Frustration ate away at Isabelle while she traversed the dark woods, navigating through the twisting trees and whistling leaves as the wind howled in the background. The moon hung high in the dark sky which was illuminated by tiny bright lights. She'd prefer to be at home, in her bed sack, sleeping. Instead, her mom made her go out to look for her little brother… again. This was a common occurrence and she hated it.

"Ugh, where is he," she groaned to herself as wolves howled in the background. “He always does this.”

She assumed he probably went out into the woods with his friends, like usual. He was a rambunctious kid, especially now that he was getting older. His friends only made that worse. She thought he was being stupid, what if he got attacked by a wild animal? There’s plenty of wild wolves and bears out in this forest. People have even been attacked by them. Her hand gripped the metal candle holder tighter as the candlelight flickered against the trees, illuminating her immediate surroundings. It was tough to see beyond the candlelight, so she had to be careful not to bump into a tree or trip on a fallen branch, rock, or other things in the forest.

“Alan! Alan!” she shouted every so often, hoping her brother would hear her shouting and run to her. “Dangit, where is that boy…” she wondered aloud to nobody in particular, then hit her foot on something hard, tripping and falling onto the ground.

“Ow!” she yelped. Luckily, she was still just barely holding onto the candle in her hand and the light hadn’t gone out. Isabelle got onto her knees, her leather pants covered in dirt, and glanced at the spot where she tripped. It was hard to make out what she tripped on, so she leaned in with the candle to get a better look. She could barely make out something made of heavily rusted metal covered in dirt in grass. She put the candle down and clawed at the layer of built up dirt and grass with her hands until she could make out what looked to be a hatch of some kind. It looked old; very old. She wondered what it was. Something like this wasn’t normal.

Isabelle grabbed the hatch and heaved it up with all her might, but it wouldn’t budge. Then, she noticed a thick metal handle sticking off to the side.

A… lever, maybe? she wondered. She gripped it with the palms of her hands and pulled it. The screeching of metal against metal rang out into the forest as the lever slowly came up. The hatch popped open and Isabelle stopped to catch her breath as her chest rose up and down with every exhale. After the short break, she gripped her hands on the hatch again and used all her might to flip it over and open it. She peered down into the blackness.

Seeing nothing but darkness, Isabelle took her candle and brought it closer to the open hatch. A metal ladder extended straight down to a floor made of a similar metal. It looked to be a simple hallway. She was curious. Really curious. This was unlike anything she’d ever seen.

“Woah,” she said aloud as her eyes darted around.

What is this? she thought to herself. Why is this out here? Why haven’t I heard of this before?

“I should be able to climb down,” Isabelle said as she analyzed the inside of the structure. It was in much better condition than the outside hatch, which was full of rust. In fact, it almost looked pristine. Preserved. As long as the ladder held up to her weight, she would be fine.

“I’ll just check it out real quick,” she said, as if trying to convince herself. “He’ll be fine for a little longer. He’s probably already back home.” With a deep breath, she gripped the ladder’s handle and climbed into the bowels of the hidden structure.

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She descended slowly until she reached the smooth floor at the bottom of the ladder, carefully placing her feet on it. She cast her gaze in both directions, but all she could see was a hallway that led into darkness. She wondered, briefly, who built this structure and why, then randomly picked a direction to go in and started exploring.

It didn’t take long before she found a door. Or, what could be called a door. It wasn’t made of wood, that’s for sure. There was a black panel by the door that caught her attention, so she touched it. She’d never seen anything like it before. It was so smooth, she thought it must have been made of glass.

“Hmmm,” she said. “What the heck is this?” It was placed oddly close to the door. Was it art? The church had a lot of art. There wasn’t a door handle so she couldn't get the door open, no matter how much she pushed on it or poked the black panel.

“This place is so strange.” She decided to leave the door and keep exploring. This was the first time in a long time she’d felt such a thrill. She’d always loved ‘adventuring’, exploring, but once she grew up she naturally gave that up.

It wasn't long before she came across more doors, but all the ones she found were closed. At this point, she decided to turn back. After all, she didn't want to get lost in some creepy underground place just because she explored too much. She turned around and suddenly got a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. She felt a chill overcome her body as it started shaking, but she didn’t know why. Was there something there? She didn’t see anything and she’d just come through that way. Cautiously, she took a step forward and saw a face—if you could even call it that—illuminated from the darkness, staring at her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as Isabelle stared back mostly out of fear, scared about what might happen if she looked away.

Was this a demon? She’d heard about them before in children’s fairy tales, but she was never foolish enough to believe such stories, unlike her mother. She realized now that could have been a mistake.

She stepped back so the face was no longer visible. She stood there for what felt like an eternity, before taking a step forward again. Nothing. There was no face there.

“I… I must have imagined it,” she said, trying to convince herself that was the truth. She took a few more cautious steps before bursting out into an all out run-walk to get out of this place as fast as possible. As she turned a corner, she saw the moonlight from the open hatch and felt confident safety was only moments away. She would reach the ladder and get out of this damned place. Then, she felt a pain across her neck.

A thin, razor sharp, clean cut was on her neck. But how? Summoning all her courage, she turned around but nothing was there except darkness. Maybe it was my imagination, she thought to herself. Then, she started to feel weird. Her legs started to wobble and standing became impossible. In just a few seconds she collapsed onto the floor, the metal sound of the candle holder hitting the floor rang out just before she found herself in pitch black darkness.

She was scared. She tried to move her body but it wouldn't listen to her, no matter how much effort she put in. Not even a single finger would move. As she felt herself slipping away, she heard the noise of something slowly coming closer, until she slipped away into unconsciousness.

Isabelle awoke in a nightmare. A sea of sliming, oozing darkness clutched at her naked body while she desperately flailed her arms and struggled to stay afloat. Flashes of lightning periodically rolled through the dark clouds above, bringing a hint of light to the darkness beneath.

"Help!" she shouted, but no one came to help. She was alone in this bleak world. A black wave crashed into her, forcing her below the surface. She exhaustedly swam upwards, back towards the surface. Breaking the surface, she screamed in anguish and pain—her face blackened by the sea—for no one to hear.

"Somebody please help me!" she screamed once more.

Another wave crashed into her and Isabelle was plunged beneath the surface once more. She struggled to swim back to the surface as her body screamed for air, but she couldn't make it in time. She unwillingly inhaled the liquid darkness that swirled around her and it invaded her body. Soon, her struggling slowed. Her arm reached upwards as she sank deeper into the dark abyss of the sea and she realized that no one was coming to save her, that she was alone.

Then she opened her eyes.