As he continued down the alien hallway; he checked his wristwatch a few times but gave up once he figured out it was broken. It feels like I’m here for what seems to be maybe two hours, a fucking eternity in here. He thought to himself.

It didn’t take long before he found another door; he was relieved but also dreading what could be on the other side. He swung the door open, only to see a mirrored version of himself from behind. The only reason he could tell was because of the blood pattern on his hat and the smiling pin on his back strap. He shined the light to his mirror’s feet; he looked down to see the same light.

He swung around, ready to fire his weapon. He shook his head in confusion for there was nothing except the empty, dark hallway. The door and the mirrored version of him were also gone. ‘Tricks! And I thought I was the joker in my unit.’ Ryan commented before he continued his long march.

The journey was a loop, he kept going in a cycle without a clear end, a maze without a goal. Ryan remembered every pattern, the three dents on the drawer, the scratch mark three paces from the drawer on the left wall, and the smudge mark just above the unlit candle on top of the drawer. He grew tired of it, the repetitive nature of it all. But he kept marching, in hopes of finding a way out.

He halted, his weapon at the ready as he noticed there were only two dents on the drawer. Something’s wrong!

Ryan looked up and saw a staircase, it was ordinary, a wooden staircase that spiralled to the second floor. He slowly approached the staircase, his weapon aimed high. Ryan continued walking up, and then; he saw it.

Laid on the ground behind a metal guardrail. It had Ryan’s face but distorted as to mock him. Its toothy smile was wide, a grin that reached to each ear. Its eyes were small, no bigger than a thumbnail and without any colour. The monster’s skin was pale and sickly, even their lips were discoloured.

It slowly rose from the ground, its neck longer than five metres was connected to a naked dishevelled body. It spidered its way to Ryan. Its neck distorted as it slithered to him so it could be parallel to the ground and always facing Ryan.

Insulted, the soldier fired upon the creature. Only for it to chuckle as it crept to Ryan, unbothered while bullets ripped its flesh apart. The creature opened its mouth as it got at arm’s length of Ryan. In a panic he batted the creature away with his gun like a baseball bat before he bolted down the hall.

He reached for his shotgun, he inspected some force for him to face. Ryan halted as he noticed a familiar face standing alone. Their eyes were covered in darkness even when he shined a torch on their face. ‘Nick?’ Ryan said, unsure of what to do.

But he knew better than to stay, he turned around only for the creature with his face to be right in front of him. Ryan froze, unable to raise his shotgun as the monster reached for him.

Fucking hell, so this is it. This is how I die! He internally panicked, but he knew there was no point to fight anymore. He closed his eyes, ready for his death at the hands of the monster.

A reptilian hand grabbed the creature’s collar before it could touch Ryan and slammed it against the wall. The reptile fired multiple shots into its face with their AA12. Its head vaporised, yet it didn’t bleed. Instead, the creature’s body disintegrated into dust.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

‘It’s good to see you, Jackson.’ Ryan said in relief, help finally arrived.

Jackson wore his usual armoured trench coat, that time he brought a backpack and other supplies. He was missing a pistol, evident from his empty holster. Yet even if he lacked some weaponry, he was still well equipped to face anything.

The reptile slung his assault shotgun to his side after he brought out a chime made of sticks and horse hair. It was a magical device known as Chimes of the Steppes. A two-way teleportation item that could teleport one or two people. It worked by placing one chime down which acted as an exit point, to get to that point is to break the second chime which would teleport the user to the first chime, also known as the entry point. Both are linked and both act as an entry and exit point. An imperfect form of teleportation, but the only one humanity had on hand. Since the teleportation device could become a bomb if both chimes were broken at the same time.

Jackson held onto Ryan and broke the chime.

They both stood there, expecting something that didn’t happen.

The reptile chucked the chime to the ground before he readied his weapon. ‘Injured?’ He blankly said.

Ryan chuckled, ‘nah, I’m just peachy.’ Ryan chuckled, while Jackson’s deadpan self was freaky to him. He couldn’t help but smile to see the unfazed and badly scared reptile, an odd sign of relief in a dangerous world.

‘You need food? Water?’

‘No, I’m good. I haven’t been here for long. I can live without it.’

‘You’ve been gone for over a week. We got your message 12 hours ago.’

Ryan frowned, unsure how to take in the information. ‘That can’t be right, I called for help about half an hour maybe two hours ago.’

Jackson looked at his watch and back at Ryan. ‘Data slate?’

Ryan tapped the device attached to his belt. ‘Safe and sound.’

‘Can you use spells?’

‘No, for some reason I can’t conjure a basic light spell. Perhaps the place has no magic.’

‘Or they disabled magic.’ Jackson replied as he gestured for Ryan to follow him, he didn’t want to stay in one place. The reptile could tell the man was shaken from his time alone and the encounter with the monster. He turned on his flashlight to accommodate Ryan. The reptile figured that an extra light source would make him more comfortable, even if he could see perfectly in the dark.

‘Tell me, how long have you been searching for me?’ Ryna asked.

‘6 hours.’

Ryan shook his head. He reasoned that it didn’t add up when the message was sent and when Jackson arrived to rescue him. ‘Do you know what’s going on?’ His voice wavered.

‘No,’ the reptile coldly said. Seeing how Ryan looked disheartened and confused, the reptile did his best to cheer him up. ‘We’ll find a way out.’

‘Sure bud, I hope we do.’