Raelyn's breath came in shallow, frantic gasps, her back pressed against the cold, wet stone of the tunnel wall. The air was thick with the stench of rot, death, and something far worse—a rancid, cloying odor that clung to her skin like a second layer. Her eyes darted wildly, her mind unraveling with each passing second. There was no escape. The walls were alive, the air itself seemed to pulse with something dark, something sentient.
Her fingers dug into the flesh-like surface behind her, sinking deeper with every twitch. The wall was no longer stone. It was warm, pulsing, and slick, like she was pressing into the side of a massive, breathing creature. Her fingertips brushed against something hard—bone? Cartilage? She pulled her hand back, her skin slick with a thick, yellowish slime that clung to her fingers like mucus. She gagged, wiping her hands furiously on her clothes, but the smile wouldn't come off. It just smeared, thick and wet, leaving streaks of filth across her skin.
The tunnel itself felt like it was closing in on her, narrowing with every breath she took. The walls were sagging, bulging in places where veins pulsed beneath the surface like swollen, infected wounds. She could hear it now, the wet squelch of something moving just beyond the thin membrane of flesh that made up the walls—something alive, something massive, crawling just out of sight.
Her stomach churned violently as the air thickened with a sweet, sickly scent, a mixture of blood and rot. Her body trembled with the sheer wrongness of it. It wasn't just the smell of death—it was the smell of something that should never have existed.
Raelyn took a step forward, the ground beneath her feet shifting with a wet squelch. She looked down and froze. The floor wasn't solid anymore—it was flesh. Skin stretched taut over a sea of muscle and sinew, veins running just beneath the surface like bloated, pulsating worms. Her boots sank into it, the surface giving way with a sickening squish, and she stumbled, catching herself against the wall. The skin beneath her feet tore as she moved, revealing raw, bleeding muscle beneath.
With every step, the floor seemed to bleed, thick streams of dark, viscous blood oozing from the wounds her boots left behind. The smell intensified, the air so thick with the scent of iron and decay that she could taste it on her tongue, bitter and metallic.
She kept moving, her legs shaking as she waded through the sea of flesh and blood. The tunnel stretched on forever, the walls undulating like the insides of a massive, totting beast. Each breath was a struggle, her lungs burning as the atmosphere grew heavier, denser, suffocating her with the overwhelming stench of decay.
Then, from the darkness ahead, she heard it—a wet, tearing sound, like skin being peeled from bone. It was followed by a low, gurgling moan, a sound so full of pain and hungry that it made her blood run clod. She stopped, her heart pounding in her chest, the sound growing louder with each passing second. It wasn't just one voice. There were many—dozens, hundreds—all around her, filling the air with a symphony of suffering.
Raelyn's stomach twisted as the sounds drew closer, the wet squelching of something dragging itself across the floor echoing through the tunnel. She could see it now, just ahead, a mass of bodies writhing in the darkness. They were crawling—dragging themselves across the flesh-covered floor, their skin sloughing off in thick, wet chunks as they moved.
Their faces were grotesque, twisted into masks of agony and hunger, their eyes wide and glassy, reflecting nothing but pain. Flesh hung from their bones in ragged strips, their bodies bloated and swollen, leaking pus and blood with every movement. Some of them were missing limbs, dragging themselves forward with the stumps of their arms, while others had bones jutting out from their skin, the white shards slick with gore.
As Raelyn watched, one of the creatures reached out, its hand nothing more than a mass of bones and tendons, the flesh long since rotted away. It grabbed onto the floor, its fingers sinking into the flesh like claws, and pulled itself forward. It's face was barely human—most of the skin had peeled away, revealing the muscle and sinew beneath, but its eyes were still intact, wide and bloodshot, staring directly at her.
She couldn't move. Her legs were frozen in place, her mind reeling from the horror in front of her. The thing dragged itself closer, its mouth opening wide in a silent scream, revealing blackened teeth and a tongue swollen with rot. The smell was unbearable, the thick, sickening stench of decay and filth filling her nose, making her gag.
And then, it spoke.
The words were garbled, wet, as though its throat was filled with blood. "Help...me..."
Raelyn stumbled back, her heart racing, bile rising in her throat. The creature's hand stretched toward her, the fingers trembling, flesh hanging from the bones in loose, wet strips. She turns and ran, the sound of wet, gurgling moans following her as she sprinted down the tunnel, the walls closing in on her, the ground shifting and tearing beneath her feet.
She didn't stop running until she came to a dead end, the tunnel collapsing into a mass of flesh and bone, a writhing, breathing wall of meat that pulsed with a sickening rhythm. She pressed her back against it, her chest heaving as she tired to catch her breath, but the wall was warm, wet, and alive. She could feel it moving beneath her, the soft, pulpy surface rippling with each breath she took.
Suddenly, the wall split open, a wide, gaping tear appearing in the flesh, and from it spilled something unspeakable. Intestines, still slick with bile, slithered out of the wound, wrapping around her ankles, pulling her toward the opening. She screamed, kicking at them, but they tightened, dragging her closer to the gaping maw of flesh.
The smell was unbearable now, the thick, cloying scent of rot and blood filling her nose, choking her. She clawed at the ground, her fingers sinking into the soft, pulpy flesh beneath her, but it was no use. The intestines pulled her closer, dragging her toward the opening, and as she was swallowed by the wall of flesh, the last thing she saw was the mass of bodies crawling toward her, their eyes empty, their mouths wide in eternal screams.