The darkness was suffocating, and I could feel the walls around us tightening like a vice, squeezing the breath from my lungs. The air was thick with a rancid stench, like rotting flesh mixed with something metallic. I could taste it on my tongue, and it made me gag.
Elias moved beside me, his hand gripping mine, his breath ragged and shallow. His face was pale, his eyes wide with fear, but even in the face of that fear, I could feel his resolve. He wasn't going to let whatever was chasing us take us.
The creature had stopped following us for now, but its presence lingered in the air like a shadow. The walls pulsed, undulating as if they were alive, breathing with an unnatural rhythm. Every sound seemed to echo, every movement amplified, making my skin crawl. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run.
Elias pulled me along, his pace frantic, but the tunnel seemed to stretch on endlessly, its turns and twists disorienting, as if the very passageways were trying to trap us. I couldn't remember which way we had come, which way led to safety. The only thing that mattered now was escaping this place, this nightmare.
And then, a distant sound—soft at first, but growing louder with every passing second. A low, scraping noise that sent a shiver down my spine. It was the creature. It had found us again.
I froze, my heart hammering in my chest as I listened, my breath caught in my throat. The scraping grew louder, closer, and then, just as suddenly, it stopped.
Silence.
The kind of silence that clung to you, pressing down on your chest, suffocating you with its weight.
"Elias," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Do you hear that?"
His grip on my hand tightened, but he didn't answer. He was listening, too.
The silence stretched on, until I could hear nothing but the frantic pounding of my own heartbeat in my ears. And then, in the distance, something moved.
A shadow flickered across the walls—fast, too fast for anything human. It darted from one side to the other, vanishing into the darkness before I could fully comprehend what it was.
I stumbled backward, my body reacting before my mind could catch up. But Elias held me firm, his grip like steel.
"Stay close," he murmured, his voice barely audible. "We need to keep moving. Don't look back."
But it was impossible not to look. The darkness seemed to pulse, to breathe, as though the very tunnel itself was alive and waiting for us to make a mistake. I could feel its eyes on me, watching, waiting for the right moment to strike.
We rounded another corner, and that's when I saw it.
A door—shut tight, its surface slick with something wet and sticky. The faintest hint of light filtered through the cracks around the edges, a beacon of hope in the oppressive dark.
"That's it," Elias said, his voice trembling with a mix of relief and desperation. "We can get out. We have to."
I nodded, but my legs felt like they were made of lead as I stumbled forward, the pull of whatever hunted us growing stronger. We reached the door, and Elias pressed his ear to it, listening for any sounds on the other side.
For a moment, I thought I could hear something—scratching. Something small and fast moving against the wood. But Elias didn't hesitate. He gripped the handle and yanked the door open with a force that nearly tore it from its hinges.
Light flooded the space beyond, blinding in its brilliance. For a moment, I thought I had imagined it, but no. It was real.
But the sight that met us beyond the door froze me in my tracks.
We weren't outside. We weren't in safety.
We were in another room—one that should not have existed.
The room was vast, much larger than it should have been, with walls lined in peeling, rotting wallpaper that seemed to stretch on forever. The floor was covered in a thick layer of grime, and the air was thick with the scent of decay.
But it wasn't the room that made my stomach twist in fear—it was the figure standing in the center of it.
A tall, thin man—or what had once been a man. His skin was pale, stretched tight over his bones, and his eyes were dark voids, as if the life had been sucked from them. His fingers were long and spindly, twisting unnaturally as they hovered in the air, and his mouth was open, too wide, showing rows of jagged, blackened teeth.
I gasped, my heart nearly stopping in my chest, but it was Elias's voice that broke the stillness.
"Who are you?" he demanded, stepping in front of me. His voice was low but strong, like a challenge.
The figure tilted its head, its movements jerky and unnatural, like a marionette being controlled by invisible strings.
"You should not have come here," the thing rasped, its voice like a whisper carried on the wind, but it was everywhere, filling the space, rattling my bones.
I felt a cold sweat break out on my skin as the thing's eyes turned toward me, locking onto me with a force that made my stomach lurch.
"It's too late," it whispered. "You can't escape what you've awakened."
Suddenly, the air grew colder, the temperature dropping so fast it felt like the world itself was freezing over. The walls around us seemed to pulse, the darkness leaking from every crack and crevice.
The figure stepped forward, its long, twisted limbs stretching impossibly far, its mouth opening wider, wider, until it felt like the room itself was collapsing inward. I could see its teeth now—long, sharp, and glistening with something slick and foul.
Elias stepped forward, his body tense, and I could see the terror in his eyes, but he wasn't backing down. He gritted his teeth and raised his hand to shield me, as if to protect me from the nightmare before us.
But the creature didn't care.
With a sudden, jerking movement, it lunged forward. A horrible screech filled the room, deafening in its intensity, and I could feel my bones rattle under the pressure.
Elias pushed me backward, but it was too late. The thing was already upon us.
Its cold fingers brushed against my skin, and I screamed as an icy fire spread through my veins. The pain was excruciating, unlike anything I'd ever felt, and for a moment, I thought my very soul was being torn from me.
And then, everything went black.
But before the darkness consumed me entirely, I heard a voice—Elias's voice—faint, distant, but unmistakable.
"Don't give up," he whispered, his voice breaking. "I won't leave you."
And then, nothing.