Hallway after hallway, turn after turn, running as fast as he could before “it” could catch up. The delicate ornate fixtures protruding from the walls made for handy rails. From the corner of his eye, his flashlight glinted at a metal coin on a table not too far away from him. He swept by the aisle and caught it within his grasp, quickly putting it in the pouch that was strapped on his waist, however doing it in such a rush made the table topple over.
“Hah… one more to go…”
Turning the corner, the elated expression on the man's face suddenly dimmed as he was faced with a crystalline mirror. The mirror somehow didn’t reflect the light from the man’s flashlight as it should, a rather peculiar scene indeed.
“Another illusion? This is getting tricky.”
The man closed his eyes and grabbed the space in front of him, if one were to watch from a bystander’s perspective then the hand that the man reached out should have collided with the mirror yet oddly enough it passed through. The disparity between what was real and what was fake was too jarring.
Distant screams for help echoed from right behind him, the man’s had no visible change in his expression yet his true feelings were exposed by his trembling fingers. A sudden urge to rush came to him but he suppressed it within himself. Time ticked by slowly, and a sound of something beating getting louder permeated this empty hallway, this sound came not from the ticking of a clock but the slowly increasing heartbeat of the man that was feeling his way around the unknown wall.
Tick, tock, tick, tock. Rushed footsteps right behind him, time was running out.
He exhaled a deep sigh as he brought his focus back onto the task, trying to regain any sense of calm that he once had. He already found the doorknob he expected to touch yet at the same time he also found a weirdly shaped button if you could even call it that. This “button” had sharp protrusions, sharp enough to make his finger bleed. He kept inching his finger back and forth on this “button” injuring it even further, hesitating.
The echoes came closer, the table he vividly remembered knocking over when he snatched the coin just a few turns away slide against the wooden floor. Mixed sounds of laughter and cries created a cacophony that made the man extremely uncomfortable.
In such a tense moment what was the man hesitating for? Why would he hold out in such a dangerous position and not immediately act knowing death was right around the corner?
Immediately right after hearing the footsteps right behind him, he gritted his teeth and pressed the button in an odd way, he pressed his index into the protrusion, with the protrusion entering between his nail and finger. Blood started to drip down as he pressed the button, the crimson droplet had an eerie dark aura in it, the source of which could’ve come from any source in this day and age.
The man fully pushed the button in one go, ripping away his flesh and nail. The odd button whirred as the previous delicate ornate fixtures behind him suddenly turn into blades that could slash through meat and bone like a hot knife through butter, chandeliers dropping down exposing the candle bulbs holding an icky-looking green substance that started to sizzle when it came into contact with anything other than glass, and the paintings on the side having pierced eyeholes showing ready darts coated with an unknown powder.
The man then turned the doorknob and entered through the door, his limbs flowed naturally as he entered through it, at this moment he finally opened his eyes and sighed in relief albeit a tinge of guilt showed in his expression.
The scene in front of him had the blades torn down, the acid-washed away, and the darts scattered around. His gamble paid off.
“Of course, it had to be something like that,” the man muttered as he slid down with his back against the door.
He relaxed for a bit as he pondered on his next move.
This, however, made him forget what he did. In an instant, curses and cries echoed from right behind him. The previous illusion now dissipated like smoke revealing the true appearance of this hall.
“Someone activated a trap! Hey! Let us through!”
“That psychopath! I’m still here! Remember your promise!”
“Sir! Please let us throu-”
The sudden silence from that woman’s screams made the man stand up and look through the door which now had a glass window imbedded into it. His gaze landed on the woman’s corpse, completely lifeless. A person, a living person, that was alive mere moments ago is now nothing more than a cold corpse.
This scene was already shocking to the man but this pales in comparison to what was about to happen.
The creature of deformed mass had eight… maybe even nine hands wiggling hands furiously waving around itself trying to grab onto anything it could hold onto. This mass of flesh looked as if it was composed of five bodies ranging from young to old, having a young child be the centerpiece as if to mock the innocence this child once had.
Veins popped up in the child’s eyes as it started to grin, looking down on the six remaining people in front of it.
“Fear! Meat! Fearing meat! Good!”
The creature used one of its humongous arms to snatch the woman’s corpse and held it above its head. The child’s mouth deformed as it opened wide, revealing sharp teeth, rows, and rows of it showing yellow bloodstained teeth, apparently not the first meal it’s had and definitely not the last.
The man stared in horror as looked away trying to calm down yet couldn’t. The unrest of new terrifying feelings coming all at once shook him.
The feeling of sacrificing yourself, being the cause of someone else’s demise, and going all this way for nothing but a dream. He could only feel weakness.
Remembering the scene where he just came in, coming late to the party and having a group already depart ahead of him. His recently made acquaintances were already at death’s door.
The man recalled the contents of a scroll he had read before entering this abominable mansion. He hoped it was something he could pinpoint a weakness in but no matter how much he tried to remember there was no mention of such an abomination.
He went back up and gazed back to see there was only one person remaining, a hooded woman with tattered clothes, lines of clean cuts could be seen from the woman’s body, evidently to be the last survivor of this group she went near the walls taking an injury to prolong her life.
She looked at him with a complicated look and mouthed, “Please.”
The man couldn’t handle it and mouthed back, “I’m sor-“
Before the man could finish his apology, the woman’s life was no more.
He looked away and kneeled in front of the door, nearly tearing up in guilt. He couldn’t help it, he tried to hold out so that they could all make it, but he was too afraid of what would’ve happened if some unfair situation happened. In the end, he was nothing but a coward.
“Goddess Uyioh, let the troubles that lay before me be as ephemeral as the nightmares at bay…” Continuous prayers spouted out from the man as he held his hands together in a basic prayer stance.
This action did nothing to prevent the abomination behind him to continue forward.
The sharp edge of the saws broke as it collided upon its skin, the acid that sizzled from the ground only splattered as it walked over it. This creature seemed to be purely unstoppable, step by step, the hands around it picked up the corpses on the ground and ate each body with one gulp at a time.
“Heh… heh… heh…” Low grumbling noises that could only be interpreted as laughter came out from its wretched saw-toothed orifice.
Soon, there was only one thing between this monster and the man, a simple wooden door with a glass window. It tried to open the door using the knob with one of its hands, but the knob did not budge at all. It took a step back to charge into the door, expecting it to crumble beneath its monstrous might.
Its colossal body crashed into the door. The impact was so great that the force the monster used was transmitted through the door.
The man was awakened from his stupor as the shock jolted him forward. He looked back to gaze at the menacing monster staring right back at him.
He saw this hulking beast with its misshapen mouth and deformed body towering over him. Fear set in his eyes as he leaned back causing his hand to splash on the diluted acid. Fortunately, due to its diluted nature, it only burned the skin and caused no further damage.
This, however, did not prevent the man from experiencing the burning and itching sensation on his palm. He tensed the muscles in his hand, trying to minimize what suffering he was enduring. The pain seemed to overcome his fear of this monster, gainning clarity on his current situation. He could properly tell that with how sturdy the door was that the monster wouldn't be able to break through any time soon..
The flimsy-looking door held back against this gigantic brute, making it look at him with greedy and ravenous eyes. A slam, another charge, even having four of its questionably many arms brutally attacking the door had not even so much as moved it an inch. If not for the cracks right before the door would the man have thought this was another illusion?
He composed himself, using the pain to suppress what lingering sense of fear he had remaining within himself to think about his next move.
The man breathed roughly, he was continuing on to analyze the entire situation, “Hah... Hah... I’ve gotten four coins already, I just need one more to get out of this hellhole.”
“I roughly counted seven people coming dying there, that leaves me, five others, and... those two bastards! Luring whatever this thing is! I have to find the others-”
All of a sudden, the man noticed the creature in front of him morph a tiny bit, its child face shifting and deforming into a more feminine face. The man’s eyes widened in pure terror, the vivid and cruel memory of what happened earlier was still fresh in his mind. There was only one word that matched this peculiar face, “please.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“They even brought a child in here, how desperate must they be? I guess there’s only three of us left,” Seeing this change, the man finally understood. This monster seemed to have "consumed" everyone else other than him, leaving only the two responsible and him left.
“There’s nothing left but to move on,” he calmed down his nerves and started walking away taking note of the still possible dangers that lay ahead of him. It wasn't the time to waste reminiscing about people he just met dying.
The blades still had sharp fragments scattered about which would still pierce through his skin. Although there were more threats that could maim him, he preferred taking things at a slow pace, better than being chased down earlier.
He took his time trying to process what just happened, betrayed at the very start at an already mysterious cursed mansion. Today was turning out to be a tiny bit more dangerous than what most people must live through nowadays.
He looked around, using the flashlight as the only source of light left other than the extremely dim candles from the sides, barely giving out any light at all. This hallways were darkening with each footstep, and quieter with every breath to the point that he could barely hear his raging heartbeat.
“It’s still safe, don’t let the fear consume you. The dark is only dark, only fear what lies within it but in this case, it's only darkness.”
The man consoled himself with his own philosophical idea.
He eventually reached a point to choose, a pathway to move to the right or a pathway leading to the left. He had no information to go off with but his intuition.
He tried to gather information from the odd painting that was shared between the two halls but the dim light that illuminated from his flashlight wasn’t enough to fully cover it fully.
“No clues and two straightforward answers, I don’t like this, I don’t like this one bit. This isn’t how it operates, there’s always a clue somewhere I just haven’t figured it out yet.”
“It wouldn’t be dark nor quiet for no reason so it must have something to do with that. Let’s take a look at the painting,” The man went back to where he came from with the painting in hand.
As the light brightened and the sound of his footsteps became even more audible, he calmed down as he assumed his safety was intact for as long as he had not made his choice.
When we came back to face the door, the overbearing monster with a female gaze stared back at him, motionless. “Female gaze,” as once prominent facial features of a living human girl were disfigured into a mold of bloody flesh.
The man steeled his resolve as he examined the painting in his hand against the candlelight.
“This symbol, I’ve seen it before, now where have I… the coin!” His eyes sparkled in realization.
He rapidly opened his pouch to stare at the four coins sitting inside. Each one has a core symbol in the middle but different engravings on the edges. He took one at random and placed it beside the painting to try to get any kind of clue for the puzzle before him.
After ten minutes of meticulous comparison, he noticed an odd detail, in the middle of the symbol after rubbing it had a dark red dot, so dark that it nearly blended into the black-painted symbol. He took out the other coins, and rubbed the middle of the symbols realizing that each coin had a different hue in the middle of the symbol in the coins.
“I don’t understand but it’s probably one step in the right direction.”
The other coins in his hands had various colors and in simple terms are colored green, blue, and two orange.
“Does this mean I need a red coin, or do I need something else?”
He could not make a single mistake. Recalling the last time, when one of his teammates wantonly opened a door disregarding the predetermined rules of this strange place. All that was left was one less person coming out.
After pondering for a while, he glanced back at the towering giant still staring at his motionless, if not for the slight trembling of its muscles the man would’ve thought it was dead.
He massaged his temples as the absurdity of the situation started to dawn on him, an already easier expedition than last time suddenly turned into a desperate situation with him having his back turned to the wall and no option but to venture forth into the unknown halls of this endless mansion.
He started to bring out different objects from his pouch to try and see what he could do.
Different items were laid out on the floor, a map, a flashlight, a lighter, a hard loaf of bread covered in paper, a half-filled bottle of whiskey, four coins, and a knife.
He couldn’t use the map anymore since he didn’t even know what twists and turns he made to get here.
He looked at his options and couldn’t put them together, what are his options at this point?
There must be a reason why the painting had the same symbol as the coin, but he couldn’t figure out that specific reason. There was also a different colored dot in the middle of the coins. There’s already a lead on what he should be looking out for, so the man decided to head back into the silent darkness.
After going back to the crossroads, he tried to look around for something he missed. Around where the painting used to be, the floor where he stood and even around the candles, nothing.
At this point, he even considered the change in his vision and hearing.
“If I take everything into account, my vision and ability to hear shouldn’t be relevant to the choice and the painting should be the focal point.”
“If that’s the case, red represents the jester, the luck of the draw, randomness. Are you kidding me? After thinking through all this time, is that it? I don’t need to see nor hear because all I need to do is feel the “right” choice. Hahaha… I’m dead.”
The man at a loss went back to the door his eyes meeting the ball of flesh, the despair of either living or dying at a single choice evident in his eyes. Suddenly, the cowardly man thought of a way to turn two choices into one but…
“It’s insane, there has to be a better way out.”
Minutes after resolving the most realistic plan he thought of, he prayed. He kneeled and clashed his trembling hands at the thought of what he must do.
“Goddess, give me strength to continue forward. May I be blessed with sweet dreams and be restricted by brutal nightmares.”
His prayer which he hoped could’ve given him some sort of strength to continue forth with bravado merely ate away at his ticking clock. Minutes turned into hours as he kept trying to gather some kind of courage from his beloved goddess.
After hours of nonstop prayer, there was only one outcome that came out of it, one realization.
“I can’t. I don’t want to.”
As reality set in, despair evident in his eyes, he found a spot beside him that was relatively safe in the shard-filled hallway. He just sat there as motionless as the monster that stood just beyond the frame.
There was no indication of day nor night in this labyrinth, only the slow flickering of the candles just above him.
He grew hungry and rested as he was tired, repeating this cycle leaving his sense of time in shambles.
Opening his eyes once more, his once moist lips cracked due to the lack of water. His hunger gnawing at him as his last meal, a cold loaf of bread, was taken a few cycles ago.
His eyes darted around to see any semblance of change, hoping to break away from the monotony of everything. Finally, his eyes stared into the still half-filled bottle of whiskey in front of him.
“I’m going to die anyway, might as well…”
He reached out to grab the bottle and firmly grasped onto it, making the final decision he could make.
“To drink or not to drink…”
He glanced at the monster that had not yet shown any signs of movement for presumptively days by now. He glanced at the creature’s eyes, still reminded of what cruel act he had done days earlier.
“You must hate me, really hate me. I do too, I hate myself even more than you do. So, whether I live or die, I’ll leave it up to you.”
For once, a steely resolve glinted from his eyes.
He removed his shirt leaving his upper body bare, showing an extremely trained yet malnourished body but in comparison to the gods, demons, and ghosts that crawl the world, is not even worth mentioning.
He took out the lighter from his and tore a strip of cloth from his shirt. He doused his shirt with a few ounces of whiskey and preemptively lit up the makeshift Molotov in his hand.
He jumped around, relaxing his muscles. He stretched his limbs in preparation for what was about to come… he opened the door.
“It’s do or die.”
Run.
Right after opening the flimsy door, the giant ball of flesh awoke like a predator awaiting its prey in silence.
“Raauugghhh!”
The man immediately threw his doused shirt right on the “female” head of this monstrosity and dashed back immediately fully knowing the consequences of staying close. Its monstrous strength was no joke, even the traps in the hall before this was taken over in the blink of an eye but this creature didn’t even suffer a single injury.
“Arrrrggghhh!”
Arms wildly swung around it after having its vision deprived. The man’s choice was evidently clear about instantly backing off and making space.
He held the molotov in his acid-burned hand, trembling slightly but steady enough to throw it upon the monster.
The monster’s head tore through the shirt, wearing it like a necklace.
“It’s time.”
The man threw the molotov directly on the monster’s head, setting the shirt ablaze but clearly not affecting the monster at all.
“Of course, it wouldn’t have been that easy.”
The man immediately ran into the darkness with his flashlight out leading the way. The man could not stop at any moment as the ball of flesh behind him coated with a raging flame accompanying it, signifying the rage it has towards the man.
He could feel the darkness permeate and the sound dampen, he was getting closer. Now the real struggle begins. He closed his flashlight, only relying on his self-balance to keep a straight path. He can’t see, he can’t hear but he had to run, any moment of hesitation, any mistake, any deviation could spell his death.
He knows his heart is thumping hard as he felt his blood course through his body, the only indication he was alive right now.
Running through without any sound but fully knowing well that a monster that he could never face alone is right behind him. Even the burning fire covering the creature did no damage to it but the man did not expect that much at all, only hoping to have it become the beacon in this hall.
He glanced back gauging how far the distance between them was, this was a very, very big mistake.
The creature was only a mere a few meters right behind him, the smell of burning flesh and agonizing display made him regret it and tremble in heart. The fire did not only not impede the creature’s movements it also made it even more terrifying, like a devil from hell coming to collect its dues.
Immediately he lit his lighter from his pocket, waving it above his head hoping that the creature would only be able to see this and make it fully target it.
He couldn’t hear the creatures roar behind him but he knew it was, the shaking ground was not halted by the strange rules in this hallway.
Knowing that he’s at near his destination he, without hesitation, threw the lighter to the left hallway while he immediately crouched behind the right hallway. This one last final gamble decided if he lives or if he dies.
After dashing through and falling to the right hallway, he crawled as hard as could, using all his usable limbs to get away from the middle as much as he could.
He didn’t dare go further than he needed to as he didn’t know the parameters of this cruel game. He sat down and held his breath on the edge of the entrance of the right entrance.
After covering his mouth with his hands, even though he fully knew that there was no possible way that it could hear him, a mass of flesh slammed directly onto the painting. He didn’t know what happened to the painting but that was the last of his worries.
The mass of flesh was a bit dazed and looked towards the left hallway with a menacing look. The burning fire scorching the wall it crashed into, a vague silhouette being baptized by fire was left-leaning atop the man. It stepped back preparing for a charge and that was when disaster struck.
The mass of flesh’s foot stomped directly on the man’s leg, pulverizing his left leg.
The man’s eyes bulged with veins visible if you could see them in this darkness. His hands clenched his mouth harder, leaving behind deep indents on his face. His clenched teeth were clenched harder and his ragged breath came deeper, this kind of pain, he was not familiar, not familiar at all.
“It’s the final hurdle, as long as I don’t move, as long as, as long as I don’t move, as long as-“ The man kept murmuring to himself to keep his sanity as the monster's monstrous leg smashed his left leg into pulp. It completely crushed his leg bone into shards, the immense pain that followed soon right after was even more painful than he could have ever imagined.
After this instance of pain, the ball of flesh ran towards the left hall towards the lighter. It’s vague figure disappearing from the man’s sight.
The man winced as the pain he was currently experiencing was too much for him to bare. The constant pain made him want to pass out, but the man knew he couldn’t because if he did, that darkness will be the only thing he will see for the rest of his miserable life.
As his mind started to numb the pain, he felt the darkness fade away and his hearing come back. He came back but this also made him realize one small, tiny, detail.
He could now clearly see the place where he was, it was much, much more terrifying than he anticipated.
“Red also means sacrifice.”
Right after his self-monologue a very erratic ear-piercing roar came from the left hallway.
“Raaughhh! Ahhhh! No! Stop! Pain!”
The man gave a wry smile as he looked in its direction and sighed in relief at getting through at this hurdle.
But…
The man felt a coldness behind him. It overshadowed the pain, the relief, and all the other feelings within him. There was only one thing that was left.
Fear.
Pure terror brought him back to sanity, as contradictory as it sounded. The calm fear he was currently experiencing was beyond a human’s senses. He dared not look back. This unknown sensation was completely oppressive, the being right behind was something that no mortal such as himself should ever be able to come in contact with.
The echoing screams and cries for help from the once monstrous ball of flesh no longer seemed relevant compared to what his pitiful senses were experiencing. Everything he had experienced so far paled in comparison to what this "coldness" made him feel.
“I-I want to live...”
Then, there was silence.