In shadows deep where not a breath can be heard

It cries and screams like a dying bird

It sings in tattered verses screeching haunting lines

Repeating long-dead voices from the vine

Ghoul, the first to dwell in the dark

With twisted shape and faceless bark

The one that stands out in the night

Only seen by candlelight

Born from twisted dreams and leer

It brings great woe and feasts on fear.

Ghoul, the harbinger, the first of the tin

Ghoul, the gravedigger, THe eND oF MeN

…

The entire outer circle of the room lit up like fireworks. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed anymore but it didn’t matter anyway. With how the space seemed to warp, it wasn’t a stretch to expect it to bend my perception of time as well.

Regardless, I finally did it. My body was continuously pouring manna into the surrounding stone at a rate so small that I could hardly even feel it leaving my body. Instantly I became connected to the ground, like I was a tree growing out of my roots.

The bitter cold feeling from my manna running stagnate had vanished, but so had the burning from the intense bursts of manna I was shooting out into the ground during my earlier attempts.

‘Finally…’ I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and enjoying the strange soothing sensation that circulated through me. I didn’t need a wizard to tell me I had fixed my gate. The results spoke for themselves.

Taking another deep breath I let my mind go blank. My mind goes completely blank. For once it was like nothing mattered. I wasn’t hungry, I wasn’t overly stuffed, I wasn’t hot or cold, and my feet no longer hurt from walking without shoes. I was at peace.

Whether I was enlightened or not was irrelevant, that was how I felt.

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“Siya!” I hear my name echoing like a broken tape recorder, the sound bouncing through my head as though it had traveled through time to warn me.

“Siya get up!” A voice pounded in my head.

My eyes shot open like I had been electrocuted. ‘Was that… Agis?’ My heart raced, but I remained motionless, trying to stay calm.

The room around me was still lit up. I could see the mote, but for some reason an ominous void covered the center of the room, blocking my vision of the platform.

I looked down at my hands feeling the sweat drip from my palms. ‘I suppose I should continue… But something doesn't feel right… It sounded more like a warning than a push forward.’

I walked to the mote and got in up to my shoulders. The sludge cooled me off, even if it felt gross. Without a second thought, I walked up to the edge of the darkness but stopped just before touching it.

It was like staring into a black hole. ‘ He told me to get up… But, it’s not like I can leave until I handle this right? Besides, he didn’t say to run.’

The moment my fingertips touched the void I lost all sensation. When I spoke I heard no sound. I couldn’t even feel my mouth moving, as if I no longer had a body. I was breathing, at least I thought I was, but there was no scent.

‘So… What now?’

Despite all of my senses being taken I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming up on me.

I wasn't alone. “Khazack?” My brain sent the signal to my mouth to speak, but there was no response. I couldn't even tell for sure if I still had one.

I could feel the surge of manna all around me, but even that felt strange. It felt wrong somehow, thicker, denser than that manna of the tower.

All of my senses were gone, but somehow I was still able to feel the flow of magic around me. That was my lifeline. That was the only thing that made me sure I was still alive.

“SIYA RUN!”

I heard Agis’ voice again, but it was distant. Instead of blaring in my mind, it was as if it was being dragged away, forced out.

‘Just like before, I need to light up the room.’ I tried to calm down, but it was hard not to be nervous after a message like that.

I focussed my manna outward, but there was nothing. Somehow my surroundings seemed even darker when I opened my eyes than if they were closed.

I began to hear a screeching as if a faceless horror was trying to scream and claw its way towards me. “Who’s there!” I yelled.

‘Come on…’ I forced out all of my manna at once, but it only created a weak pulse of light that barely allowed me to see myself.

‘Something’s wrong…’ My vision quickly faded, but it was like my sight was being stolen, rather than my light source going dark.

The screeching and clawing grew closer… and then closer again. Even without my senses, my body began to move on its own.

I was able to sense the thread of magic coming from the sludge in the mote and crawled toward it. With a cold splash I opened my eyes and everything was back to normal. I didn’t know what was happening, just that I had to get away. Suddenly I knew what it was that I was supposed to be running from.

My heart raced as I slowly let myself sink into cool sludge, opening my eyes to make sure I could see. Everything was back. I could feel, see, hear the sludge splash as I hit it. ‘At least like this, I can fight.

In a flash, I saw it. My heart stopped, and when I blinked it was gone. It was a faceless monster wrapped in chains, floating right in front of me upside down.

I tried to pause time, but by the time I did, it was already gone. ‘What was that?... A demon?’ I took a moment to recall the image I had seen.

It was almost human in a twisted way. Its forearms were each the size of its body, it had no face. Its dark grey skin looked charred from fire and covered in scars. Chains wrapped around it, digging into its flesh, seeming to shoot out in every direction like it was controlling them.

‘Just my luck…’