Egan fell out of nowhere and landed on a marble chair. His pounding heart had temporarily sharpened his senses. There was a smell of roast. Immediately after sniffing the air, he noticed the enormous hall he was in. It was brightly lit without a chandelier or any other source of light. His shoes rested on a black stone floor, polished to look like onyx and shiny enough to reflect the legs of the chair and the enormous rectangular table that extended from the other end of the hall. The dark walls, a deep blue, were equally shiny. Decorated with white and antique pink friezes representing strange creatures that he couldn't identify as anything other than imaginary beings from a fantasy book. The table was set with a long white tablecloth. There was nothing else and no one to keep him company, except for the demon who watched him, pleased with his astonishment. "Do you have something to ask, young nosy human?"
"Is it a dinner for two?"
"You guessed right," Noxfor walked and went to sit at the other end of the table, directly across from him. There were at least ten meters between them, give or take. And, the moment the demon sat down, a little guy came through the door at the back of the hall. Short, with black fluffy hair only at the temples and a round appearance; he had human features. The little figure carried a large silver tray with plates and cutlery. He quickly set the table at the two short ends and then disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.
Egan grabbed the chair to move it away from the table and stand up – he wanted to observe the hall more closely but, although it appeared to be made of wood – it didn't move, as if it were cemented to the floor. To stand up, he had to contort and slip sideways.
"Sit back down, dinner is about to be served," the demon ordered with crossed arms.
"Can I take a look around the room in the meantime, or does it bother you?" Noxfor didn't answer him, but his stern look forced Egan to sit back down. "Why am I here?"
"Because I find you very curious, nosy human," the demon placed his powerful elbows on the pristine tablecloth and intertwined his fingers. The sly smile reappeared on his lips. "You're afraid of me, but not enough to obey without batting an eye, why is that?"
Egan took a corner of the tablecloth between his fingers and rolled it up, not knowing what to answer. Not knowing what to say to avoid irritating him. He hadn't forgotten that the demon could turn him into whatever he wanted without the slightest effort. "I don't know."
"You're lying."
The young human shrugged. "Fear can be of many types and has various effects on humans... one can have an absolute fear even of losing one's humanity," by committing intolerable acts, and those last words he just thought.
Noxfor showed him a grin. "Are humans therefore fervent conservators of their fragile humanity?"
"Not all of them."
At that moment, someone else entered through the door the little figure had come through earlier. A young woman with golden hair crossed the threshold with a tray similar to that of the previous servant; but, in the center was a silver tureen emitting a thin steam and, more to the side, two bowls containing some sort of chopped and roasted game. Egan watched from a distance, stuck in his chair, far from the door. The woman approached the demon, placed the tray on the table. She hadn't even touched the bowl when he spoke.
"First our guest!" he slapped her so hard that the woman found herself lying on the floor. Only then did Egan notice that she had a kind of luminous, blue chain that bound both her ankles, with two equally luminous terminal rings. He instinctively got up to help her and an invisible force slammed him back into the chair. "Stay seated," the demon's tone was even more threatening than usual. Egan looked back at the woman, who wore a simple white short-sleeved dress. A simple dress, with nothing but shiny fabric, and she was barefoot. The woman got up from the ground as if it were a usual thing; her lower lip was split and bleeding. Slowly she picked up the tray again and, with a look that Egan could only define as spiteful, she stared at Noxfor and then approached, in his direction. That woman looked every bit human, like him.
When she was close enough for him to see she was bleeding, Egan reached out a hand intending to help her but she quickly moved away. "Why don't you heal her?" the young man asked the demon.
"She deserves nothing more than what she has."
"What does that mean?" but Noxfor didn't answer him. The woman placed one of the bowls next to the empty plate in front of the guest, then opened the tureen and took the ladle, glancing at him sideways for a second or two. Those eyes, amber around the pupil, fading to green at the edges of the irises, were not pleading, nor frightened, nor worried; but full of pure anger. A dormant, remote anger. Her eyes met Egan's gray ones, and then the woman finished pouring the soup into his plate. Afterwards, she picked up the tray again and returned to the demon who never took his eyes off her.
The young woman took the second bowl from the tray, an apathetic gesture almost as if the demon weren't there, and placed it exactly in the same manner as she had done with Egan, then filled it. The demon grabbed the woman's wrist before she could withdraw with the tray. She immediately jerked her arm. Her lip was bleeding a bit more now. "If you want the wound to disappear, along with your chains, you know what you have to do."
She curved a corner of her mouth, displaying a small smile. Although it caused her pain, there was a hint of satisfaction. She pulled her arm harder until Noxfor let her go; and she was able to leave, without turning back even once. Egan had a glimpse of some odd and indecipherable creatures beyond the door; they were waiting for the woman.
The demon observed the confused and questioning face of the young human. Noxfor would have liked to tell him that it was none of his business, but then smiled; that fact could also serve as a warning. "She refused to repay the debt," he said, simply, assuming the matter would end there, with Egan a little more afraid of disobeying him. Instead, the human's face changed little, and Noxfor could swear that the curiosity on his face had increased. "What is it? What else do you want to know?"
"She is a..."
"Yes, human, just like you. But from a slightly older era than yours."
"How much?" she had seemed to be the same age as him.
Noxfor took a bite of the roast with the silver fork. "Let's say, she could be your grandmother, if she had had the opportunity to age," he laughed disdainfully. "When she was born, in your world, to switch from the first to the second TV channel you had to get your ass off the couch."
Egan parted his lips to ask him another question but the demon admonished him with a look, so he focused only on the food.
The dinner continued without other surprises, so to speak. The roast wasn't bad, excellent, if Egan wanted to be honest. The only problem was that he didn't know what animal it was, and he didn't even want to ask; he imagined some creature from that underground realm. He only hoped it didn't have human features. The demon wiped his lips and got up from the long table. "Follow me," he ordered.
The human got up as well, without needing to be told twice.