Chapter 2
The descent was endless.
Crimson pressed a hand against the cold, uneven stone, steadying himself as he moved deeper into the abyss. The dim light from above had vanished long ago, leaving only the suffocating blackness. Each step echoed in the silence, swallowed almost instantly by the unseen depths ahead.
He didn't know how long he had been walking. Time had lost its grip, bending and twisting like the whispering voices at the edge of his hearing. They weren't real. They couldn't be.
And yet—
Crimson…
He stopped. His breath hitched. The voice had come from behind, but when he turned, there was nothing. Just darkness, stretching endlessly in all directions.
His fingers curled into fists. He had to keep moving.
The ground sloped downward, forcing him to move carefully, his boots crunching against unseen debris. A metallic scent filled the air—sharp, familiar. Blood. He swallowed hard, the memory of the surface fading faster with every step.
Then—light. Faint, flickering, like a dying ember in the void.
Crimson quickened his pace, ignoring the chill creeping down his spine. He wasn't alone here—he had never been alone.
The whisper came again, closer this time.
You shouldn't be here.
The light ahead pulsed, illuminating something—someone. A figure stood at the edge of the glow, their form shifting, like smoke barely holding shape.
Crimson's heart pounded. His instincts screamed at him to run, but his body remained still.
The figure tilted its head. The whisper returned, but this time, it wasn't in his ears.
It was in his mind.
Turn back, before it's too late.
And then, the light went out.
Darkness swallowed everything.