"I have much to tell you, Prince of Nephtis."
"Enough with your bullshit! He's prince of nowhere, just let us go. We don't want to hear anything from a murderer, hell, you even killed your own friend didn't you?" screamed Lily.
Dorian noticed that she took surprisingly little time getting used to speaking as a cat. Was he the only one aware of the absurdity of the evening's events?
But despite that, he felt calm. As long as Lily was okay and no one was actively trying to kill them, Dorian believed he was pretty good at keeping a cool head.
Meanwhile, Lily continued her outburst at the veiled stranger calling himself Nox. "And put me back in my body you bastard, how'd you feel if you were the one stuck as a cat huh? And why'd you even attack us? What did we ever do to you-" "Lily! Stop!" Dorian interrupted "Nox, whatever, please let us go, we're not the people you're looking for."
Before Nox could reply, an unusually dark shadow glided down the alley made a revolution around him and merged with his own, all within a single second. Dorian was not even surprised anymore, after everything he has seen in the past hour. It was quite probable that he won't even be surprised if this Nox guy started belly-dancing, although it would be more terrifying than amusing.
After a pause Nox hissed "It appears that we have been noticed." He took a step forward "Please take a deep breath."
"What do you-"
Suddenly, the shadows around the trio trembled and the impenetrable dome of darkness closed in on them in an instant. Dorian felt his whole body being crushed from all sides, the pressure was so terrible that let alone breathe, it was not even possible to keep his eyes open. He felt his bones starting to bend, but before he could panic, it was already over.
Dorian found himself in a room made of some kind of black stone, with furniture made of dark and lusterless metal and wood. That as well as the sky high ceiling gave the room an ancient look. The central table was angled towards the fireplace where Nox was standing. The smoke covering him was barely present now, making his figure more solid. It was better than hearing a voice coming from dark mist, much less creepy at least. Lily was standing near a crystal placed on the central table, which seemed to be the source of light for the room, glowing softly with a pale blue light.
Dorian's brain has still not processed the events of the evening and now it seems he was at a faraway place with a crazy lunatic capable of magic and his friend has turned into a talking cat. 'At least he doesn't seem in a hurry to get rid of us.' he thought to himself while looking around the room, trying to figure a way out.
"Perhaps you'd care for dinner?" Nox offered in his low, cold voice.
"Dinner? You bastard! What is this? A party? Send us back you maniac-" "Lily, please! Stop it." Dorian interrupted her again, before she made the crazy wizard lose patience. 'Lily and her loud mouth were sure to get me in trouble, it'd be much better if Sam was here instead of her'. Sam was the other one of his only two real friends and unlike Lily, he actually knew when to shut up. "Yes we would like some food. And maybe an explanation?"
"Very well." Nox whispered. A shadow shot out of the dark smoke surrounding his feet and covered the central table completely before sliding back towards him. As it slid back , all sorts of delicacies revealed themselves on the table. Dorian didn't even knew the names of majority of dishes, he recognized chicken, a couple pizzas, some fishes, was that sushi?, cakes and a pile of chocolate. "I am unaware about what is considered proper dinner here on the mundane world. Please help yourself to whatever seems to your taste." Nox said to Dorian.
"Thank You." Dorian replied, still dazed by the sudden appearance of a truckload of food.
"I bet the bastard poisoned it." Lily mumbled.
"I don't think so, why would he need to poison our food when he can kill us whenever he wants anyway. And would you stop it? Why are you trying to piss him off?" said Dorian under his breath.
"How can you trust him Dorian? He killed me!" Lily said.
"He didnt. The other one did, remember? The one that got killed by Nox? I don't trust him yet but maybe we should hear him out." whispered Dorian, sitting down on one of the chairs facing the fireplace, hoping that the guy didn't have super hearing or something.
Lily chose to sit on the table itself. Neither of them touched any food on the table. "Um Mr. Nox? May I ask why you killed your friend?" asked Dorian in a low voice, afraid to make a wrong move.
"We don't have enough time to discuss trivial matters." whispered Nox as he sat across the table, facing Dorian. "I have a long story to tell you, Dorian Stormsky."