We began descending into the black void using luminance spells to guide ourselves. As we made our way further in, the walls ahead were made of skulls and various other bones. A terrible stench filled are lungs with every breath. It was absolute silence, other than the footsteps we took. Now that I mention it, the sound of the footsteps seemed off, there was somewhat of a pattern to it, but then there sounded like two or three of them that were awfully fast for the pace we were at. I tried to ignore it, but the more I tried, them more clear to me it became.
Yuka: "Hey guys, stop and stand still for a second" I said softly as to not startle anyone.
Tarik: "What's wrong?"
Yuka: "shhh, listen carefully"
Dead silence. It was so quiet I swear I could began to hear my heartbeat. One of the tier 3 soldiers pointed behind us and said he saw something move. He said it was floating a little above us.
Tarik: "Now's not the time for jokes, this is serious." He whispered.
Soldier: "I AM serious, it looked like a tiny head that floated around"
Tarik: "What the hell are you even saying, do we need to take a quick break?"
Yuka: "No" I said softly, yet sternly. "We need to end this quickly, the longer we take, the less strength we'll have"
The others nodded.
Tarik: "Alright, lets get going then. Keep cool, and this will be over with in no time"
Some unknown amount of time passed by. I don't think anyone was keeping track. Just walking, and walking, and walking. Up ahead there was a circular room with multiple corridors. We counted nine different corridors, not including the one we came in from.
Tarik: "Well shit. We'll have to search one by one. Fuck, how big is this place? Why is there so much bones? Oh, make sure to mark the one we came in from"
Everyone looked around, nobody moved.
Soldier: "Wait, which one did we come from?"
Panic began to set in.
Soldier: "Who was in the back? Its their fault we're now lost!" One soldier angrily whispered.
People quickly began to talk over one another over who's fault it was.
Tarik: "Everyone calm down. Let's figure out which one's we know aren't it, and work from there"
Out of nowhere, impossibly long arms gripped onto our ankles and began pulling at a jogging pace. I reached out to one of the soldiers, both his ankles were being pulled in opposite directions. He started started screaming out of pain as his right leg was torn from his body. Bone snapping and flesh peeled apart. I was utterly horrified.
Yuka: "NO!" I screamed and cried as we're all pulled into different corridors.
Multiple of us were shoved into each one, and then each corridor had their own corridors splitting us up even further. Dirt filled my nose and stuck into my teeth as I was dragged. Screams, more screams, and more screams filled the once deafening silence. Eventually it stopped pulling. I stood up and leaned against the bone wall; catching my breath once again. I tried using luminance, but nothing happened.
Yuka: "There's no aetheria?"
That was bad, really really really bad. A zone that lacks aetheria is already considered hazardous due to the fact that aetheria is literally everywhere, and places that lack it are anomalies because nobody knows what causes the lack in the first place. This also means I have no access to light, no way of finding the supplies we brought with us, no way of safely checking my surroundings. The situation truly felt doomed. There was silence again, not a single yell, or footstep could be heard.
Yuka: "Guys!" I yelled out. "Can anyone hear me?"..... Nothing.
Surely at least some of them are alive, why would it keep only me alive. Plus I'm tier 1, if anything I should be the one dead. I started to walk in a direction, eventually I would run into one of them, or even one of the supply bags. I no longer cared about anything else anymore, I just wanted to leave. I slowly began crying to myself, praying that if there was a god that existed, for it to give me a fighting chance. Not a free ticket out, but at the very least a fighting chance. I stopped suddenly upon hearing something faint behind me, focusing on my ears.... it was footsteps, and they were getting louder, quick! I started running as fast as I could, a blood curdling screech pierced my eardrums. Screaming and crying I ran for my life. Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! It was getting so so loud, I plummeted into a wall of bone, realizing it's a dead end I was mortified. I curled up on the ground praying I wake up and its all some sick nightmare. Approached was "Flora", with her big smile. Her arms were behind her back as if she was hiding something, she slowly walked up to me and said she had a present for my birthday. How did she know? I didn't really care, the investigator in me never really ceases to end does it. Tears in my eyes I looked up at her, she stood only a few feet in front of me.
"Flora": "Here you go~~" She tossed Tarik's severed head into my arms.
Stun-locked, I started to shake violently. "Flora" began manically laughing, it sounded like a large beast mimicking human laughter. My eye's remained locked onto Tarik's.
"Flora": "Isn't this what you wanted?"
Yuka: "No! No! No! I only thought he was gonna betray us, I never asked for this!" I yelled as I continued to cry.
"Flora": "Oh" it said bluntly. It turned away and skipped off back into the darkness.
I watched it leave me behind as if it grew bored with me. An arm grabbed onto my ankle yet again dragging me into the abyss.
Yuka: "NO! Leave me alone, please!"
It began dragging me through a tight corridor, baby version of the arms poked out from within the bone walls, grabbing at my body and hair, slowly pulling it out of its roots. They tore my clothes off, stripping me nude, bruising and scratching me in the process. I was in a new room, this one was very dimly lit up, I'm not sure how, but it was. There was a row of ten of my soldiers from before, blindfolded, also stripped nude. To my left was a board with the numbers one though twenty, one being on the outer ring, and twenty on a small dot in the middle; as well as a handful of what looked to be throwing stars made of bone. Inscribed into the bone wall was the words, "Win and live traumatically, or lose and die eternally" A throwing star zipped past my head onto the board, hitting a sixteen. Was this really happening? This monster was going to make me play for the survival of my men? Ten throwing stars, ten men. I have to score higher with each star in order to save each one of them. Lives were on the line, I have no choice but to win. I threw the first star, seventeen. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then zip! Twelve. I throw once again, eighteen. Next fifteen, then nineteen. Four, then seventeen. Thankfully it wasn't too good at the game, and I was confident in securing all ten. We throw the remainder, and suddenly it hits a twenty. What do I do? I guess I need to tie? Hitting a twenty is difficult from the given distance, which in this case was about fifteen meters away. How did it suddenly hit a twenty? Was it luck? Whatever the case, I needed to tie. I focused, timing my breaths with my throw. As I throw, I'm pricked with what felt like a pin on my back, eight.
Yuka: "Dirty fucking cheater! Let me throw again fucker, what? You're so shit you rely on underhanded tactics?! I swear to fucking god I'll kill you! I'll fucking find you and slaughter you till nothing remains! I'll tear you limb by limb and-"
It's messing with my head. Making me outraged, making me lose composure. It's trying to break me. I looked over to see the ten men cut up into small bits and pieces, rendered unrecognizable. It never was going to let me win, it plays and toys around with us like we're just some form of entertainment. I dropped to my knees. In the corridor I entered from stood a figure, I just starred at it. I just starred at it. I just starred more and more, waiting for something to happen. It won, I'm completely broken. I'm so broken I can't even be bothered to feel scared anymore. While I was starring I remembered the story the old man told me, the one where his carriage was broken down. I remember him mentioning a gray man that hates, that awfully suits this monstrosity. Maybe that story was real. A large what I assumed to be some kind of mutant elderfolk walked passed the figure. It's face mangled like something huge too a bite out of it. It bled profusely, its one remaining eye bulged out like a sore thumb, it look so hideous it made me chuckle. It walked up to me and started beating me, punched me, kicked me, why was it doing this? I didn't mean to laugh, I just couldn't help it. It started to hurt really bad so I attacked it back. I ripped its remaining eye out and swallowed it whole. It tasted really bad. I looked over to see that the figure walked out of the dark. Well, it was a gray man wearing a gray hat, his facial features looked like it was drawn on with a black stencil, all the features were a little too far to the left. I could tell he was smiling, but it didn't look like it. I blinked and there black and white lines that repeated infinitely, slowly flowing to the left of my vision. I blinked again and suddenly I was on the surface. The other eight we left above were all hanging from nooses. They shared the same facial features as the gray man that hates.
Yuka: "Hey gray man that hates, why do you hate me?"
The gray man that hates: "Happy birthday Yuka." He gave me Tarik's severed head as a present.
I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to throw up, I wanted to fight, I wanted to kill, I wanted to kill, I wanted to kill, I wanted to scream, I wanted to throw up.
The gray man that hates: "Happy birthday Yuka."
I wanted to kill myself, I wanted to die, I wanted to rip my eyes out of my skull, I wanted to rip my heart out from my chest, I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cut my throat, I wanted to smile, I wanted to never exist, I wanted so so so so so so so so badly to cease to exist in this very moment.
The gray man that hates: "Happy birthday to you~, happy birthday to you~, happy birthday dear Yuka~, happy birthday to you~"
I couldn't even describe what his voice sounds like. I never knew such a sound could ever exist. Not that it even mattered anyway. I started to scratch at my skin, digging my nails into myself. I clawed at my throat, I couldn't make a noise, I couldn't shed a tear, I couldn't feel anything anymore. Why do I still resist, why don't I just give in!? Why don't I just ha-
.
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Who's that?... A man and a girl?... Run away. Let it only be me. It will break you. Please. Let it only be me...
Unknown girl: "She's alive still!"
Unknown man: "You have twenty seconds, start the incantation"
Unknown girl: "On it! Wait, are you heading down there?"
Unknown man: "I'll be right back, I have to pay something a visit"
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