The world was stone, darkness, and the sound of his own heart hammering against his ribs. Lin Feng's boots slapped against the cold dungeon floor, each step a frantic prayer. Behind him, the very air shattered.
RRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
The roar was not just sound; it was a physical force, a wave of primal terror that threatened to buckle his knees. He didn't dare look back. He didn't need to. The image of the creature—the Tao Tie—was burned into his mind. A monster from legends told to scare children, now very, very real. Its chains had snapped like twigs.
It's real… The thought was a broken, panicked rhythm in sync with his footsteps.
It's real... Oh! God... it's real...! A beast-chasing me like prey!
The thunder of its pursuit was deafening. Stone screamed as claws the size of sabers tore through the walls. The stench of it washed over him first—a hot, foul breath that reeked of ancient rot and fresh blood. He dove sideways as a massive, scaled head lunged, jaws snapping shut on the space he'd occupied a second before.
CRASH! BOOM!
Debris rained down. Lin Feng slammed into the rough-hewn wall, a jolt of white-hot pain flaring through his side. A scream was torn from his throat, raw and unbecoming.
"Ahhhhhh—!!"
Smoke poured from the Tao Tie's maw, its saliva hissing and burning pits into the stone floor. Its yellow, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on him, glowing with a mindless hunger. It was a force of nature, a walking cataclysm.
Ican't fight this…Lin Feng's mind trembled, his arms shaking uncontrollably. This isn't human—it's a monster. It's death itself.
The beast gathered itself, muscles coiling like mountain springs for another pounce. Running was a delayed death sentence. This labyrinth offered no exit, only a longer chase. A desperate, feral anger began to smother his fear. He pushed himself upright, his body protesting every movement. He clenched his fists, the knuckles white despite the tremors that wracked him.
"No…" he growled, the word a promise to himself. "No… if I run, I die anyway!"
The Tao Tie roared again, the sound so immense it felt like the dungeon itself was roaring. But within the cacophony, another sound slithered into Lin Feng's skull—a voice, broken and ancient, layered over the beast's fury.
TAO TIE (V.O., in his mind):
"My fire… eroded… centuries… stolen by chains…
Lin Feng flinched, staggering back a step. Was it speaking? The intelligence in those words, contrasted with the beast's mindless rage, was more terrifying than the claws and teeth. But it spoke of weakness. Of erosion. He spat a glob of blood onto the floor, his defiance rising like a shield.
"Then you're weaker than you look!" he shouted, his voice raw and cracking.
The Tao Tie lunged. It was a blur of scale and muscle, a lion pouncing on a rabbit. Pure instinct took over. Lin Feng planted his feet, and with a yell that was half terror, half fury, he threw his hands up and caught the beast's descending jaws.
CRRRUNCHHH!
The impact drove the air from his lungs. Agony, sharp and absolute, exploded in his arms as the creature's fangs punched through his flesh. The weight was unimaginable. He shook violently, every muscle fiber straining, tearing. Veins bulged along his neck and temples.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, a sound of pure, unadulterated effort.
I can't… I can't hold it… his mind screamed back, a frantic counterpoint to his physical roar. My bones… they're breaking—!
The Tao Tie pushed, its hot, rancid breath blasting over him. Its strength was immense, a tide threatening to overwhelm him. But the pressure, the certain death, ignited something else deep within Lin Feng—something primal and stubborn and fiercely male. His scream changed, shedding its desperation, becoming something ragged, furious, and utterly animal.
"NOOO! I WON'T DIE HERE! NOT TO YOU!"
With veins popping, tears of strain mixing with the blood on his face, he pushed back. He summoned every ounce of strength from a place he never knew he had, forcing the monstrous maw wider—wider—until something in the creature's skull gave way with a sickening, final sound.
CCCCCRRRRRACKKK!
The Tao Tie shrieked, a high-pitched, alien sound of pain, and thrashed wildly. Lin Feng roared louder, a feral cry of triumph that burned through the pain. He poured every shred of his terror, his anger, his will to live into that final, brutal effort.
"DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
He tore the jaw apart.
The beast crashed to the floor, its massive body convulsing. Blood, black and viscous in the dim light, sprayed across the stones. Its glowing yellow eyes flickered, dimmed, and went dark. The dungeon fell into a silence that was somehow louder than the roar.
Lin Feng stumbled back, his legs giving way. He collapsed to his knees, his arms hanging uselessly, shaking with violent aftershocks. He stared at the colossal corpse, his face a twisted mask of pain, shock, and dawning disbelief.
"…I… I killed it…" he whispered, his voice breaking. He repeated it, as if trying to convince himself. "A beast… a real beast… I actually… did it…"
For one single, glorious heartbeat, a wave of crushing relief washed over him. He had done the impossible. He had survived.
Then the Tao Tie's corpse twitched.
GURGLE… RUMBLE…
Its chest heaved one last, violent time. With a final, wet, choking roar, it vomited a single object into the air—a perfect sphere of black marble that hovered between them. It pulsed with a sinister, internal light, casting a hellish red aura that painted the dungeon in blood-colored shadows.
Lin Feng's eyes widened, all his hard-won relief evaporating into pure dread. "No… n-no… what now…?"
The marble pulsed again, faster, like a malevolent heart. A cold, slithering laugh echoed through the chamber, seeming to come from the stone itself.
DISEMBODIED VOICE (mocking, sarcastic):,
"Kehhh-hehhh… Foolish human. You slay the beast… only to free ME. What a pitiful champion."
Lin Feng scrambled backward, raising his bleeding, ruined arms in a pathetic guard. "S-Stay away from me!!" he shouted, but his voice lacked its former strength.
It was too late. A searing heat erupted within him, igniting his veins with crimson fire. A violent, monstrous red aura burst from his skin, blinding and painful. His body convulsed, back arching against the stone floor. His eyes flew open, glowing with a terrifying scarlet light. He tried to stand, but his movements were no longer his own—they were heavy, lurching, terrifying.
THOOM… THOOM....
THOOM…
A scream was torn from his throat, but it was no longer human. It was the roar of a cornered animal.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
An unseen force drove him forward. He lunged at the hovering marble and slammed his palm onto its surface. It didn't move; it SHATTERED.
WHOOMMM! CRRRRRAAASHHH!
A wave of red-black energy exploded outward, shaking the dungeon to its foundations. The shattered pieces dissolved into a cloud of black smoke, tinged with red, that circled him like a vortex of shadows. The laughing echoed from within it, now gleeful and triumphant.
SMOKE VOICE:
"Hahaha! Strong lad, yes… but too late! TOO LATE! You are mine!"
The cloud coalesced and shot forward, diving directly into the center of his forehead. Agony, beyond anything the physical wounds had provided, seared through his mind and soul.
SHHHHRRRKKKK!
Lin Feng's world dissolved into a white-hot scream.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
When the pain receded enough for a thought to form, he found himself in a void of absolute blackness. And the voice was there, inside him now.
DISEMBODIED VOICE (mocking, triumphant):
"Yes… YES! This body is mine! He doesn't even know. A perfect fool!"
Suddenly, a gentle but undeniable pulse of golden light flared within the darkness. A presence, serene and overwhelmingly divine, crashed into the void. The spirit's triumph curdled into pure, undiluted terror.
DISEMBODIED VOICE (panicked, startled):
"W-What—?! This… this isn't him… Divine energy?! No… NO! If I stay—I'll DIE!"
It writhed, a creature of shadow caught in a sacred light, desperate to escape the annihilation it felt approaching.
DISEMBODIED VOICE (frantic):
"I must bind—soul to soul—NOW!"
There was a violent, soundless snap. Chains of conflicting energy—shadow and searing light—manifested and slammed together, forging a connection that was neither wanted nor voluntary. The spirit's shriek of fury was cut short as it was dragged into a forced, inseparable bond.
***
Lin Feng gasped, his eyes flying open. He was back on the cold stone of the dungeon floor, surrounded by the gore of the Tao Tie. His body was a tapestry of pain. He lay there, chest heaving, sucking in the foul air.
The world was silent. The monster was dead. The voice was gone.
Had it all been a hallucination? A fever dream born of adrenaline and mortal terror?
He tried to lift a hand to his throbbing head, but his muscles refused to obey. His lips moved, forming a weak, dazed whisper that was swallowed by the oppressive dark.
"…Was it… a dream…?"