NIGHT by I Rin (best books to read .TXT) 📕

to help Angelica down, but she refused and went down herself.

“You are strange today, Angelica,” the Prince smiled. “You seem to avoid my touch.”

“It seems to you! Let's talk about the well. Why are we here?”

“As I have said, the Well opens the way to the Underworld, and I want to talk to the Devil about the strange things in the mountains, and about what we can do with it. Moreover, I need you to go with me, because the path to the Underworld is through Hellfire Valley. You can meet very old creatures - Viatores. They are beholders and they control good and evil to be equal. And only a man with soul can see Viatores. I do not have soul – consequently I can’t! That's why I asked you to accompany me. You can ask these ancient creatures how to stop the evil in the mountains. But be very careful with these restless souls. They can put it across you, creating an illusion.”

“Okay, I'll try,” promised the girl.

They came to the Well, and the Prince went first.

“Here in the well you can feel for some step irons,” he explained. “Find first and go.”

“But I cannot see in the dark,” said Lica.

“At the bottom it is going to be much lighter, I assure you,” she heard the voice of the Prince.

Angelica sighed and sat on the edge of the well and began to fumble a step in the dark. At some point, she hit something. She turned and started down.

Lica had never gone so deep down before. The Well seemed to be endless. The starry sky overhead had disappeared, and the girl was surrounded only by Cimmerian gloom. She looked down, and it seemed to her that below it was getting lighter. However, there was a strange feeling of fear.

“Angelica! Get down, do not hesitate!” she heard the Prince’s voice. “And take no notice of anything, no matter what you will see or hear. Remember that Hell is just an illusion created by you - people.”

The girl calmed down when she realized that the Prince was waiting for her. She went down and down. And with each her step it was getting lighter and lighter. Soon Lica reached the bottom of the Well, she saw the narrow corridor. Here the Prince was waiting for her.

“Come on!” he said, and led the way forward.

In the Well of Oppression

The corridor suddenly widened and they found themselves in a quite strange place. It reminded Lica a slaughter-house. Everywhere she could see widely scattered pieces of rotten meat, heads of animals, skins and bones. Swarms of flies were buzzing and flying over all this mess. Angelica started feeling dizzy because of this smell of rotting flesh.

“What is it?” asked the girl, trying to keep loathing.

“This one? It’s someone's illusion!” the Vampire smiled. “Every person imagines the Hell in their own way. Don’t be so sensitive.”

He kicked the skull, lying on the road and went forward. Lica covered her mouth and nose with her hands and ran after him. Suddenly the slaughter-house replaced with the old room which was absolutely freezing. A girl was sitting on a ragged sofa dully staring at the ceiling. On the walls, floor and ceiling spiders and woodlice were bustling in and out. They also were on the girl but she seemed not to notice them.

“Look!” Angelica exclaimed. “She needs help. She will die here alone.”

“She is dead,” said the Vampire, “and this is her choice- illusion!”

However Lica went to the sofa took a warm blanket and covered the woman with it. She sighed and looked gratefully at Angelica. The picture of the room immediately disappeared. Our heroes were facing with a huge lake of blood. They could hear heartbreaking eerie shrieks from the lake – and people's heads picked out of the blood lake. Their faces spoke unfeigned horror. They tried to get out stretching their hands to the girl and Vampire.

“What a nightmare!” Angelica shivered. “Poor people!”

“I have told you that each person creates their own hell. It is the choice of these people. Take courage, we have to go through them.”

“Never!” Lica said in horror.

“No turning back! You won’t be able to come out of the well without my help. You will get in someone's illusion and go missing. So we must move on. Give me your hand! I'll help you!”

“No!” cried the girl. “I’ll do it myself...”

The Prince looked at her suspiciously, but said nothing.

He first stepped onto the surface of the bloody lake. Ironically, it had sustained, and the Vampire moved forward. He was walking over the heads of dead people, who tried to come up, and if someone grabbed him by the leg, the Prince mercilessly kicked them with his boots. Lica took a deep breath and also followed him. Screams were ringing in her ears, but she tried not to look at them. Suddenly under her feet she heard a familiar voice.

“Angelica! Save me!”

She looked down and saw Sofia. She stretched out her arms, spitting blood out.

“Sofia! How did you get here?” Lica was shocked.

“Michael has gone back to the Well and I have followed him. I couldn’t imagine what a horror was here!”

Suddenly Angelica felt that her legs started to sink in the slurry of blood.

“Prince!” she cried. “Help me, Prince!”

The Vampire immediately turned back and gave Lica his hand.

“Cleek!” he shouted.

For a moment she thought about amulet, but then took it off and decisively threw it away. Then she held out her hand to the Prince and he began to pull her out of this bloody mess. Then he caught her up and walked forward quickly.

“It was Sofia!” cried the girl. “She's there! We have to help her!”

“If she is there - we are not able to help her. It is a collective illusion. Too much energy is involved.”

Lica burst of tears on the Prince’s shoulder.

“Take it easy!” the Vampire said quietly. “May be, it was not Sofia. You have mistaken. There are many traps in the Well of Oppression, so you should watch your back.”

Soon "Bloody Lake" was over, and Lica saw beautiful valleys.

The Prince gently lowered her down and said:

“It is Hell Valley. Next, our paths are going to diverge. I am going to Hell and you are this way. I hope you will be able to meet with one of the Viatores.”

“But I'm afraid. What if I fell into someone’s illusion again?”

“Impossible! The Hell Valley is a real place in the Well of Oppression. And if you do not leave it outside, you are not in danger. Believe me! Do not respond anybody’s cries or requests for help, take no notice to what you see outside the valleys - and you'll be perfectly safe. Walk here and there... It's not the worst place in Hell, believe me. And if you're lucky enough you may meet at least one of the Viatores – then ask him how to win the evil!”

“Okay,” said Lica. “And when are you coming back?”

“I will try as soon as possible!” the Prince of Vampires assured her.

He turned and, making only two steps to the side, disappeared. The girl had even frozen in surprise.

“Wow!” she said finally. “And indeed, it is an illusion. But I have forgotten to ask how these Viatores, look like. Now I do not know who I am looking for.”

Angelica turned to the wide valley and set out in search of the Viatores. The Hell Valley was a pretty attractive place. There was light, although she did not understand where this wonderful pink light was coming from. It seemed as if you walking at the sunset. Fresh green grass was shuffling under her feet. She could see a lot of unknown plants but they fit so perfectly in the landscape that Lica did not pay attention to them. The only thing that alarmed Angelica was the complete lack of insects. No buzzing flies, no flying mosquitoes and midges, no butterflies and dragonflies. Even no ants and beetles among the green grass. At first it piqued her, but then she moved on to look for the Viatores.

Lica did not know how much time passed, but she was sure that she had been walking for several hours. However, she had not met anybody yet. Nothing disturbed the peace and quiet of this wonderful place. Angelica was so tired that she just fell into the grass exhausted and began to look into the pink sky. Then she felt some movement in the pink gauze. Lica started to look narrowly. It seemed to her that a huge white cloud is moving away from her to the border of Hell Valley.

“Wait!” the girl cried. “I can see! I can see you!”

She jumped up and ran after the "cloud." It stopped and suddenly gained a clearer shape. Now Lica could see a figure looked like a man, but he was not less than fifteen meters tall. It was shaky and transparent, but still differentiated from the pink valley.

“Hello!” Angelica cried. “Are you a Viatore? I've been looking for you!”

For a few minutes the figure was looking at the girl mutely and Lica could almost physically feel as if someone was rummaging in her brain. Suddenly she heard a soft voice in her mind:

“I see... The people in the kingdom need our help. But we just bystanders, and have no right to interfere in the struggle of good and evil. If only does one of the side far outweigh, we will have a right.”

“Now it is a case in point!” cried the girl. “The old evil had been released and we are unable to help ourselves! Is it allowable?”

The Viatore fell to thinking. Then Lica heard his voice in her head again:

“We will come to the battle and watch it. If it is so, as you are saying, we will have to balance your powers.”

“And do you know how to return the evil back into the abyss?”

“Your friend will tell you.”

“Which friend?” Angelica cried, but the Viatore did not say a word.

A moment later he turned into a white cloud and floated away from the Hell Valleys.

“But why?!” screamed the girl in annoyance. “Why didn’t he say anything?”

She tried to catch him up but couldn’t...

Tired and annoyed, Lica sat in the grass waiting the Prince of Vampires. He appeared in two hours. The Prince came from nowhere. He looked extremely nervous.

“Prince!” Lica was glad. “How long I have been waiting for you! Frankly, I'm tired of this place. Have you found out anything?”

“Yes a little...”

The Vampire sat on the grass next to the girl and continued:

“The evil is much older than Hell and the Devil. We have delved all magic books, and only in the oldest one we could find a mention about these spirits. To catch them back into the abyss, we need to find another sorcerer.”

“What do you mean?” Angelica did not understand.

“We must find someone who will be able to seal them in the abyss of his heart. As you know, I am not good for this, because I am heartless.”

The Vampire smiled and continued:

“He must be a very powerful sorcerer who is able to cope with the old evil. So I am wondering who it could be. By the way, Angelica, have you met with the Viatore?”

“Yes! I have seen one of them. He wasn’t very talkative.”

The Prince’s eyes flashed.

“What did he say? Please, tell me word for word.”

“He said that they were only bystanders and were not going to interfere in the fight between good and evil. But when I said that the evil’s power is bigger, the Viatore promised me to come and balance the enemy forces.”

“Good,” the Prince breathed out. “You were very lucky – you could persuade the Viatore to participate. I admire you more and more.”

And the Vampire impulsively grabbed Angelica’s hand and passionately kissed her.

“Prince,” Lica murmured, “it's time to go! As a matter of fact, I’d rather quickly get out of here.”

“Let’s go,” the Vampire agreed.

He stood up and helped her up as well. After