The heat vanished slowly, like a dying memory, leaving only the embrace of darkness. No pain, no screaming. Just silence… and stillness.
What's going on?
I should've been burning alive, my flesh melting, lungs charred. But instead, there was only cold. And fear. Yet somehow, a strange comfort wrapped around me too, like the void itself had hands and they were cradling me.
The sweet embrace of darkness.
I didn't trust it.
My eyes opened slowly, fighting through the weight pressing down on them. It was dim—barely a glow anywhere—but enough to show I wasn't dead. Not yet. Instead of fire, stone surrounded me. Rough, jagged. My back ached against it. I blinked a few times, disoriented, and slowly the shapes around me formed.
I was in a cave.
I didn't know how I got here. Just moments ago, death was a certainty. I'd felt the smoke clawing its way into my lungs, the fire at my feet.
Now… this?
My heart thudded like it was trying to punch its way out of my chest. There was no logical explanation for this. None. And I'm not exactly the imaginative type—at least, not outside my novels.
But this was no dream.
I hadn't moved a single inch since opening my eyes. My muscles were locked, paralyzed. Fear had taken root deep inside me, anchoring me to the cold, unfeeling stone.
The cave felt wrong. Natural, yet unnatural. The stone walls curved and twisted in ways that didn't make sense. The surface shimmered subtly, like veins pulsed beneath it. Shadows moved even when nothing did. A light source flickered from deeper inside the tunnel, though I couldn't tell what it was—maybe glowing moss, or something worse.
Eventually, survival screamed louder than fear, and I peeled myself off the ground.
My clothes were nearly gone—burnt to tatters. Cold bit into my skin, each breath turning sharp and painful. I wrapped my arms around my chest as I staggered forward, each step echoing in the cavern like a gunshot.
Then I saw it.
A body.
No… not just dead. Ripped apart.
The corpse was slumped against the wall, blood dried black around it. Limbs twisted the wrong way. Flesh peeled open like a split fruit. Eyes gouged out, jaw slack. I froze.
I wanted to puke. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run.
But I couldn't do any of those things. I just stood there, shivering, shaking.
"Oh my God," I whispered. "What the hell is this?"
Something dripped nearby. Something wet, thick. My eyes darted to the ceiling. More blood.
Whatever killed this person—it wasn't human.
I crouched down, swallowing bile. My body trembled as I stripped the corpse of its clothes—what little was left intact. A jacket with rips, some pants that weren't soaked in gore. I didn't care if it was disgusting. I needed warmth. Needed anything.
As I dressed, something clattered to the ground.
A glass vial.
It rolled toward my foot, barely clinking against the stone.
I picked it up carefully. The liquid inside glowed a dull blue, swirling like mist trapped in a bottle.
"A potion?" I muttered, confused. "Am I in a damn video game now?"
I stuffed it into my pocket, unsure whether to drink it or smash it against the wall.
Beside the corpse was a rusted sword. Heavy, old, chipped along the blade. But it was better than nothing. I gripped the hilt with both hands, letting its weight ground me. Cold steel, colder reality.
That's when the noise started.
Low. Guttural. Wet.
Not far.
I turned my head slowly, blood freezing.
Something was moving.
Slithering.
Breathing.
I didn't see anything at first, but I knew I wasn't alone. My legs wanted to bolt, but fear had returned and shackled me again. The sound echoed from deeper within the cave, like something dragged itself along the walls.
Squelch.
Slide.
Squelch.
I moved as silently as I could, breath shallow, every footstep a negotiation with death. The path ahead twisted, tunnels branching in unnatural curves. I didn't know where I was going. I only knew one thing: Get away from the sound.
The deeper I went, the worse it got. Bones littered the floor. Some fresh. Some ancient. Skulls with holes punched through them. Ribcages crushed inward like they'd been stepped on by something impossibly strong.
My sanity frayed with every step.
I was going insane. I knew it.
But that's when it happened.
Just as I reached the stairs—a narrow, winding descent carved into the stone leading toward what I assumed was the second floor—something grabbed me.
Hard.
Cold.
Wet.
It wrapped around my ankle and yanked.
I screamed—pure, high, primal—and looked down to see a tentacle, slimy and mottled, covered in pulsing suckers, dragging me back into the darkness.
"NO—NO! GET OFF!"
I hacked at it with the sword, panic fueling every swing. The blade connected, tearing through the meat of the appendage. The creature screeched—something between a pig's squeal and a human scream—and retracted in a spray of black ichor.
I ran.
Didn't care where.
I just ran.
Tripping. Falling. Screaming.
I collapsed behind a boulder, hyperventilating, sword clenched so tight my knuckles went numb.
"What the fuck is happening to me?"
I was shaking. Cold. Alone.
I wanted to curl up and die.
But after what felt like hours, reason started to return. Faint, but enough. The only way out… was up. Through the horrors. Through that thing.
I cursed under my breath. I cursed fate. I cursed myself.
I cursed whatever god brought me here.
"Of all people… why me?"
Hunger gnawed at me. My throat was dry. I hadn't eaten or drunk anything since—well, who the hell knows? Hours? A day? Time meant nothing here.
Eventually, I crept back toward the entrance to the second floor. I didn't want to, but I had to.
I kept low, behind jagged rocks, peeking out like prey.
That… thing was still there. It had pulled one of the mangled corpses into the open and was devouring it. Loud. Sloppy. Crunching through bone like it was soft candy.
I couldn't tell if the body was human anymore.
It didn't matter.
I watched, hand over my mouth, praying I wouldn't throw up and give away my position. The tentacle creature had no eyes, but it moved like it could sense every tremor of air.
For hours, I waited.
Just watching it feast.
And then, eventually… it slept.
It coiled around the corpses, limbs twitching. Its body heaved with slow, wet breaths.
Now or never.
I moved. Slow. Careful. Every step planned like surgery. My heart thundered so loud I was sure it would hear me.
I crept toward the stairs, the monster only feet away.
One step.
Two.
Three—
It shifted.
I froze, breath caught in my throat.
But it didn't wake.
Step by step, I climbed, leaving the first floor behind—barely.