Golden Demon

Johnathan gasps, clawing at the covers that wrap his mind in a golden gauze. It hurts, he can't stand it...

The music...The music...

It's broken.

Notes clash together in a loud clamor, threatening to deafen. It's all there, beautiful, wonderful, broken and mangled, a tangled mess sprayed with blood. The melodies rebel, tearing his soul apart with a thunderous din. Discord rings out in his mind, pounding him with sickening waves of sound.

It's as if something is trying to wake him.

Sweat beads on his forehead as he tries to fight it. He wants to sleep, to sink back into the song, but it seems to be rejecting him, pushing him out. With a scream he sits straight up in bed, his eyes tearing open, tiny tears of blood dripping from his eyelashes as he takes in his surroundings for the first time.

A soft golden room with odd shaped walls that resonate with the sound of screams and whispers. Two curving holes in the ceiling are the only source of light. Beautiful golden furniture carved in soft shapes, with the design of a scorpion with a rearing tail tastefully worked into every design...But no door.

Then his stinging eyes turn to the floor and find something that makes him whimper and clutch his legs. Blood, red and thick, coats the floor like a slick, sloshing marsh. In some places it sinks down, as if being sucked into some black maw. And as he looks it stains everything at the bottom...Including his hands and legs.

“You were better off dreaming...”

Johnathan spins, his eyes wide. Right next to him, as if he had been there all along, was a man with golden skin and black eyes...Behind him flicks a scorpion tail that holds four strings that run to the back of the man's neck. His gaze is emotionless, unfeeling. Johnny cannot help but quake with fear as he realizes who- or rather what it is.

“Y-You...Y-You're...”

The creature winks, twisting it's tail around, a bow forming in it's hand. The strings on it's neck rotate to the side like a sliding panel.

“How about a lullaby...or do you want to know where you are?”

Johnathan can only stare. Somehow...Somehow he knows that a lullaby would put him back to sleep...But he knows that he could never sleep easy with what he's seen. The creature seems to sense this and leans forward, stroking his cheek with a clawed hand. It speaks, razor teeth glinting in the light.

“You're inside me...Inside your precious violin...And I won't ever let you go.”