Carefully moving past the gargoyle, I even dared to move further to the left. Just a few mere feet away from the Erantaxes.
I could feel its cold breath, and the wind that busted forth with each intake of breath it took.
The strange, eerie white pair of eyes stared unblinkingly at me.
For a moment there, dread settled within me.
Fear slowly crept and gnawed at me, yet i shoved them down just as they came.
Drops of pespiration dripped down my forehead.
My body trembling in fear as i slowly moved past the Erantaxes.
Luckily for me, it seems the two Erantaxes hadn't seen me. Probably because i don't have what they are attuned to. As for what that was- i currently don't remember and i could still vividly remember what my attempt at remembering had almost cost me.
At this point, I could only hope to find out about it in the nearest future.
Appearing before the door, there was a sudden shift in the air surrounding me. My face turned pale and for a second there, fear gripped me in all its eternal glory.
I frantically turned backward, yet everything was still the same- the gargoyle was still in its previous spot- Unmoving and eeriely silent.
The two Erantaxes were also oblivious to my presence.
'Perhaps I'm just thinking too much...'
Closing ny my eyes.
I exhaled sharply as i forced down the unease slowly settling within me.
With a sharp exhalation and a hardened resolve, i carefully opened the eerie dark door before me.
Fully unaware of what the inside might have in store for me.
CREAAAK!!
A hollow grating sound echoes through the air, sending a cold chill down my spine.
I slowly closed the door, breathing what seemed like a sigh of relief.
I rested against the door, my eyes darting around me with frantic precision.
An endless darkness swarmed over my vision, shadows dancing along the walls.
I knew i still had to get past this house before i could finally get to the house i was heading for. I will have also gotten to the house if i had taken any of the other two available en-routes.
But i was still okay with this choice of mine.
For...i had no love for courting death.
Glancing around me, a spiralling staircase could be seen ahead of me. The hollow silence surrounding me sent cold chills down my spine.
The endless darkness slowly encroaching upon the walls of my mind.
Soon, I moved.
One step at a time as i approached the dark straicase.
Prepared for the worse.
Prepared for it to suddenly turn into a monstrous entity.
Prepared for it to suddenly swallow him whole!
Yet when i stepped on it.
Dread settling within me as fear flashed across my eyes.
Nothing happened.
'Uh'
With a wary gaze, I took the second and then the third.
And before i knew it, i was already done climbing, and then, the staircase receded into the endless darkness below me. Almost as though it had been swallowed by some unseen force.
Below me, the endless darkness suddenly yawns open.
A hollow, dark hole spread across the ground, as monstrous indescribable arms spanned its surface.
Arms that had various horrifying maws gaping widely from within them.
Eyes that darted frantically to their surroundings and tentacles that writhed and danced in the air.
I took in a gulp of saliva.
Subconsciously staggering backward as my heart thumped violently.
And as I stared at the horrifying scene that seemed to have been crafted straight out of my worst nightmare.
My body trembled in fear.
My heart beating hard and fast.
Hitting against my chest with brutal precision.
But soon, I heaved a sigh of relief.
Glad that the monstrosity had decided to make its appearance after i was done with my ascent. I couldn't start to think of what would have happened if the staircase had suddenly vanished while i was still climbing.
There was no doubt about it.
I would definitely die.
That much was certain.
Just thinking about it sent a cold chill down my spine.
Shoving down the unease slowly settling within me.
My eyes soon darted to my surroundings.
The broken cobblestones.
The ruined woods and...the shattered windows.
A fight had once broken up here.
I mused with a furrowed brow, my eyes moving towards the shattered window.
There- I saw it.
The house i was headed for.
The place where the necklace was hidden.
It loomed ahead of me like a sentinel of the endless darkness, its towering spire spiralling upward into what seemed like a coiled serpent.
A flicker of hope ignited within me, determination surging through every fiber of my being.
...To get there.
I had to go through this obstacle.
I had to cross the seemingly impossible distance.
Ahead of me.
There was a long plain object that lead to the window of the house i was heading for. Yet it cut short at some point, leaving a vast distance to be crossed for one to be able to make it to the other house.
B-ut...i doubted i could make it over such a vast distance. This was basically almost if not exactly 21 Asem/ 10 maetérs {21 inches or ten meters}!
Such a vast distance for the current me, No... the previous me seemed impossible.
I have indeed gotten stronger.
But how much stronger could i have probably gotten?
My eyes darted from the house to the building i was in, time and time again. Frantic thoughts hitting against the walls of my mind.
Dread and desperation slowly tightened around my chest like a vice.
I have to cross it.
I have to find a way to cross the vast distance.
This was the only way.
...The only way to escape from the inhuman clutches of the Amaraith.
I shoved down all the fear and doubt that gnawed and clawed at me.
Humming a soft melody.
My heart stirred slightly as the various illusory distractions- fear and dread slowly vanished into nothingess.
And with but a mere thought.
I focused my Arcana- to believe i could do it.
I had to.
I had no other choice.
With clenched hands and hardened resolve, i dashed onto the long object.
And surprisingly, despite its weariness, it held my wait.
And to my amusement, it seemed almost stronger than... hardened cobblestones.
Yet i couldn't be too bothered about that.
Not now.
I blitzed through the air as i ran down the construction, running with every ounce of strength contained within him.
The wind howled and rippled violently around me as i ran past various buildings. Shadows lingering in the corner of my eyes as i approached the end of the construction.
My eyes blazed with a hint of determination, desperation even and then,
I made the leap.
I hovered above the construction. Rippling through the air at a terrifying speed, the chilling wind howling past me.
There and then, my eyes flashed in horror.
B-ut...it was short-lived.
I immediately focused on my Arcana- holding firmly onto the belief that I could do it.
'I can do this.'
I repeated until it was the only mantra tethering me to reality.
I tore through the air at an astounding pace, finally crashing into a pile of window that crumbled under my weak, and fragile body. I rolled and ricocheted off the hardened cobblestones, slamming hard and fast against the walls and various broken objects.
CRASSSH!! CRAASH!!! BAAANG!!
I finally came to rest after slamming onto a wall.
A light groan escaped my lips as a mouthful of blood flowed down my lips, a metallic taste clinging stubbornly to my tongue.
My body f-elt weak and fragile.
And i could feel the endless darkness slowly inching closer, yet i struggled to stay awake. I bit onto my lips as blood-shot veins ran through my sclera.
With hardened resolve.
I gritted my teeth and rose to my feet, the crackling sounds of what seemed like broken bones reverberating into my ears.
Yet i was fine with it.
It proves that i am alive, and for now, that's all that matters.
Glancing around me.
A stained window came into my view. And from my angle, i could see the words written in Amaera language it seems.
A faint, weak smile soon crept up my face.
I have worked so hard for this.
I have worked so hard for this moment.
It had better be worth it.
...It had better be.
A flicker of hope slowly ignited within me.
And then, with a sharp exhalation, I dashed for the wall before me.