The road stretched out like an endless void, the kind that made even the most seasoned drivers shiver with inexplicable dread. They gripped the steering wheel tighter, their knuckles pale against the leather. Rain pounded against the windshield, the rhythmic drumming a stark contrast to the uneasy silence in the car. Their mind raced, preoccupied by thoughts she couldn't quite piece together, a jumble of fractured memories and fragmented worries.
A low rumble vibrated through the air, an ethereal horn was blaring somewhere in the distance. It should've been a warning, but Noah barely registered it. The railway crossing loomed ahead, the signal lights flashing furiously, the red hue blending with the cascading rain. They slammed on the brakes, but the tires skidded against the slick asphalt, the car refusing to heed his command.
At that moment, time seemed to fragment. There was a searing flash of light, and for a fraction of a second, there was peace.
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She opened her eyes to find herself suspended in a void. It wasn't the comforting blackness of unconsciousness, but an infinite abyss where shapes twisted and reformed in the periphery of her vision. A being loomed before her. The being, no, the entity, was too vast to fully comprehend. Its form was a shifting amalgamation of eyes, mouths, and limbs, each moving independently of the other.
It spoke, though the words were not sounds but an invasive thought, crawling through her mind and leaving tendrils in its wake. "You have been offered a chance. A gift."
She stared a thousand yards, her voice caught in his throat. The entity's presence bore down on her, suffocating yet oddly enticing.
"A… gift?" she managed to whisper, her words fragile as glass.
The entity replied, "Power, knowledge, purpose"
She stood in fear, horror displayed on her face. She was paralyzed unable to move.
The entity's mouths twisted into grotesque shapes that may have been smiles. "Gifts come with a price, cost will reveal itself in time. Accept?"
The entity then winced and squealed in sounds unheard to the human.
Something deep within her screamed to decline, to run, but where could she go? Her lips moved before her mind could stop them.
"I… accept."
The void convulsed. The entity reached out with a thousand arms of flesh, each one burning cold as they wrapped around her. For a brief, agonizing moment, she felt her humanity being rewritten, reshaped into something.
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She woke to the metallic scent of blood. She layed in a crimson pool, her body trembling with an energy that felt foreign yet intoxicating. Thoughts raced through her, each one more violent than the last. Images of carnage, of screams, of hands, her hands, tearing through flesh and bone. She clutched his head, trying to push the visions away, but they clawed at the edges of her sanity.
Darkness claimed her once again.
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When She came to, the blood was gone. She stood in a circular room, its walls were adorned with carvings that seemed to move when she wasn't looking directly at them. The air was thick with an unnameable scent, something metallic and ancient. She was dressed in a robe that clung to her body as if alive, tightening with every breath she took.
The room's centerpiece was an altar, its surface slick and dark. Around it lay skeletal remains, their forms twisted in unnatural ways. Skulls grinned up at him, their empty sockets seeming to watch his every move. Strange artifacts littered the floor: a dagger encrusted with black gems, a chalice that seemed to pulse with its own heartbeat, and a book whose pages whispered faintly when she neared.
She shuddered but couldn't tear his gaze away. The room pulsed with a presence, a sense of expectation that set his teeth on edge. She moved toward the only visible door, its surface etched with symbols that glowed faintly in the dim light. The door seemed to hum as she approached, a low vibration that resonated deep within her chest.
She reached out, his fingers trembling as they hovered above the cold surface. And then, the door opened.