As I entered the new room, the gate closed behind me with the same eerie silence with which it had opened before. I looked back at the door for a moment, then I turned away and looked ahead. A corridor stretched out before me, as black and eerie as the throne room. Torches hung from the black stone walls, their flames flashing in red and blue, bathing the room in an eerie light. But the darkness did not leave – it seemed to be the constant companion of this place, eerie and oppressive, like a haunted castle.
The corridor was not endless like the throne room – it had a visible end. The path was wide enough for a giant, and numerous doors made of dark gray material are lined up along the walls. Each was larger than an ordinary doorway, and seemed to lead into a room or passage, the depth of which I could hardly imagine. Their massive, eerie shapes made them anything but inviting.
I walked through the corridor, my steps almost silently on the soft carpet that spread out before me. Along the carpet stood eerie statues made of black stone, whose grotesque forms seemed anything but human. An icy cold crept up inside me as I walked past them.
The first statue I passed was a huge creature, at least ten meters high. With ram's horns bent downwards, a demonic face, and wings sticking out of her back, she looked like she had stepped out of a nightmare. A dragon-like tail stretched behind her, while sharp claws adorned her massive arms. Despite my desire to avert my gaze, she captivated me in her eerie presence – as if she stood still and could come to life at any moment.
A brief spark of red energy flashed like a living stream through her stony form before it died out again. Although the cold enveloped me, a film of sweat ran down my spine. I forced myself to avert my gaze and turned to the other statues. One of them was reminiscent of a nightmare of a bee – a mixture of insect and monster, with wasp-like wings and insect-like limbs – another looked like a wolf, the image of night itself. while others looked as if they had stepped straight out of the underworld. There were nine in total, each of which seemed more threatening than the last. The cold that spread through me was so intense that I felt like my breath was freezing.
"What kind of beings are they?" I whispered to myself in a trembling voice as I walked past the demonic figures. Her eyes seemed to follow my every step, as if they were watching me, just waiting to devour me.
At the end of the corridor another gate appeared. It was just as big as the one I had come from, but something sinister emanated from it. The corridor suddenly felt narrower as I approached the gate. It was bigger, more massive, and darker than anything I'd seen before. With every step I took, the pressure on my chest grew. Something was behind this gate, something that was not well-disposed towards me. The air around me began to vibrate, an almost palpable twitch that pulled me deeper into the darkness of the corridor.
Suddenly there was a soft squeak. My gaze whirled around and fixed on the large gate that towered up in front of me. The air became heavy, almost unbearable, and my heart pounded wildly in my chest. With each passing second, the corridor filled with a darkness that took my breath away. An ominous presence lay behind this gate. A shadow that rose.
A black claw wrapped around the edge of the gate, its claws digging into the metal with a bloodcurdling sound, leaving deep, rusty scratches. Another hiss, then the gate opened wider.
Out of the darkness stepped a creature. Her skin was as black as the night, covered with sharp thorns pulsing in violet light. Her back was bent like that of a hump. The thin, thorny tail twitched nervously as the creature slowly and almost crawled out of the shadow of the gate. She stood on two legs, her limbs covered with scales and scrawny. Her arms ended in claws, and her head was in the shape of a helmet with two horns sticking out of it. The entire body was permeated with violet energy, which ran like veins over the black scales and ended in two violet eyes that pierced through the helmet. She looked like a warrior of shadows.
Two more creatures followed. They resembled the first, but stood on six legs, the limbs of which were insect-like. Her mouth was reminiscent of that of a reptile.
Her purple tongue brushed her teeth as dark liquid dripped from her mouth onto the carpet. Slowly and stealthily, they clawed into the carpet as if they wanted to hide in the shadows and sneak silently up to their prey, while their tails gently stroked the carpet. Her violet eyes pierced through the darkness like stars in the night sky.
I could hardly breathe. My hands were shaking, and I was paralyzed, unable to move. In front of me stood these beings – nightmares that had no place in the world of humans. Her claws dug into the ground, which groaned under her scraping movements. I wanted to scream, but my throat was tight.
"What... what kind of creatures are they?" I whispered, my voice almost failing me.
Their gaze seemed to penetrate me, as if they could read every cell of my body. It was as if time itself was slowing down, as if everything was waiting for the inevitable impact at that moment.
The foremost of the three creatures, the humanoid one on two legs, opened its mouth and let out a shrill, piercing cry that tore the air like a cutting knife. The noise was so deafening that I instinctively pressed my hands to my ears as if I wanted to stop the madness in my head that began to rage.
The creatures approached with unstoppable menace, their claws flashing in the flickering blue light of the torches. Her movements were smooth and yet of an uncanny precision, as if they were part of the darkness itself. The greed in her eyes was unmistakable, like a hunger that could only be satisfied by death. It was clear that they were not here to negotiate – they had come to kill. The icy grip of death closed around me.
"This is a nightmare...", I thought desperately, my hands began to tremble. It must be a nightmare..."
But when I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, everything was still real.
The creatures stood there, their footsteps already echoing in my mind as they drew closer with each breath. I couldn't move. They were real. And they came to tear me apart.
The panic flooded me like a huge wave that seized me with full force. My legs suddenly failed, and the adrenaline rushed through my veins, sending cold shivers down my spine.
Flee. Only this one word echoed in my head, like an incessant, roaring command. It was as if my body instinctively knew that I had no other choice.
"Run!" it shot through my head as I jumped up abruptly, not knowing where to go.
Run. Escape. Survival.
My feet stumbled across the floor, my heart pounding in my ears as I started moving—faster and faster, faster and faster. The creatures behind me. I could literally feel their presence—those hungry, murderous eyes that haunted me.
The scraping sound of their claws echoed through the room, a bloodcurdling sound that swept through the darkness like a scream. I knew that they would soon catch up with me.
I have to get out of here! The thought burned itself into my brain like a desperate cry for rescue.
I ran, the walls of the corridor seemed to narrow further and further, as if the darkness itself was trying to devour me. The sounds behind me grew louder, more shrill – the hissing breath of the creatures, the scratching of their claws, the crunching sound of raging hatred and insatiable hunger.
Suddenly I realized that I was running into a dead end – the throne room was no way out. My body stopped for a split second, a moment of utter confusion. What now?
The sounds came closer, surrounded me, and I felt like I was in a nightmare from which there was no escape.
No time to think.
There, on the side of the corridor, a gate – I ran towards it without wasting a single thought. Hope, that was all I had left.
With a brutal push I pushed the door open. It opened with a creaking sound, and then I heard it. The screeching of the creatures behind me.
The room in front of me was huge, an eerie labyrinth of black wooden shelves that rose up to the ceiling. "A library," I murmur. The room extended over several floors via a stone staircase. Without thinking further about the gloomy beauty of the room, I rushed forward, my footsteps echoing through the endless corridors.
I ran past a painting. The eyes of the creature in the picture stared at me as if they could see me through the darkness. The room was almost completely shrouded in darkness, only the huge chandelier above me dimly lit it. The flames in the candles flickered to the rhythm of my steps.
My breathing was fast as I walked on. A sudden impact when I hit a shelf. Books fell to the floor with a loud crash, but I didn't have time to look around. The stairs were in front of me, the blue carpet that stretched up the steps pulled me to the next floor. With a desperate leap I reached the last step, the stone stairs crunched under my hasty steps.
Then I heard them. The screams – wild and piercing – from the corridor. They were closer than I had hoped.
My heart was racing as I ran along the shelves. I threw myself behind a row of shelves, the blood throbbing in my ears. A moment of silence. Only the eerie flicker of the blue light that cast the shadows across the ground. A soft scratching, almost inaudible, but it made me wince.
Slowly I peeked around the corner, my heart almost stopped. The door to the library. The cold sound of the castle moving took my breath away. It opened with a soft squeak. Three shadowy figures crept through the opening. Their claws twitched, and their purple eyes pierced the darkness in search of their prey. The door closed behind them with a dull bang.
Their bodies glowed faintly in the dark, like stars of violet. They walked inexorably into the room, their movements smooth and dangerous.
I didn't dare to make a sound. My body pressed against the shelf, hands tightly in front of my mouth, as if this tiny gesture could extinguish my existence.
"They'll find me," I thought in panic.
The creatures spread out like shadows, disappearing behind the shelves. The scratching of their claws on the floor echoed ominously through the library.
Then I heard it. Scratching on wood. One of the creatures dragged its claws across a shelf. Wood splintered, and a cold shiver ran down my spine.
Silence.
In front of me, almost too close, is a painting. The eyes of the creature on it stared at me. They seemed to live as if they could betray me if I would only move.
Suddenly – a tear, the tearing of pages and paper. Another book fell to the ground.
My pulse was racing. I heard the scratching of claws on the stone stairs. One of the creatures climbed the next floor.
"I have to get out of here," I thought desperately. The room was like a trap – a labyrinth of shelves that encircled me.
One of the creatures, standing on six legs, jumped smoothly onto a shelf, climbed up like a spider, and leaped to the next level. She landed not far from me in another corridor. Her silhouette peeled out from behind the shelf. She searched, deliberately slowly, for her prey.
"I have to move on," a voice roared inside me. But fear paralyzed me.
I gritted my teeth. If I stay here, I will die.
With all my strength I tore myself out of the rigidity and crept on. The creature was almost in the same corridor as me. When I turned the corner, she narrowly missed me.
The purple glow behind me broke through the darkness, the flickering of the creatures on the hunt. Shelf by shelf, I crept through the room, the air seemed to vibrate. Another creature scurried past me. I pressed myself tightly against the shelf, praying that she wouldn't notice me. She disappeared into another row.
Luckily, this room was huge—a library of an entire kingdom. The ceiling disappeared into the darkness, several floors above me. But my goal was clear: I had to go back to the door I had come through. I had to get out of here before it was too late.
I crept on. One of the six limbs climbed to the next floor. Well, he wouldn't find me so quickly.
Then I heard it—the tearing of pages and books, the frantic beating of a creature. She was hunting.
"I can do it," I murmured, trying to calm myself in my mind.
I hit a shelf, and a book fell. I quickly grabbed it, but it slipped out of my hand and landed on the ground with a dull thud. "Damn," I thought.
An outcry. A shrill screech went through the room. They had heard it.
I ran. No more time to be quiet. The stairs were in front of me. But just as I arrived at the stairs, a creature climbed the penultimate step and looked at me.
"Shit!" I screamed as I jerked around and stormed in the opposite direction. To the next floor.
The creature chased me, its presence like a crushing weight behind me. So damn fast.
I reached the last step, continued to run through a corridor between the shelves. The creature was right behind me, and I felt its breath on my neck.
A scream. Another creature jumped off a shelf above me. I threw myself to the side as she landed next to me and almost fell to the ground, but she jumped up again immediately.
I grabbed a shelf, pulled myself up and ran on. The creatures close behind me, blood dripping from my cheek—she had brushed me with her claws.
They were too fast. A claw struck at me, narrowly missing me. I jumped through a shelf, books flew through the air. I pushed myself off the ground, grabbed a book, and threw it at the creature that fell the corner behind me. It hit her right in the head, but she just pushed it aside.
I ran on. A ladder led to a higher shelf. I pulled on it, let it fall to the ground behind me, books whirled through the air.
The creature jumped over the ladder and followed me.
A painting. I tore it off the wall and threw it backwards. It hit the next creature, its head breaking through the picture. She staggered and bit it furiously.
I raced around the corner, but in front of me stood the next creature. She pounced on me, her mouth greedily open. I ran past her and jumped through the next shelf.
The creature jumped onto the shelf behind me and climbed over it. I ran on, she jumped down and followed me.
In front of me was the stairs.
I ran towards it. But a creature rammed me before I reached it. I cried out as I flew down the stairs, step by step.
My body ached. My gaze turned. I ended up on the last step, dazed. My head was bleeding, my arm was broken.
I staggered up, the stairs led to the ground floor. The creatures' cries echoed behind me.
I had no more time. I ran, jumped down the floor, grabbed a shelf, absorbed my impact as I fell to the ground. Books flew over me, I threw them off me and jumped up. The door was so far away that I would never reach it.
I heard the screams of the creatures behind me. Her thirst for blood made me tremble.
I pushed the door open, fell into the corridor behind it, and caught myself with my arms as I fell to the ground.
I crawled on, too exhausted to get up. My head trembled as I pulled myself over the cold stone. My blood left a trail of blood on the stone floor. A statue loomed in front of me. I pulled myself up on her with difficulty and let myself fall against her.
I lay there, waiting for my certain death.
The door sprang open, and the shadowy figures stepped into the corridor. Their saliva dripped onto the floor with a muffled sound as they circled me. I had no more strength to move. They crept closer, like predators surrounding their prey. They had pushed me into a corner. It was over. Little by little, they came closer, their claws twitching greedily as their tongues brushed their sharp teeth.
What would I leave behind if I died now? Who was I really, and who would remember me? Would anyone mourn my death? Or would I disappear into the world like a shadow without ever really having existed? The cold stone of the statue bored into my back as I stared fixedly at the creatures in front of me. I didn't even know my own name. And without knowing him, I would die. What a shitty ending, I murmured. I hate you. And this place. Whatever you are.
It was as if my fear had disappeared, and only the pure hatred of my shitty fate remained. The moment the creatures reached out their claws towards me, they let out a greedy screech. I closed my eyes.
But then – silence.
I paused for a moment, ready to be torn apart at any moment – but nothing happened, just silence.
Slowly I opened one eye. A creature flinched in front of me, then another. Unsettled. The others followed, looking around in panic. The thirst for blood had vanished, fear had replaced their faces. In a quick advance, they ran back as a unit to the gate from which they had come. With a loud squeak, they opened it and disappeared into the darkness. The gate closed with a bang, and I was alone with the darkness again.
"What just happened?" I whispered, completely exhausted. My breathing was heavy, relief mixed with confusion. They had let me go, but why?
Suddenly I felt a presence behind me, instinctively my gaze flew to the statue that stood behind me. Slowly, I lifted my head and let my gaze glide along her body until it stopped at her eyes. They sparkled in an amber yellow, as if she was angry. Yellow veins ran across her body, slowly fading. With them, her sparkling eyes went out, until she was only a motionless stone, as before.
The statue had wings that resembled those of a bee. Her body was a strange mix of monster and insect. But at that moment she seemed like an angel. No question, she had saved me.