The girl remained huddled in the corner, her eyes closed. But she was no longer trembling. Her body, previously tense and defensive, was now strangely relaxed, as if an immense weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It was an unnatural stillness, like that of a puppet whose strings had been cut. Only her chest rose and fell with slow, deep breaths, too regular to be human.
"Sebastian..." Roland murmured, cautiously approaching his fallen companion. But before he could touch him, an invisible force stopped him.
It wasn't a physical barrier, but a sensation. A feeling of prohibition, of imminent danger. A feeling that told him, with terrifying clarity, that he shouldn't approach Sebastian. Not now.
"We have to go," Markus said, his voice hoarse. His hand, instinctively, went to the grip of his hammer, but then stopped, as if realizing the futility of the gesture.
Roland looked at him, a mixture of desperation and fury in his eyes. "Go?" he repeated. "And leave Sebastian?"
Markus didn't answer. He just looked at the girl, and then at Sebastian, and then at the darkness of the corridor. His face, usually impassive, now showed an expression of deep unease.
"We can't do anything for him," he finally said, his voice dull. "Not now. We have to... get out of here."
Liam, who had remained silent since his failed attack, observing the scene with a mixture of terror and fascination, nodded slowly. "Markus is right," he said. "We have to go. Now."
Roland, torn between his loyalty to Sebastian and his survival instinct, hesitated. He looked at the girl, at the orb, at the darkness that surrounded them. And he knew, with a terrifying certainty, that Markus and Liam were right. That staying there would be suicide.
"Okay," he said, his voice hoarse. "We're leaving. But... we'll be back. We'll come back for Sebastian."
And, with those words, the three adventurers turned around and headed towards the door they had entered through, trying to flee the chamber, the girl, the orb, the invisible threat they felt around them.
But they couldn't.
Upon reaching the threshold, they encountered a barrier.
An invisible, but impenetrable barrier.
As if a wall of ice had sprung up from nowhere, blocking their path.
"What... what's happening?" Liam asked, his voice trembling, instinctively backing away.
Roland extended a hand, cautiously, and touched the barrier.
He felt an intense cold, a cold that burned his skin as if he were touching dry ice.
"It's sealed," he said, his voice choked. "The door... it's sealed."
Liam, in a panic, began to pound on the door, first with his fists, then with his daggers. But it was useless. The door, which was not a door, did not even vibrate.
"We can't get out!" he shouted, his voice hysterical. "We're trapped!"
Markus, with a roar of frustration, charged at the invisible barrier with all his might.
The impact was brutal.
But the barrier didn't even budge.
Markus, rebounded by the invisible force, fell to the ground, with a groan of pain.
Roland, feeling despair taking hold of him, turned to the girl, who remained motionless in her corner, oblivious to everything that was happening around her.
"You!" Roland shouted, his voice desperate. "What have you done? What's happening?!"
But the girl didn't answer. She didn't move. She didn't react.
She only breathed.
Slowly, deeply, regularly.
Like a machine.
And then, it began.
It wasn't a sound, nor a light, nor a movement.
It was a sensation.
A feeling of oppression, of anguish, of terror.
A sensation that grew and grew, until it became unbearable.
A sensation that seemed to emanate from the girl herself, or perhaps, from the orb itself.
Or perhaps, from something else.
Something beyond their comprehension.
Something ancient, powerful, and inhuman.
The ground began to tremble. Not a violent tremor, like an earthquake, but a subtle, constant vibration that ran through their bodies, from their feet to their heads.
And, with the tremor, came the sound.
A low, deep, resonant sound.
A sound like the beating of a giant heart.
Thump... thump... thump....
A sound they had heard before, but which was now more intense, closer, more... real.
Liam, with a choked cry, put his hands to his head. "No... not again...!" he moaned. "I... can't... stand it...!"
Markus, despite his bulk and his resistance, fell to his knees, his face contorted in pain. "Stop...!" he shouted, his voice hoarse. "Please... stop...!"
Roland, feeling his mind clouding, tried to fight against the sensation. He tried to concentrate, he tried to remember his training, his Soul Sight, anything that could help him.
But it was useless.
The sensation, the sound, the oppression... were too strong.
And then, the light.
The reddish light of the chamber began to flicker, to change color, to spin at a dizzying speed.
Red. Blue. Green. Black.
And, with each change of color, the sensation intensified.
The cold became glacial.
The heat became scorching.
The silence became deafening.
And the sound, the heartbeat, became unbearable.
Thump... thump... thump....
The adventurers, trapped in the middle of this chaos of sensations, felt their bodies twist, their bones creak, their minds tear apart.
Liam, the first to break, screamed.
A high-pitched, heart-wrenching scream, that was cut short abruptly.
His body, previously full of life and movement, now convulsed, twisted, unraveled.
It unraveled as if it were made of sand.
It unraveled as if it had never existed.
And, in its place, there was only dust.
A fine, dark dust, that dispersed in the air, as if it had never been anything.
Markus, seeing the fate of his companion, roared.
A roar of fury, of pain, of despair.
He tried to get up, he tried to fight, he tried to avenge Liam.
But it was useless.
The energy emanating from the girl, or from the orb, or from something else, struck him with an invisible, but brutal force.
His strong and muscular body arched backwards, as if he were a puppet whose strings had been cut.
And then, he shattered.
He shattered as if he were made of glass.
He shattered into a thousand pieces, which fell to the ground with a dull and repulsive sound.
And, in his place, there was only nothing.
Roland, seeing his companions disappear, felt madness invading him.
He tried to scream, he tried to pray, he tried to beg.
But he couldn't.
His voice was lost in the chaos of sensations, in the deafening roar, in the relentless heartbeat.
Thump... thump... thump....
And then, he knew.
He knew there was no escape.
He knew it was all over.
He knew he was going to die.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the end.
And, in that last instant, he remembered.
He remembered his family, his home, his dreams.
He remembered the Academy, his failures, his disappointments.
He remembered Markus, Liam, Sebastian.
He remembered the promise he had made to them.
The promise he had failed to keep.
And, with that last thought, Roland, the veteran adventurer, the leader of the group, the man who had faced death on countless occasions, disappeared.
He didn't disintegrate, like Liam.
He didn't shatter, like Markus.
He simply... vanished.
As if he had never existed.
As if he had been erased from reality.
And then, silence.
An absolute, deep, definitive silence.
A silence that was only broken by the faint moan of Sebastian, unconscious on the floor, oblivious to the tragedy that had just occurred.
And by the slow, deep, regular breathing of the woman, who remained huddled in her corner, her eyes closed and her face expressionless.
Like a statue.
Like a doll.
Like a goddess.
And the orb, the crimson orb, continued to float in the center of the chamber, pulsating softly, emitting its red and mysterious light.
As if nothing had happened.
As if everything had happened.
As if it were waiting.
Waiting for the next victim.
Waiting for the next unwary soul.
Waiting for the cycle to begin again.
The dungeon, silent and deadly, had claimed new lives. And, in its depths, something continued to beat. Something ancient, something powerful, something inhuman.