The Porcupino bowed respectfully at me, even though his heavily wrinkled face darkened with pain as he did so.

“Blessed am I that I should witness you with my own eyes! You, who are the king of all eviluns!” the monster said. “I am Dorak. The oldest of the prisoners here. They usually follow my command out of respect for my age. I must also say with much regret that I was the one who passed the order to bring you here from the tunnel.”

“What!” one of my soldier’s exclaimed. And he raised his sword, as if to strike Dorak. But I raised my hand. Dorak seemed to have his reasons.

“Keep speaking,” I told Dorak.

“Thank you, lord,” Dorak said, his eyes darting at my agitated soldier. “We brought you here because those bastard Smartians told us that we either bring you here… or, you would be cut to pieces and be converted to Smartians too!” He wiped away tears as he spoke this. He turned at the tunnel where Kiara and the others were still searching for us. “Poor souls!” Dorak lamented. “Poor souls! If only they had not resisted us, they would have been saved!”

“When you say Smartians, you mean those creatures with body parts of different monsters?” I asked, thinking back on when the elf king had threatened to chop me up and turn me into a Smartian.

“Yes,” Dorak said. “There was a time when they too were monsters like us. But then the elves turned them into those frightening beings right out of a nightmare. Now they have forgotten all about their pasts.”

It was odd, but only after a few moments did I grasp that Dorak was saying that the Smartians intended to turn Kiara and the other soldiers left in the tunnel into frankensteins like themselves. My mind conjured disturbing images of Kiara’s body being cut with a saw, and a shudder took hold of me. I felt faint and could no longer remain standing and squatted down. I had to do something, by any means I had to.

“Can we not contact them?” I asked Dorak. “I want them to leave the tunnel as fast as possible.”

“Alas!” Dorak replied, shaking his head. “It would be pointless.”

“Pointless?” I asked. “Why?” My heart beat accelerated.

“The Smartians have already sealed the tunnel,” Dorak said, “They hid themselves from you so that you would come deeper, and they would have sufficient time to work their mischief. If your friends went back now, they would just keep moving in circles.”

“Then can’t we bring them here by some means?” I asked Dorak, my voice ringing with desperation. “And is this place really safer than the tunnel?”

That question had popped up suddenly in my mind. It was a logical question but it had somehow evaded me till then. If all the monsters here were prisoners then the Smartians could simply pick anyone and do whatever they fancied.

“Your friends cannot be brought here unfortunately,” Dorak said remorsefully. “You see, when we sensed you and the other monsters descending down, we begged the Smartians to spare you. The Smartians agreed to our pleas. Not out of pity, of course, rather because they are a lazy bunch. Cutting and joining numerous body parts takes effort. On top of that, the Smartians resent their own kind and keep fighting amongst themselves. Perhaps deep inside they are still eviluns despite the despicable beings they have become.

“The Smartians said that they would allot us a few moments to grab as many of you as we can and ‘save’ you, which we did. At least for now this place is safer than the tunnel. It might be a hell hole stuffed with despairing eviluns, however, as far as physical safety is concerned, this place is safe. For now.

“Yes, occasionally the Smartians capture one or two from our lot. The Smartians have a short lifespan. Their bodies start rotting very fast. To continue existence, they butcher some of us and replace spoiled body parts with new ones. But that only happens so many times a year. As for today, your friends in the tunnel are the ones in real trouble.”

I left the company of Dorak as well as my soldiers, asking to be left alone for some time.

I was distraught. What I had learned was acutely depressing. I experimented with contacting Kiara through my mind. She was an evilun too, and as such was in my sphere of mental influence. However, I had never tried it before. I had hardly explored fifty percent of my new capabilities after becoming the king of eviluns.

“Kiara,” I said to her. “It’s me, Vicky.”

I could still see Kiara through the jelly-like layer. She was frightened, running from place to place in the sealed tunnel. She was trembling, clasping her hand over her head.

“Vicky?” she said, coming to a stop and looking around her frantically, hoping to see me. “Where are you?”

“Kiara, we are in big trouble.”

I related our predicament to her and the rest of the monsters stuck in the tunnel, broadcasting through my mind. Initially Kiara did not understand me, and she kept repeating she would find us and help us to get out of the dimension, but after some time and effort I made her realize that it was her and the soldiers who were really in trouble.

“They are going to chop you up and join your body parts with those of other monsters,” I said to her, shaking with sobs. Kiara, overwhelmed with emotion, was down on the floor, grabbing a chunk of her hair with her hand.

For some moments the two of us were quiet. This might well be the last time we shared any kind of a sane conversation. I would be stuck in the dimension forever and she would be… worse than dead.

All of a sudden, Kiara slumped to the floor, unconscious. Not only her, the same happened to the rest of the soldiers in the tunnel.

“Kiara!” I cried, but there was nothing that I could do, except try to push through the jelly layer in a wasted effort. A dark smoke was filling up the tunnel. In the matter of only a few minutes the entire tunnel was filled so thick that I could no longer see anyone in it. When the smoke finally cleared, the tunnel was empty.

The Smaritans had taken them.

I was dumbstruck, waves of emotion threatening to drown me. No, I cannot give up hope. I clenched my fist and ran to Dorak.