Eight awakening
Lin Moyan jolted awake on cold stone, adrenaline already scorching through his veins. No hesitation his body remembered the corridor before his mind could catch up. He was running before he knew why.
The walls pulsed with the sickly green glow of bioluminescent fungus, casting long, writhing shadows. Ahead, the corridor split left or right? Last time, right had crushed him; left had impaled him. His feet skidded to a halt.
A dark shape blurred past, barreling toward the left path. The dungeon had anticipated him again.
The shadow beast snarled, claws scraping stone. Its voice.... his voice... hissed in his mind:
"Cheat."
Behind him, the walls groaned, their surface shifting like living flesh. He shoved off, pivoting hard, and sprinted down the corridor the beast had just abandoned. The stones screamed as they cracked, shard-like plates sliding, but no trap sprung.
He rounded the bend...
And plunged into darkness.
The floor vanished beneath him. A yawning pit swallowed him whole.
Wind howled in his ears as he fell, limbs flailing. Desperate thoughts flickered his sisters' laughter, the scent of dawn incense, the salt of tears on fevered nights. The abyss stretched endlessly, mocking him.
Then... oblivion.
Ninth awakening.
Lin forced himself upright, every muscle protesting. His knee throbbed, a sharp reminder he was still alive. He steadied his breath.
Nine? Ten? He shook his head. It didn't matter. This time, he would memorize every stone.
A statue stood ahead a robed figure in flawless marble, its face serene, lips curved in a gentle smile. Lin's pulse slowed as he approached...
Until that smile split.
Marble teeth gleamed in rows, jagged and endless. The statue's eyes glowed, limbs creaking to life.
The beast materialized behind it, claws raking the air.
Lin rolled beneath the statue's crushing knee, then sprinted, weaving between columns. No time to think he veered right, away from both horrors.
The corridor stretched unnaturally long. Footsteps echoed two sets. He glanced back: only shadows.
Then the beast appeared ahead, blocking his path.
"You changed the rules," it purred, crouching low.
Claws tore into his back. A second beast, voice silk-soft, whispered:
"You cannot outrun what you become."
Agony erupted. The world dissolved into red.
Tenth awakening.
Lin Moyan laughed.
He stood, brushing dust from his robes. The beast waited ahead, claws dripping phantom ichor.
"Fine," Lin called, voice raw but fierce. "Play dirty, then."
He charged not at the beast, but at the left wall.
Stone shattered like glass. He tumbled through into hidden darkness.
The tunnel beyond was narrow, ceiling low, lit only by faint dungeon glow. Voices whispered .. hundreds, thousands each a memory of pain.
A chamber of mirrors rose before him, their frames etched with unreadable runes. His reflections stared back:
—Lin as an impaled corpse.
—Lin crushed beneath stone.
—Lin mid-fall, face grey with terror.
One mirror rippled.
Xiao Lan stepped out.
Older. Haunted. Her eyes burned with purpose.
She pressed a black dagger into his hand its blade slender, stained with old ichor.
"Next time," she whispered, "stab the eyes."
Glass cracked. Mirrors splintered into hovering shards, twisting like teeth. The chamber dissolved into light and shadow.
Lin clenched the dagger.
He closed his eyes.