AN: So yeah, I forgot to describe the altar...too late now, guess I'll do it later. All it really means is that I only have to add the horror tag now, instead of last chapter.

This is so exciting! I haven't imagined such wonderfully gruesome methods for a long time, and now, I can show the world what goes on in my head!

World, ready or not...

...here I come. :3

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-Below the North-West chapel of the Dark One-

Lilea may be comfortable with dark places, but the pitch-black underside of a chapel dedicated to the Dark One was starting to make her reconsider what she was afraid of.

Well, I'm at least going to get some light as soon as I can.

Hmm, for some reason, I feel like something is going to happen...a foreshadowing of something to come.

I can feel the pressure building, squeezing my temples together until I think my head will explode. Lilea has started breathing heavy, and her steps have started trembling. The rhythmic tap tap tap of boot on marble assaulted her eardrums, one after another in an endless pattern of pain. Slowly, the force got greater, and with each boom echoing through her head, the pain grew, and grew, and grew, until she could barely think.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

My head...it hurts...when will we get out? Why is it so dark? Get Lilea out of here! I don't care how, just get me out!

They stopped.

I stood on shaking knees, holding my head as flashes of white and black alternated in my vision, making me think I'll either faint or go blind. Suddenly, my breathing sounds just as bad as the footsteps, so I stop. But, after a minute, my lungs scream at me for air.

And I can't remember how to breathe.

I choke and cough, trying to force something through my throat, but my lungs refuse to contract. I strain, and scream with so much force that my throat rips itself and I feel a warm liquid run down my throat. But no sound comes out, and I still can't breathe.

It's dark. It's loud. It hurts. Why does it hurt? Why is it dark? It's silent.

Lilea can't breathe, but suddenly that doesn't seem like such a problem. Yeah, what's wrong with not breathing? The worst that can happen is death.

Death would be nice. Why is it dark? Why am I so itchy? My hands are having trouble staying still. Almost like they have minds of their own.

It's dark. It doesn't hurt. It isn't loud. Then why do I still hear things?

Screams. Yells. Begging. Sobbing. The sound of fists beating themselves on stone walls as they reduce themselves to bloody pulps. Footsteps. Far away, and the sound of flesh on flesh.

It sounds like a pit of rats eating each other. But it's overlaid with something else, something closer...

It's dark. It's loud. Like a beehive. Why is it buzzing? Lilea itches, scratching her hand and throat to relieve the burning. But it just gets worse. No hope. No escape. Just the dark, and the itching, and the twitching. Twitching? Why is Lilea twitching? I'm not twitching. No, Lilea is shaking. Why am I twitching? It itches. It's dark.

It doesn't hurt anymore. If it doesn't hurt anymore, why am I in pain?

A light. There, so far I cannot hope to reach, a light!

I stumble toward it, and I struggle to breathe. Even though I can see the light, my vision is narrowed. Why can't I see to the left? Eye-patch. Right. Never take it off, don't let them see. Pain. Suffering. Jeers, yells, don't let them see. Hate. The sound of Lilea getting her bones broken.

Why am I twitching? It itches. Why do my hands feel wet? Why does my throat hurt? Can't breathe, right. I can almost reach out and touch the light...

It itches. I'm in pain. My ears are deafened by the silence. I'm being crushed. My hands are twitching, and they smell like blood. Did Lilea kill someone? Did I? Does it matter? Maybe they deserved it. I'm not guilty. Hide,  let them pass, so they don't hit Lilea...hate. Hate. Hate.

A hand. Just a touch on the shoulder, and all of a sudden she can move. She can breathe. It doesn't itch anymore. Lilea isn't twitching. My hands still smell like blood. Maybe Lilea killed herself? Maybe I killed Lilea? Or did she kill me?

Something brushes my face, and I reach up to grab it. A handle, a box, a flap. I poke a finger through it, and it gets burned. Light. Lamp. Lantern. Light. Lilea is saved. I'm okay. It doesn't hurt.

I collapse, my knees unable to keep me up anymore. I'm taking huge, heaving lungfuls of air. My throat hurts. My lungs hurt. But it's a good hurt, the kind that tells you that something is still there. I think the worst thing that could happen is that I wake up, and I can't feel anything below my neck. Lilea likes her head and body to be one.

The hand is taken off of her shoulder, and soon a strange scratching sound echoes from behind me. Someone, with a deep voice, is humming. He speaks in a satisfied voice, "Hmm, very nice. It looks like the new compound has even greater effects than the last one. I'll have to inform Nix about this, he'll want to know so we can speed up some of the other experiments..."

The voice. Did it save her? Is it to blame? Should she kill it? Or should I?

Another light. Right, it's called a lantern. Lilea has one. The nice voice gave it to her. The voice mumbles a little more, and she hears the sound of quill on paper. It's a scratching sound. She doesn't like the scratching, it reminds her of the itching. Maybe she should kill it? But the voice is nice, it gave me a light...

...but when I find the shadow that led me into the dark, I will tear it apart until not even the bloodstains remain.

No no no, Lilea would never do that! I can't hurt a fly. It must be the dark, it's making me feel weird. I should get out. Maybe the nice voice could tell me where to go to leave this hell? Lilea got all turned around.

Then the light starts leaving her. Wait! Don't go! Lilea is having trouble standing up right now! Maybe if I just use my hands to push off the ground, I can-

"You know, it's so dark I wonder if I'm sideways?"

I hit hard, and the lantern clatters out of my hand. I groan, and try to get up. I slipped again...dammit. Thankfully, the light comes back. It doesn't sound concerned, instead it just sounds...neutral. "Did you break anything? Do I have to carry you?"

I try to stand up, and finally manage after several tries. In a shaky, croaking voice that makes my throat hurt, I hurriedly say; "N-No! Everything is working right. But I would like to be carried..."

The light starts moving away. Guess I won't get a piggyback ride...sad.

I move as close to the footsteps as I can, until I can reach out and touch the nice voices' owner. I wonder why the footsteps sounded so loud just a minute ago? That being said, how long did I hold my breath? It can't have been more than two minutes, surely. Maybe it was just a minute? Or thirty seconds?

Then, all of a sudden, the ground levels out. Instead of walking down stairs, we're walking on a level surface. At first I stumble, not quite remembering how to walk correctly on level ground. Those stairs feel almost like my homeland...

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Through the cloth I wear on my feet, I feel a dirt floor underneath me. Why marble stairs, and a dirt floor? That's like having an exotic rug, and a rotted, broken chair next to it. Also, I hear noises.

Breathing, Rattling, Coughing. Sobbing. The sharp sounds of boots thudding on dirt. I wonder how they can move around if everything is so dark? Maybe they can see in the dark...that's a scary thought. What Lilea wouldn't give for night vision...

After walking for what felt like hundreds of miles, the sound of a knocker on a door broke her out of her trance. I nearly collapsed from trembling, hoping that I can see light once more. The door swings open on well-oiled hinges...

...and it's just as dark as out here. The lantern is snuffed out. All of a sudden, my temples feel a slight pressure as I feel the darkness crushing me,  choking me, making sounds...

Two hands grab me and shake me, then pull me a couple feet inside a room. I can tell it's a room because the dirt always had a certain chill, whereas now the floor was wood. I hear the click of a door closing behind me, and I feel the twitching start again, and an itch starts at my throat...

Light. Glorious, beautiful, wonderful light!

I rush into it, Hug it, glory in it, feel it encompass my entire being...

Now it only hurts when I blink.

I slowly start to breathe normally, and begin to look around. A drawer with some pottery on top with a mirror hanging over it, and a couple chairs. Looking in front of me is a ghoul, but I'm not scared anymore. It showed me the light, so...

I leap up, and hug the ghoul so hard I can hear creaking noises, and a gasping voice cries out. I let go just as quick, letting hte ghoul fall to the ground, and try to pat it to see if it's alright. "You okay? I'm so sorry, I'm just excited to see someone else..."

The gasping ghoul gets up slowly, cracks it's back, and chuckles as it lays it's hand on my shoulder. From the voice, I can tell it's old. Most likely male. I'm glad I didn't hurt him, I would have felt horrible...

A familiar hand grabs my shoulder, and I look over my shoulder-

The shadow.

Without a word, and faster than he can react, I pin him against the wall and wrap my twitching fingers around his neck. I feel his hands on my arms, trying to do something, but I knee him in the groin before he can do anything. I lean in, using my weight to put as much weight and force into my fingers as I choke the life out of him. I look straight into his eyes, now that his hat has fallen off, and feel something akin to comfort from the look of terror and pain flashing through his eyes. Orange eyes. A strange color, you don't often see those, except on people from a tribe down south.

Something hits me in the back, but I ignore it. Crushing the shadows' throat is more important. Then, I connect the dots. The nice voice. That fucking shadow. They're not different. The gasping, choking sounds made by the shadow are made with the nice voice. And the hand that gave me the light is the shadow. Why? Why did the shadow lead me into the dark, just to give me light?

I'm torn. Lilea doesn't know what to do. Should she kill him? Should she not? Should I kill him?

A hand without any force behind it lays itself on my upper arm, and I refocused my vision on the shadow, who was foaming at the mouth and not gasping anymore. Then I let him go, and he slid down the wall. I breathe heavily, panting with something like an animals deep, sucking breath. I look behind me, and the ghoul is holding a stick, and although I can't see it's expression, it looks surprised. I look down, and see the remains of one of the wooden chairs. Huh. I feel at my back, and it seems like nothings broken...hurts like a bitch, though.

I look closely at the shadow, and he seems to have regained his composure. Impressive, he was being choked to death a couple seconds ago, and he already has the same arrogant look on his face. It makes me want to punch him.

He stands up, and massages the red marks on his throat as he tries to regain his voice. After a couple minutes, he manages to say, "That's one hell of a grip, I can see how you climb up walls. But, in the future, I'd like to appreciate your abilities from a distance. I know some people who would enjoy being strangled...but I'm not one of them."

I try to say sorry, but all that comes out of LIleas' mouth is a grunt. "Why did you take me here?"

The shadow took a second to pick up his hat, then looked at me and said, "For my excellent work in the service of His Excellency, I was honored with a reward from my commander, NIx."

I grunted non-commitedly, still trying to resist the urge to pin him back up against the wall and choke him until his eyes pop out and to push his throat so far back that his head falls off and then-

ahem. Time to stop that train of thought.

I say, "So what if you got something? I honestly don't give a fuck about you."

He rubs his throat some more, raises his eyebrow, and says, "I can tell. The reason you should care, is that my reward was...training the newest recruit to the Emperors elite. "To mentor the young', says Nix, the bastard, "is the greatest joy a human can enjoy." or something like that. So, in other words, I'll be teaching you everything you need to know about us, the empire, and what you are going to do in order to serve the emperor. Got it?"

I nodded numbly. Wait, what?! The Emperor?

Before I lose my mind, I speak once more. "That doesn't answer one thing. Where the fuck am I? And what the hell did you do to me on the stairs?'"

He smiles, then says, "You, little mouse, are below Abalon. Here, in the dank, dark shadows of the city's buried body, the Church of the Dark One serves the Emperor with more...sensitive things. You're in the Laboratory of the Emperor, and I'll tell you what I did to you later. For now..."

My ears perk up. "What?"

He points at the ground, where the broken remains of a chair lay. "Help me pick that up. I don't want you to trip again."

I nod, then lean over-

Huh, that mirror sure is nice. Why was I looking at it again? Oh right! I-

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

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AN: Well, it took me four whole chapters to make the MC homicidal. I don't know what's sadder, the fact that this is normal for me, or that it's an accomplishment for me that I waited this long. I just hope this chapter is okay with RRL, cause if it isn't...well, I'm going to do worse, so let's at least hope I can get that far, right?

The funny thing is that the last chapter, this chapter, and the next one were all supposed to be one chapter, but I got really interested, and added detail, and, well, as I've said before...

It all went down-hill from there.

Time to go troll the rest of the internet! I bid you all, adieu.

Poor Lilea...this is just the beginning.