[Gradient]

I awoke in that very house.

Everything was grey, monotone. An ashy sort of dust drifted through the air, as if fires roared nearby. A blackened snowfall inside the ancient home.

My chest throbbed. I dragged myself to my feet, that hollow sensation inside of me unnerving in a way. I needed sustenance, without that I was nothing.

But where am I?

I hadn't left the house in which Xyan had killed me - or whatever you would call what he did. It sure felt like death. The surroundings were dull, bland. Dark.

Lightning struck. Bright red light flashed in the windows, thunder crashing violently across the dark sky. There was an aura to this place. Cold. Foreboding.

Welcoming, in a way.

My tail lashed once more as I heard the muffled, nearly inaudible voices present in the room. Very, very faint, flickering forms that I knew all too well stood a few feet away. My hands slowly curled into fists, shaking as my blood boiled.

Somehow they'd foiled my efforts. All that work for nothing.

My fist met the wall with my own angry cry, the old, brittle wood giving way on contact. My tail lashed as I seethed, my breaths filling my lungs and leaving just as quickly.

"Calm yourself, calm yourself," I grumbled. I pulled my hand from the new hole in the wall, shaking splinters from my skin as I took a deep breath. My fury was still bubbling inside of me, but it was dialed down to a more manageable level. My tail still twitched wildly, however, and I muttered a string of curses under my breath.

"Next time," I resolved. "I will find a way out of this place, wherever this is. And next time I see them... they'll be sorry they ever crossed me."

-=+=-

[?]

"AUGH!"

I furiously tossed the nearest thing to me - which happened to be an unlit lamp - at the wall. The base and bulb both shattered on contact, spreading glass in a sharp, bursting radius on the floor beneath the area it was smashed against. The lamp shade rolled into the corner, undamaged. My eye twitched, my tail in close synchronization as my fury spread through every part of me and flooded my senses entirely.

"Destroying my room isn't going to get you anywhere."

A female voice sounded from the doorway. Calm, unfazed by my violent manners. Curled dark hair flowed over her shoulders, a streak of bright red standing out against the curtain-like bangs framing her dark face. Her eyes were just as dark, collected as she stared at me without flinching.

"Well, destruction is how I let out my emotions," I snapped back without hesitation. "So if you've got a problem with that, tell me bad news in a room that can't be destroyed."

She tilted her head. "You know, I feel like that wouldn't help, considering your abilities."

"WELL YOU'RE CERTAINLY NOT ANY MORE HELPFUL!" I wanted to throw her against the wall, tear her apart, and take her soul for myself. My brain wanted to explode in my skull, my blood boiling until my veins were ready to burst. Instead I took the other nearest thing to me - her notebook - and threw it at her. She caught it without difficulty, her head tilted slightly to keep from being hit as it slid neatly into her hand.

"Hey, there's probably something in here that can help us," my acquaintance opened the notebook, black with a stylistic red pentagram (among other ritualect-centered doodles) decorating the cover, and flipped through the pages.

I stopped her pretty quickly. "The author knows nothing of what lies beyond Limbo. Nothing. And if he does, he never decided to write it down. Nothing from his mind will help us here."

She looked at me, shrugged, and closed the notebook. "Hey, there's gotta be something. You know that book I found in the library discard bin? The one about demonic magic and such? We could look through it again, maybe there'll be something that could help us there."

I took a deep breath and exhaled, allowing my trembling fingers to unclench from the fists they made.

"If we fail this, we'll have to start all over again with a new experiment," I seethed. "And you know how long it took to find Arin. He was perfect, and now he's stuck somewhere in the depths of Hell!"

"Then we won't fail." She walked forwards, standing and looking me in the eyes when she got close enough. "We won't fail. We'll find a way to open a gateway, and we will succeed. Nothing will get in the way of your plan."

I sighed. "Okay. Okay. Go find the book, I'll meet you in the living room."

She nodded politely, and, without a second glance at me, turned and walked into the other room.

I walked to the wall, leaning with my back against it and sliding down into a sitting position on the floor. I cocooned my wings around myself and closed my eyes, emptying my furious brain of any thoughts until it was nothing but a black void behind my eyelids.

I smiled. Something came into view, a dull, pale, evergreen glow turned away from me in a hunched-over sitting position. His hands covered his face, as if he was sobbing without noise or movement. I cleared my throat to get his attention, to which his response was a skittish jump to his feet, one green pupil contracted in a wild frenzy on a tar-black sclera and the other concealed by a bright red scribble, which was just as frenzied and crazed.

"Chill. It's me." I looked at him with a bored expression.

His eyes cut through my soul, but I remained steady where I stood. He was ready to attack at any moment, and, though he couldn't kill me from where he resided, he had trouble holding back what he felt. Often resulting in his commonly violent venting sessions of which I am the victim.

Finally the spirit relaxed, his lashing tail falling and simply twitching every now and then. His sharp black claws fell to his side and he stood up straight. He didn't speak, however his eyes told me any questions he concealed within him.

I gave him a friendly smile. "I have a favor to ask of you."

-=+=-

And thus a new beginning dawns...

1069 words