I Put a Ring on You--Chapter 4
Chapter 4
"Ryan, can you talk?" The bovine's voice came into Ryan's ears whose right paw was kindly stroking his torso.
Ryan was in the bull's hug. His back was pressing against the muscular body while his head was resting on the bull's left arm. When he regained consciousness, he turned back to see where he was. Red's solid body was so comfortable leaning against. He hugged back, hand stroking the hide which felt wonderful.
He recalled what he just dreamed about, and found himself silly to doubt if Red was real. Indeed it was silly. The bull was so real and mighty. His body was so solid and warm to touch.
Ryan allowed himself indulged into the wondrous feeling of lying in the bull's embrace. His face cheek softly rubbed the muscular arm of Red, his hands stroking the waist and torso. He was too lazy to realize that the bull just asked him a question.
*
Hours later, Ryan's consciousness was fully regained. He looked up at the bull's head, who was still patiently looking at him waiting for his answer.
"Yes." The human finally said.
"Without me being close, you are too weak to hold memories as well as consciousness. So, stay close to me from now on."
That explained the strange dream he just had. He was losing his memories and consciousness, so he felt uncertain about himself.
"I see." Ryan answered.
"Drink this." The bull handed the human a bowl containing some fluid which Ryan guessed was the mixture of the magma and blood. This time he guessed correctly.
"Will it keep me from the nightmares?"
"No."
Ryan sat up and drank the fluid anyway. It did taste like some mixture of blood. He didn't feel anything from drinking it.
"Is it night now?" asked the human. He took a look at the surroundings. The cave became much darker than it before he fell asleep. It was mostly dark, except the glowing magma flowing around the cave and climbing up along the cave wall, making a pattern of complex veins.
"Yes. Want to get outside and see the daybreak with me?"
"Sure, please... Master."
With their paw and hand holding, the two left the cave and began to walk back. They got out of the tunnel, walking through the chain, and with the human held in his hug, the bull clutched the chain lifting them up. The inside of the volcano was the same dark as it was in the cave. The sky above was distant, but Ryan could say it was almost completely dark. The other humans in the volcano didn't stop working. They never stopped.
When they reached the top level, the got off from the chain and went to the side of the wall. Road of stairs was created as they got close. Ryan was sure that this must be done by his master. The began climbing up the stairs.
Later, when they were out of the volcano, the human could see the night of the world. In fact he couldn't see much because it was too dark. Was it too early to see the "daybreak"? Ryan wondered.
Ryan was thinking they would just wait here till it was another day, but he found himself wrong again. More stairs were created out of nowhere, and his master continued climbing up. Since it was very dark without being lit up by the magma, Red let the human stay very close to him when they were climbing up the floating stairs very slowly.
After about half an hour, they were standing on an invisible land in the air, above all the mountains and volcanoes. Ryan looked down at the earth. The light of the magma in the volcano became a little red dot, and the rest of the world became utterly black. The sky was almost the same dark, in which Ryan could still see the faint reddish light. There wasn't any cloud like black smoke in the sky, or maybe it was too dark to be seen.
The two males sat down side by side, staying close to the other. It was becoming uncomfortably cold, and that just gave Ryan one more reason to lean his body on the bull. The light was dying out to the point that Ryan couldn't even see the bull, but sure he could feel his warm body. He hugged the trunk like arm of the demon as the world went colder and colder. It wasn't very bad though. Comparing to what he had experienced since he came here, the feeling he was getting now could almost be the best.
The utter blackness and silence made Ryan frightened a bit, but he was fine with Red beside. Ryan could hear and feel the breaths of the bull, which were assuring enough to calm him down.
They had been sitting there like that for awhile, before the bull said, "It is about the time."
Ryan didn't know what was going on. The sky had become utterly black, that he couldn't even differentiate between sky and land. He blinked, and it made no difference whether his eyes were open or close. Shouldn't the new day come as the sky gradually became brighter? Maybe not. It came to Ryan that there wasn't sun in the sky anyway.
Suddenly, across the entire sky, a zigzag crack appeared, beams of red blinding light radiating down the land through the crack as if the world was in an eggshell about to break. The crack opened gradually, more intense light passing through. It kept opening slowly like eyelids, letting more and more light coming inside. Ryan could feel the great heat of the light. Darkness had gone, replaced by light, too much light that scorching. The crack kept opening till the sky was completely bared, which was now glowing with red, intense light.
Daybreak.
Once again, Ryan was shocked by the scene, and he found it terrifying. He was involuntarily shuddering. He looked at his master, looking for console. What he saw made him shuddering more, though in a good way this time.
The red bovine was glimmering with light. He was massive, and every piece of his muscle was perfect. He was absolutely beautiful.
Ryan couldn't help but admire the bull. It was enjoyable to look at the bull's handsome, calm face and his magnificent body. The bull's large eyes were looking at the far sight, while Ryan was staring at him. He wanted to touch his master's snout like he used to do, but he didn't dare to do so. He stroked the bulging muscles on the bull's shoulder and upper arm, feeling them in awe. When he was living with the bull, he had been dreaming if the bull could become a man, talking to him and accompanying him. He thought it was impossible, but now it indeed did come true.
This world was terrible, but the bull was beautiful. If he had to live in here forever, he could just let himself focus on the bull and forget about anything else.
Ryan quickly turned his eyes away when the bull looked back at him. He didn't want to offense his master by impolitely staring. He was now looking at the sky of the color of blood.
"It is very red." Ryan exclaimed in awe, which puzzled the demon.
"Red? Isn't that my name?"
Ryan was surprised that the bull didn't even know about the meaning of red. He answered, "Yes. It's the color of your body, as well as the sky in this world."
Red was staring at Ryan with a curious look, obviously still in puzzlement, "Color?"
"Yeah, like your horns are grey, the magma in the volcano is a bit of golden, and Veral is blue. You are totally red, just like the sky, and that is why I named you Red."
"I can't see the red or the color you're talking about."
"Master, maybe all you can see is the color of red, so you can't distinguish it."
The bull was lost in what he just heard for a moment. "Maybe. Anyway, I like the name you gave me. As a gift of your choice to stay with me, you can call me Red if you want."
They were looking at each other, making Ryan feel consoling. He was glad he could call the bull Red, since calling him master or lord was very strange and making him uncomfortable. Ryan leaned on Red, and the bull drew him into a hug.
They sat there like that for a moment, enjoying the company of each other.
*
The sky was bared at first. However, black smoke began rising from the land. Ryan looking down, found the source of the smoke which was the brunt bodies from yesterday. As the black smoke extracted from the corpses, the healthy flesh revealed gradually. A few minutes later, the humans became healthy and whole again, while the sky was blocked by thick, billowy, black smoke. Ryan saw a line of figures, the prototype, walking toward far away. On the land, an infinite number of demons were still standing beside their humans. Ryan noticed some of the humans began to struggle to move. A moment later, some of them were able to stand.
The dead human souls could be revived at the beginning of each day, but they would lose all of the memories. They regained consciousness, only to be welcome by a new day and the eternity of torture.
The screams and cries began as more humans woke up. Ryan felt uncomfortable again. The omnidirectional sound of cries made him distraught, so they decided to go back to their cave, where it was quiet and peaceful, a much better place for them to snuggle up.