The fall seemed endless, a dizzying plunge into the heart of
darkness. The air rushed past us, a cold, biting wind that tore at our clothes
and left us gasping for breath. The faint light from the rock in my hand was
our only anchor in the blackness, flickering weakly as if it, too, was
struggling to hold on.
I tried to call out to Evelyn, but the wind swallowed my
voice, leaving me alone in the void. My mind raced, grasping for some kind of
solution, but there was nothing—just the endless fall, the inky blackness, and
the ever-present fear that this time, we wouldn't survive.
Just when I thought we might fall forever, the ground rushed
up to meet us. The impact was jarring, knocking the breath from my lungs and
sending a shockwave of pain through my body. I hit the ground hard, tumbling
over rough, uneven stone before coming to a stop.
For a moment, I lay there, stunned and disoriented, my heart
pounding in my chest. The light from the rock had gone out completely, leaving
us in utter darkness. I struggled to sit up, my body aching from the fall.
"Evelyn?" I called out, my voice hoarse.
"Here," came her weak reply from somewhere nearby. I heard
the sound of her shifting, the scrape of stone against stone. "I'm… I'm okay, I
think."
I crawled toward her voice, feeling my way through the
darkness. My hand brushed against her arm, and I felt a surge of relief. "Are
you hurt?" I asked, my concern outweighing the pain radiating through my own
limbs.
"Just bruised," she said, though her voice was shaky. "What
about you?"
"Same," I replied, trying to steady my breathing. "Where are
we?"
"I don't know," she admitted, her voice small in the vast
darkness. "But we're not alone."
My blood ran cold at her words. I strained my ears,
listening, and that's when I heard it—a soft, rhythmic tapping, like the sound
of claws against stone. It was distant, but growing closer, echoing off the
unseen walls around us.
"Do you hear that?" she whispered, her hand tightening
around mine.
"Yeah," I replied, my heart quickening. "We need to move."
We scrambled to our feet, wincing at the pain that flared up
from our injuries. The darkness was disorienting, but I could sense the
presence of walls closing in around us, funneling us down a narrow passage. We
had no choice but to follow it, guided only by the sound of our breathing and
the faint echo of our footsteps.
The tapping grew louder, closer, and with it came a soft
whispering, like voices just out of earshot. It was a sound that set my teeth
on edge, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. Whatever was down here with
us, it was no friend.
As we pressed on, the passage began to widen, the ceiling
rising higher above us. I caught a glimpse of something in the darkness—a
faint, ghostly light far ahead, illuminating the jagged walls with a sickly,
unnatural glow.
"Do you see that?" Evelyn asked, her voice tense.
"Yeah," I said, narrowing my eyes to focus on the light.
"But what is it?"
We moved toward it cautiously, every instinct screaming at
me to turn back, but there was no other choice. The light grew brighter as we
approached, revealing a vast, cavernous space filled with twisted rock
formations that jutted up like the bones of some ancient, long-dead creature.
In the center of the cavern was a massive stone archway,
covered in the same glowing red runes that had adorned the altar. The light was
emanating from the arch, pulsing like a heartbeat, casting long, eerie shadows
across the cavern floor.
"What… what is that?" Evelyn whispered, her voice filled
with a mix of awe and terror.
"It looks like a gateway," I said, my throat dry. "But to
where?"
Before she could respond, the tapping sound grew louder,
more insistent, and the whispering voices turned into a chorus of incoherent
muttering. From the shadows emerged a figure—a tall, gaunt man draped in
tattered robes, his eyes glowing with the same sickly light as the runes. He
moved with an unnatural grace, his feet barely touching the ground as he glided
toward us.
"Welcome," he intoned, his voice echoing off the cavern
walls. "You have come far… and now, you stand at the threshold."
"Threshold to what?" I asked, trying to keep my voice
steady.
The man smiled, a twisted, unnatural expression that sent a
shiver down my spine. "To the end," he replied, his eyes boring into mine. "Or
perhaps, to the beginning."
Evelyn took a step forward, her eyes locked on the man.
"What do you want from us?" she demanded, her voice strong despite the fear
that was evident in her posture.
"It is not what I want," the man said, his smile widening.
"It is what you seek. The truth, the power, the answers to all your questions.
It lies beyond the gate."
I looked at the archway, the runes pulsing in time with my
racing heart. Something about this felt wrong, deeply wrong, but the pull was
undeniable. The whispers in my mind were growing louder, urging me forward,
toward the light.
"You must make a choice," the man continued, his voice
softening. "Step through the gate, and embrace your destiny. Or turn back, and
live with the knowledge that you were too afraid to see the truth."
Evelyn looked at me, her expression conflicted. "Marcus,
what do we do?"
I hesitated, the weight of the decision pressing down on me
like a vice. There was no going back—not after everything we'd seen, everything
we'd endured. But stepping through that gate felt like stepping off a cliff
into the unknown.
"We have to," I said finally, my voice shaking. "We've come
too far to turn back now."
The man's smile grew, and he stepped aside, gesturing toward
the archway. "Then the path is clear. Step through, and see what lies beyond."
We exchanged a final glance, then took a deep breath and
stepped forward, hand in hand. The light from the runes intensified, blinding
us as we crossed the threshold.
As we stepped through
the gate, the world around us shifted violently. The cavern, the man, the
darkness—all of it vanished, replaced by a blinding light that seared into my
mind. I felt the ground give way beneath us, and we were falling again, this
time into something far worse than the void. A voice—cold, distant, and filled
with malice—whispered in my ear as we plunged into the abyss, "Welcome to the
end."