The Helm of Darkness

“Stop touching me!” I yelled, swinging back blindly, my arm finding something. I laughed as I heard a yelp from behind me, but a whack on the side of my head shut me up.
“Little bitch,” said one of the guards, probably the one I hit. I had woken up just a few moments ago, and no one was giving me answers. If I didn’t have those stupid shackles on my wrists, then I would have kicked ass.
Callista was next to me, her head low. She had “lost track of time” and was caught by the same guard who caught me. Now, we were both in this mess. But, no matter. I figured we’d just bust our way out of here, like always.
Suddenly, we reached an enormous cavern. Stone everywhere, water spurting out crevices in the stone wall, and a few shallow rivers forming. It was dark except for a mysterious white light coming from another passage.
I spat at the ground as they brought me forward, forcing me onto my knees. The cold stone was wet under my black pants, and my knees scraped against the roughness. I was right in front of a shallow underground river, the dry stone not continuing for twenty or so feet. “Get off me!” I snarled, for the second time. The guards behind me laughed, and the one directly behind me finally let go of my head. I turned to Callista, to see her sitting like I was, her head in her hands.
“Callie, it’s not your fault,” I reassured her, but she didn’t look up at me. Well, it really was her fault; if she hadn’t been feeling up that guard she could have gotten away when she heard me scream.
“Alright, bitches,” said one of the guards, walking toward us. I heard Callie’s loud swallow as it echoed through the stone cavern they had brought us to. I rolled my eyes—I wasn’t scared, and I had no idea why she was. I turned around to face the guards, who also seemed to radiate fear, though they were doing their best to conceal it. What was their problem? “Ready to face the wrath of Hell itself?” He laughed, standing to the side of me. I looked up at him, my eyebrows raised.
“Please,” I said sarcastically. “If I was ready to face Hell, I’d die, you piece of—“
“Look, bitch,” he snarled, getting up close to my face. “You watch your language, okay?”
“Watch yours!” I replied, spitting in his face. He let out a yell, whipping my face to the side with his hand as he cleared the spit out of his face. Even though my neck cracked a little and my face stung, I managed a smile. “Now, why did you bring us here? What’s with the cavern? We live in the 21st century, idiots; we something called buildings to house our secret centers.” He growled, about to retort something, when a loud bang echoed through the cavern. Fear flashed through the guard’s eyes, and he backed away from me. I raised my eyebrows and laughed.
Light flashed through the cavern, and it reflected off the ceiling like it was water. I heard Callista’s breath hitch, and I turned to face her. Goose bumps had erupted all over her arms, and I could see the cold sweat slipping down her face. I furrowed my eyebrows. “Callie, what—“
“Don’t you feel it?” she asked, and visible chills wracked her body. I drew in a gasp as she fell to her side.
“Callie, feel what? What the hell are you talking about?” From behind me, a different guard let out a snort.
“Well, well, well,” he said, stepping towards me and putting a hand on my shoulder. I could see the obvious terrified look on his face, but he did his best to cover it up. “Looks like we got a little actress with us here!” he grabbed my shirt collar and hauled me up by it, bringing me face close to his. I was now a few inches off the ground, and I inhaled nervously. A sick smile crept onto his face. “Want to be an actress for me, sweetheart?”
I was about to yell back a retort when a soldier cut me off.
“Put her down, Corban,” said a familiar voice, yet now added with shaking fear. He snorted, and, taking one last look into my eyes, dropped me on the ground. I coughed, scraping up most of the skin on my arms and legs. I looked up to see my captor, and I narrowed my eyes at him. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to him, though, because of the blatant fear on his face.
I resumed my spot next to Callista, scooting closer to her. I put my hand on her arm for support, but drew it back at what I saw. In that split second I touched her, everything I feared, everything I was scared of flashing before my eyes. The sight of my family being murdered, me not being able to do anything, claws trying to snatch me from the darkness. The whispers of the devil as he tried to take me. The need to be dead. The cold of one thousand icicles piercing my skin. In that one second, I died one thousand times, suffered under the weight of tons, watching the last bubbles of air fly to the surface as I drowned. I let out a cry, staring at her as her jaw quivered. She turned slowly to look at me, and I saw dark circles ringed her eyes. What was making this happen to everyone? Why wasn’t I feeling this? “It’s the worst when you first get it,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “Now, I just feel like I’m alone in the darkness.”
Another sound rumbled, and the sound of rocks cracking made me raise my eyebrows. What was happening? Did they have a pack of overgrown moles that were going to come eat us? I shivered. I really wasn’t in the mood to be eaten right now.
Then, I saw it. Out from behind a wall in the rock emerged a dark figure cloaked in black, the edges fading out into the background like a painting. I narrowed my eyes at the figure as it came closer. Strangely, I didn’t feel scared. I merely felt... almost not worthy of its presence.
It made its way towards us, slowly, and I could feel the nervous steps of the soldiers behind me. The shaky breaths of the men almost made me pity them. Almost.
The figure slowly walked towards us, and I could almost feel the fear in the room. Whatever was happening, this wasn’t normal. Unless I had been affected by the chloroform in some way, I didn’t think this was possible.
Finally, the cloaked form stopped, standing directly across from me, and seemingly staring at all of us at once. “What have you brought me.” He asked, in a loud, rasped whisper. My mouth opened a little as I sat there, staring at the figure. Okay, I was obviously dreaming. This was physically impossible. There were no creepy cloaked figures in the real world, no underground caverns or guards dressed like they lived in like… 1500. I was forced out of my thoughts by another loud rumble from the figure. “I said, what have you brought me!” he yelled, and a noise like thunder cackled through the cavern. I raised my eyebrows, wondering what type of stereo system was used to make those noises.
“S-S-S-S-Sir,” said a guard, stepping forward in between Callista and me. “W-W-W-We h-h-h-av-v-v-v-ve th-the g-g-g-irl th-th-th-that y-y-y-you—“
“Spit it out!” he yelled, and the guard shrunk back like a hurt animal.
“Th-th-th-the th-th-th—“
“Damn it,” the black figure said, and reached out his hand. “Why did I ever hire such idiots in the first place.” He bent his head down, and suddenly the guard collapsed in between us. I gasped and scooted back, watching as he writhed in pain on the ground. I could hear the laughing of the figure as he tried to choke out a scream. Suddenly, my mind went to my brother. When I was standing there, watching him lay on the floor, taking his last breaths, and I knew I could do nothing about it. But not this time.
“Stop!” I yelled, standing up and glaring at the figure, who immediately dropped his hand and the guard gasped for air. “Just because you have some weird sort of memory trigger, you know what, I don’t even know what you have that could bring this much pain to people, but seriously? Chill out! You’re flipping half-killing everyone right now, of course he’s going to stutter!” The figure just stared at me for what seemed like hours, then took a step closer, advancing in the river. He seemed to almost glide as he passed through, nothing like I had ever seen.
When he finally reached me, I saw that he stood well above my height. He reached down, face still hidden by the cloak, and touched my face. I waited for everything to come flooding back, but this time it didn't. I felt nothing but the cold metal glove of his hand.
“Those who look upon me commonly cower in fear,” he said, his whisper light. I stared up at him, clenching my jaw as the iron shackles cut fiercely into my wrist. “Why not you?” I let out a low laugh, playing at his confidence.
“Yeah, well, I’m not just anybody.”