling my nostrils flare up. I already hated him. How is it possible that I hate him more?
“I’m sorry,” I offer dishonestly. “Maybe I was too hasty in rejecting you? Maybe we can talk this over?”
He steps forward out of the shadows, his eyes glowing under his hood. “You’re only saying that because I’ve trapped you. I can do whatever I want to you now.”
I try to think fast about how to address this situation, looking around the room for any solution.
“You still think you have a way out of there,” he says, noting how fast my head spins around the room. “How adorable.”
I stare deeply into his eyes, hoping that he can see my scowl and notice how my lip curls back to expose my teeth.
“What did you honestly hope to accomplish on your own?” he asks.
I remain firm, unwilling to let him into my mind again.
“You know this world wasn’t built for humans like you. You aren’t the architects of this realm. We are.”
“If you’re so powerful, why do you have me in a cage?”
He laughs. “Because you have this annoying habit of resisting me,” he says. “I figure the longer I remind you how trapped you are, the more appealing I’ll seem to you.”
I try to spit at him, realizing that my words have lost their meaning.
But he’s similarly unaffected when, instead of landing on his face, it harmlessly grazes his ankle.
“Don’t worry. I always keep my pets locked up like this. And eventually, they learn not to run away.”
