Chapter 4: **The Stairway of Regret**
As Vito descended the spiral staircase, the temperature dropped, and a faint hum echoed from below. The glowing runes on the steps pulsed in a rhythm that matched his heartbeat, which was both unsettling and oddly comforting.
"Of all the stupid places to go," Vito muttered to himself, clutching the shard. "Why do I keep saying yes to cursed staircases? Maybe next time I'll just curl up in a ball and wait for the monster to eat me. Easier and less dramatic."
The staircase seemed endless, each step feeling like it led further away from reality itself. The hum grew louder, morphing into something resembling whispers. At first, Vito thought it was his imagination, but as he focused, he realized the whispers were real. They weren't words exactly, but fragmented thoughts—desperate, panicked, and oddly familiar.
"Help… escape… beware…" the voices murmured, overlapping and growing in intensity.
Vito paused, gripping the shard tightly. "Okay, I'm officially creeped out now. Who's whispering? And if you're going to warn me, maybe be a little more specific?"
The whispers didn't respond, of course. Instead, the air grew heavier, as though the labyrinth itself was pressing down on him. He took a deep breath and continued downward, muttering sarcastically, "Great. First monsters, now disembodied voices. What's next? Dancing skeletons? A talking door? Ooh, maybe a friendly ghost with tea and biscuits."
---
At last, the staircase ended in a cavernous room bathed in an eerie green light. The walls were carved with the same strange symbols from the labyrinth, but these seemed… alive, writhing and shifting as though they were watching him. In the center of the room stood a pedestal, much like the one he had found the shard on, but this one held an hourglass filled with shimmering black sand.
Vito approached cautiously, his eyes darting around the room. He'd seen enough traps to know this screamed "bad idea."
"So, shiny artifact in the middle of a creepy room. Definitely not bait," he muttered. "Still… I'm curious."
He reached out, but the moment his fingers brushed the hourglass, a deep, guttural laugh echoed through the chamber. The shadows coalesced into a figure—a tall, skeletal man draped in tattered robes, his face obscured by a cracked porcelain mask.
---
"Welcome, little thief," the figure said, his voice dripping with mockery. "You've come far for someone so… insignificant."
Vito took a step back, holding up the shard like a shield. "Yeah, well, insignificant is kind of my thing. Keeps me alive. Who are you, anyway? The manager of this death maze? Because I'd like to file a complaint."
The figure tilted his head, seemingly amused. "I am the Keeper. The labyrinth is my domain, and you, little thief, are my newest amusement."
"Amusement? Oh, good. I've always wanted to be someone's joke," Vito said, rolling his eyes. "Look, if this is about the shard, I didn't exactly take it on purpose. It sort of… chose me?"
The Keeper's mask cracked slightly, revealing a skeletal grin. "The shard chooses only the desperate and the cunning. You, thief, are both. But tell me… what will you sacrifice to wield its power?"
"Sacrifice?" Vito repeated, narrowing his eyes. "Yeah, that's gonna be a hard pass. I don't sacrifice things. I *borrow* them. Permanently."
The Keeper chuckled, the sound reverberating through the chamber. "You misunderstand. The shard has already begun its work. The price will be paid, whether you wish it or not."
Before Vito could respond, the Keeper raised a bony hand. The room trembled, and the hourglass shattered, the black sand swirling into the air like a living storm.
---
Vito stumbled back as the sand enveloped him, clinging to his skin and burrowing into his mind. Images flashed before his eyes—memories of his childhood, moments of triumph and failure, the faces of people he had betrayed and those who had betrayed him in turn.
The whispers grew louder, overlapping into a deafening roar.
"Enough!" Vito shouted, clutching the shard. The artifact flared with light, and the sand recoiled, retreating back into the hourglass.
The Keeper lowered his hand, his grin widening. "You are stronger than I expected, little thief. But the labyrinth is not done with you yet."
"Yeah, well, the labyrinth can take a number," Vito shot back, panting. "I'm not dying in this cursed place."
The Keeper faded into the shadows, his voice echoing one last time. "Perhaps not. But surviving… is another matter entirely."
---
As the room fell silent, Vito sank to the ground, clutching the shard. "Great. Now I've got a skeleton wizard threatening me. Just another day in the life of Vito the Unlucky."
The shard pulsed softly, almost reassuringly, and the pedestal began to sink into the floor, revealing another staircase.
Vito groaned. "Oh, come on! More stairs? At this rate, I'm gonna have thighs of steel by the time I get out of here."
With no other options, he got to his feet and began his descent once more, muttering, "If I survive this, I'm stealing something *normal* next time. Like a goat. Or a nice pair of shoes."