The light was overwhelming, searing through my closed eyelids as we fell. I couldn't see anything—just pure, blinding whiteness that seemed to go on forever. The sensation of falling was different this time, smoother, as if we were being pulled rather than plummeting. My mind spun with a million questions, but the only thing I could focus on was Evelyn's hand, still gripping mine, our only anchor in this disorienting void.
But then, as abruptly as it had started, the sensation of falling ceased. The light dimmed, and I found myself standing on solid ground again, though it felt different—softer, almost like sand. Slowly, I opened my eyes, and the world around us came into view.
We were standing in a vast, endless expanse of white sand that stretched out in all directions, meeting a sky that was a deep, twilight blue. The horizon was marked by jagged peaks of black rock, their forms twisted and unnatural, like the remnants of some ancient, cataclysmic event. The air was heavy, thick with a sense of foreboding, and the silence was absolute, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Evelyn was beside me, her eyes wide as she took in our new surroundings. "Where are we now?" she whispered, her voice barely audible in the oppressive silence.
"I don't know," I replied, shaking my head. "But it feels… wrong. Like this place shouldn't exist."
As we took a few cautious steps forward, the sand shifted beneath our feet, making it difficult to walk. The ground was cold, the chill seeping up through my boots, and the air had a strange, metallic taste to it. It was as if this place was a distorted reflection of reality, a twisted version of the world we knew.
"We need to keep moving," Evelyn said, her voice steadier now. "There has to be a way out of here."
I nodded, though I wasn't so sure. Every step we took seemed to echo in the silence, the sound swallowed up by the vastness around us. There was no wind, no movement—just an eerie stillness that set my nerves on edge.
After what felt like hours of walking, we reached the base of one of the jagged peaks. Up close, the rock was even more unsettling—smooth and black, with veins of red running through it, like some kind of fossilized blood. The sight of it made my skin crawl, but there was something else too—a strange, magnetic pull that drew us closer.
"Do you feel that?" Evelyn asked, her hand hovering near the rock. "It's like it's calling to us."
"Yeah," I muttered, my heart pounding. "But I'm not sure it's a good idea to answer."
Despite my reservations, we moved closer to the rock, unable to resist the pull. As we did, the air around us began to change, growing thicker, heavier. The metallic taste intensified, and I could feel a pressure building in my chest, making it harder to breathe.
Evelyn reached out and placed her hand on the rock. The moment she did, the veins of red flared to life, glowing with an unnatural light that pulsed in time with my heartbeat. I felt a surge of energy, a wave of power that flowed from the rock into Evelyn, and then into me through our joined hands.
The world around us shifted, the sky darkening to an inky black as the ground began to tremble. The silence was shattered by a low, rumbling sound, like the growl of some ancient beast awakening from its slumber. The sand beneath our feet started to shift, swirling around us like a vortex, pulling us towards the rock.
"Evelyn, let go!" I shouted, trying to pull her away, but it was too late. The rock had us in its grip, the red veins spreading outwards, wrapping around our bodies like chains.
"I can't!" Evelyn cried, her voice filled with panic. "It's too strong!"
The pressure in my chest grew unbearable, and I could feel the rock's power seeping into me, flooding my mind with images—memories that weren't my own. I saw flashes of a world consumed by darkness, a place where time had no meaning and the line between life and death was blurred beyond recognition.
"This isn't real," I told myself, trying to fight back against the onslaught. "This can't be real."
But the images kept coming, faster and more vivid, until I couldn't tell where they ended and my own thoughts began. The rock was showing us something—something terrible, something that had been buried deep within this cursed place for eons.
Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, the ground beneath us gave one final, violent shake, and the rock shattered, exploding into a cloud of black dust. The force of the blast sent us both tumbling to the ground, the energy that had been holding us in place dissipating in an instant.
I gasped for air, my lungs burning as I struggled to regain my senses. The world around us had returned to the eerie stillness of before, but the sky was now completely black, the stars above us glittering like shards of broken glass.
Evelyn was beside me, her face pale and streaked with sweat. "What… what was that?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
"I don't know," I replied, my own voice shaky. "But I think it was a warning."
"A warning of what?"
Before I could answer, a sound cut through the silence—a low, guttural growl that seemed to come from everywhere at once. The sand around us began to ripple, and from the shadows of the jagged peaks, figures began to emerge. They were humanoid, but twisted and deformed, their bodies covered in the same black dust that had come from the rock. Their eyes glowed with a sickly yellow light, and they moved with a slow, deliberate gait, like predators stalking their prey.
"We need to run," I said, my heart pounding in my chest.
But as we turned to flee, the ground in front of us erupted, and more of the creatures emerged, surrounding us on all sides. There was no way out—no escape from whatever these things were.
The creatures closed in, their growls growing louder, more menacing. They were almost upon us, their twisted forms casting long shadows in the darkness. I could feel the panic rising in my throat, but before I could act, one of the creatures lunged at us, its claws outstretched. Time seemed to slow as the creature's hand reached for my throat, and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. The darkness was closing in, and for the first time, I felt true, unrelenting fear.