“Get your of your cells, the master demands your presence! You there move already! It is time to fulfil your purpose.”

In the dark, stinking cellblock, the captured people stirred. Many covered in grime, dried blood and their own shit. We had been waiting here for a few days, waiting for our kidnapper to finish their preparations so that they could do what they needed us for. Roughly 20 people, that’s how many were still alive. Reluctantly the others in the cells got up. But they only took a few hesitant steps towards the doors, no one wanted to be first.

“Will you move already!? Or should I drag you out myself? The master wants most of you without injuries but I’m sure he will accept it if a few of you have a few bruises or broken bones.”

Resigning myself, I calmly walked forward, exited the cell and stopped next to the creature. It was an ugly thing. Its skin looked dead, it had way too many scares and stitches and its skull had a very noticeable dent on its left side. The eyes were small, beady things with no light and no colour in them. Also, it stunk form half a mile away.

“Ah, a compliant one. Good, the master likes it when there is no trouble. As for the rest of you…”

Its words trailed off and it took a step forward to get its message across. Finally, the first people started to move. It was like an invisible wall had been torn down, those who refused until now followed right after.

Despite the fact that there were so many people gathered together, not a single soul uttered even a single word. No one felt like talking, everyone was too caught up in their misery.

As for me, I never took the initiative when talking to others. Besides, we were all about to die and the creature that served the master wasn’t really someone who I would tell my last words or what I regretted or anything like that.

Once all people were out of their cells and gathered in the big hallway, the creature grunted once and then turned around, walking down the hallway with large and heavy steps. We followed. No one even thought of trying to attack it from behind. We all knew it would only result in an even more painful death. Also, we didn’t have any weapons and we were just normal people from earth, most of us haven’t had any real exercise in years. Meanwhile, this creature stood at 2.30m, was packed with muscles and had impressive claws on its deformed hands. From experience, we knew that it could rip normal people apart with nearly no effort.

So we followed in complete silence. For several minutes our steps, our breathing and our own heartbeat were the only things that were we could hear. The corridors were bare stone, cold and hard. At least they were flat, the few torches on the sides were not enough to illuminate the floor properly and if the ground were uneven we would be constantly stumbling. A small comfort.

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Finally, we arrived. The corridor ended in a big hall. A few chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling. To our left was another hallway, which probably led to areas that only the master had access to. At the back of the hall was a grand altar. Several old and thick books were lying on top of it.

However, most of us were concentrated on what was in the middle of the room. There, drawn with what seemed to be blood, was a giant pentagram. Various substances were placed at each point of the pentagram. One was a bowl filled with blood. I don’t know what animal it is from. Maybe it's human blood. The next one was a bunch of bones, also in a small bowl. Among these bones was a human skull, so those were probably human bones. The third one was a bowl of some black… liquid? I don’t know if that can be described as a liquid. It seems somewhat like water but at the same time not… Though I did feel slightly drawn to that bowl...

Anyways, its a bowl full of pitch black something. The last two were things that I could only describe by their appearance. One was a pile of some black powder and the other one a small pile of crystals. There also seemed to be some sort of light swirling around in these crystals.

After assessing the room the rest seemed to happen in a single blur. The master walked in, a spindly man with too big, grey eyes, no hair and overly long nails clad in a rob that was primarily red but had some white and black accents here and there.

He talked to the creature in some language that I didn’t understand. Then the creature herded us into the giant pentagram. Now some were starting to panic and tried to resist vocally or physically. None had any success. A broken arm or leg was all they got for their troubles.

I complied without any resistance. It seemed like I was running on autopilot, simply doing what I was told to. Like a good lamb ready for slaughter. The others were weeping to themselves while the master started chanting something in yet another language.

The pentagram lit up, people cried out and I stood there like frozen, unable to move.

Then even more panic broke out. I don’t even know from where, but suddenly several new people entered the room. They shouted at the master, something about them being here to stop him, eliminate his abominations and stop his plans. The creature that had been keeping watch on us engaged these people. They primarily carried sword and spears. More abominations entered from the hallway to my left and joined the fray.

The master continued with his chant, the people inside the pentagram panicked even more and tried to leave, impeding each other whilst doing so, only to be blocked by an invisible wall at the edges of it. And still, I stood there, dazed, unmoving. Something told me not to move. Something stopped me from moving.

But also, to some extent, my instincts told that if I were to move, I would regret it.

The creature fell, decapitated. The people outside the pentagram reduced by two. Then the master seemed to finish his chant.

Then, a flash of red, weird static noise and then… nothing. I was no more, yet I knew that I still existed. I knew that I wasn’t moving yet it felt like I was. I knew… what did I know? Nothing made sense anymore. My existence, that of the world, the concept of life. Nothing.

And then I saw it. No, her, staring into my eyes though it felt like she was looking into my soul.

Then, she smiled. And my world was burning, biting agony.