The door creaked open to reveal an elaborate dining hall. The walls were a deep blood-red with matching tapestries that complemented the dark mahogany floorboards. Glittering from the ceiling were magnificent chandeliers with thousands of crystals that looked like silver tears. But what caught your attention was the large banquet that was laid out. All manners of expensive cuisines covered nearly every inch of the table: from pheasant, truffles, honey glazed hams, and so many others. Your mouth watered at the savory smells wafting off of the table and in your nostrils. The overpowering smell fogged your senses and you almost forgot about the game until you heard a faint clinking on your right.

Your head snapped in the direction of the sound to see Corvin seated at the head of the table, in his hand was a gilded goblet with red stones laid into it. Behind him, a large fireplace was lit and casted a warm orange glow.

"Care to join me?" Corvin lifted the goblet to his lips.

"What the hell is this?" You demanded and put your hands on your hips.

"What does it look like to you?" He responded playfully and took a drink. "I figured that you should enjoy a reward for killing that thing. Feel free to help yourself to whatever you want."

The feast was becoming more tempting as you finally noticed how much your stomach panged. You licked your lips at the food, imagining the exquisite taste of it. As you were about to tear off the leg of a freshly baked goose, you remembered about the myths regarding eating food from fairies and how it would lead to dire consequences. You shook your head and stepped away from the table.

"I'm fine," you said.

"You sure?" He looked genuinely surprised. "I promise that nothing will happen if you eat anything."

"Positive."

"Are you sure you don't want any?" He took another drink from his goblet, the aroma of the banquet becoming stronger. The savory smells of spices and meats made your head feel heavy and your stomach growled even louder.

"I'm fine."

"Alright then," he sighed and finished the last of his wine. "I have a question for--"

"I told you I don't care about those stupid flowers!" You stomped your foot.

"You didn't let me finish," he said. "And besides, it's a smaller thing that I can worry about for the wedding."

"What is it?" You narrowed your eyes.

"What flavor should we go for the cake?" He tapped a slim finger to his lip. "Personally, I'm partial to lemon, but I'm willing to go with what you want or we can do both."

You stood in shock at the fairy as an anger was starting to boil underneath your skin.

"(Y/N), did you hear me?" He asked.

"Yes, I did." You said through gritted teeth. "And I am not in the mood to answer that question."

"Alright then, I'll give you a bit of time to think about it." Corvin stood up and exited the dining room through a black door next to the fireplace.

You looked back to the grand dinner. Maybe there's something in here I can use or at least a clue to where the front door key would be.

You walked the length of the table, looking for any key or anything to help you escape. But all you saw was enough glistening golden-brown flesh, brightly colored jellies, caviar, and other luxury foods to feed a medieval village. You sighed and shook your head, you should have known that was pointless.

Damn it, maybe this was just a giant distraction this entire time! You clenched your eyes and put your fist to your forehead. But then where would he put that stupid front key?

That's when you noticed something white hidden within the dark corner of the dining room.

You whipped your head around to see a sculpture of Corvin wearing the robes of a Roman senator. You cautiously approached the statue, in its marble hands was a large gilded chalice the size of your head. Inscribed on the bronze platform of the statue was the term: In vino veritas.

In vino veritas... why does that term seem familiar?

You clenched your eyes, trying to remember what little you retained from your seventh-grade Latin class. Let me think... if I'm right, veritas means 'truth'. So it has something to do with truth. Vino sounds kind of like 'vine' so maybe something to do with vines-- or maybe grapes! Okay so what do grapes have to do with this?

You tapped your foot and glanced over at the empty goblet left on the table.

Wine is made from grapes, so it would...wait. It means 'the truth is in the wine!' So there's got to be something in the wine to help me get out of this place.

You turned to the statue and looked down at the chalice. Your face was reflected within the dark red pools as you stared into the depths. You were about to reach into the wine--

What if there was a nasty surprise waiting for me in the bottom of it?

The thought of suddenly pulling your hand back missing either your fingers or for your skin to bubble and burn made you squeeze your shoulder blades in disgust. Given what you know, you wouldn't put it past Corvin or any fairy for that matter, to place a trap like that. You retracted your hand back and clutched it to your chest like you were stung by a scorpion.

Turning towards the table, you grabbed a golden fork and slowly dipped it into the chalice. You heard the clinking of metal on metal as the fork caught onto something. With a shaking hand, you pulled it up to reveal a medallion in the shape of a bottle.

You put the medallion in your hand and the statue slid to the left to reveal a heavy dark brown door. In the middle of the door was a bottle-shaped dent. You put the emblem into the slot and twisted it. The door groaned open and a cloud of dust puffed into the air before it settled once more. Coughing lightly, you peered into the door to see nothing but dust and stone.

As you were about to enter it the long, serrated knife next to the goose shined in the chandelier light. You took the knife and put it into your satchel. Returning to the corridor's entry, you took a deep breath and entered into the narrow passageway. The corridor was barely illuminated by the white flames that came from the torches on either side. The only sound were the echoes of your footsteps against the stone pathway. The corridor's cold air smelled strongly of wine and dust, the stench of it made your eyes sting. Biting back the tears, you covered your nose and mouth with your button-up shirt.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Yet as you walked through the stone corridor, the feeling of someone or something watching you grew stronger. You could almost imagine ghostly fingers pressing themselves into your shoulder as a low laughter filled your ears. Your skin broke out into bumps as the air became colder the further you walked down, the feeling of claustrophobia started to settle in as you kept looking at the darkness at the end of the tunnel. Your hand tightened its grip on the knife, the feeling of it brought a slight comfort to you. The hallway became narrower, making it impossible for you to turn back around. You shook your head, cursing your circumstances. The ever-growing darkness and the damp air made you feel like you were walking down some great monster's gullet. Your stomach folded over at the thought of being eaten alive by the house and you shook your head.

Damn it there's no point in trying to scare myself, I already have enough to deal with!

You abruptly stopped as the corridor lead to a vast chamber with multiple passage ways. The cellar was partially submerged in a dark pool of stagnant water that was dyed a dark shade of red from the wine. On the walls, were massive wine barrels stocked on top of each other like coffins in a crypt. Wooden crates floated in the water like bloated corpses in an ocean of blood. The torches on the provided little light, making it difficult to see more than ten feet in front of you. Taking a shaking breath, you put your foot into the waters. An unpleasant shiver ran down your back at the cold stabbing into your leg, but continued until you were standing in it. Thankfully, the water was only knee-deep so it wouldn't be too difficult to wade through; nor damage your work jeans and shoes too badly if you got out fast enough.

You put your hand on the wall and began to trudge through the waters. The walls were cold and damp, making you grimace at the touch of it. Besides the sloshing of the water, the only sound was the dripping of it from the ceiling. You turned left into a passageway and put a hand to where you stored the knife. As you were about to climb over a pile of debris that was blocking your passage, you picked up on the barely audible sound of heavy breathing somewhere within the cellars.

With a quick snap of your head, you turned in the direction of the sound to see nothing.

Just keep moving.

You shuffled past crates, barrels, broken bits of shelves, and wine bottles as the walls became moister and harder to hold onto. You were about to enter a passageway, when the heavy breathing returned: this time it was a little bit closer.

You crouched down behind a barrel as the unseen creature started to move. Because of the lack of light, you couldn't make out the shape of the thing nor its distance from you. The thing let out a bestial screech before it went silent once more.

The fear in your stomach grew tighter, crushing your insides like a vice. The hand holding the knife was starting to shake in fear. You didn't want to let go of it in case of an ambush, so you put it into your jacket's pocket as you tried to calm your nerves.

Move carefully and quietly and keep pressing forward.

The deeper you went, the darker and harder to navigate the cellars became. Soon enough, it became nearly impossible to see three feet in front of you and you had to squint your eyes a bit to make out any shape to avoid running into a stray crate or barrel. At this point, you were starting to lose feeling in your legs from the long exposure to the cold water. You heard a screech coming from your right.

Terrified, you hide behind a fallen over shelf as the unseen predator drew closer. You could only make out the splashing sounds as it came. You bit your lip and peered over the ledge a bit in hopes of seeing it. But with heavy shadows and dark waters, it was impossible to make out where it was or what it looked like.

Floating next to your side, was a small plank of wood. You grabbed it and threw it. The monster sloshed towards the sound of the wood and you began to creep away from it, hiding behind whatever could provide shelter from the thing.

On your left, you saw an ivory and ebony medallion hanging from a stone hand that was attached to the gilded wall that shined brilliantly despite the darkness. You carefully approached it and pulled it out of the hook it was attached to. You put the object into your satchel and as you were about to head back, you stopped. The air went still before the sound of splashing came towards you.

It found you.

Instinct took over and you began to run. You yelped as the thing was now only twenty feet away from you. The only thing you could see was the splashing it made in the nearly-black waters. You stopped for a moment and grabbed a nearby bottle. You threw it as far away from you as possible. The monster turned its direction to the bottle and when it was far away, you began to run faster.

The monster let out an ear-piercing scream that sounded guttural and mechanical as it swam towards you.

Although your legs felt like they were about to give out, you continued to run as fast as you could. The sound of your blood rushing and the sloshing water was nearly deafening as the thing swam closer towards you. Any item you could grab, you threw it at where you think the monster's head was. But all that it did was slow it down a for a moment before it resumed its chase. Its inhuman screams echoed off of the walls like a horrible choir.

A shelf fell in front of you and you jumped over it. The wood cracked in half as the predator smashed its way through it. You yelled as one of the pieces of debris flew over your shoulder. Your calves felt like blocks of ice as you stumbled through the wreckage. Gritting your teeth, you ignored the sharp, freezing pain shooting through your legs.

Come on! Get to the corridor!

As if by some miracle, the sight of the entry corridor came into vision. It was another fifty or so feet away from you.

Yes, there it is!

You threw a barrel at the monster's unseen head to buy yourself a little more time and ran faster. Each step felt like knives digging into your feet. The predator was almost ten feet away from you.

The entryway was now within fifteen feet.

Almost there...

The entry was now within arm's length.

Now!

With a burst of strength, you leapt onto the stone floor-- nearly falling flat on your face as you did so. You yanked out your legs from the icy waters, narrowly avoiding the monster's grasp. Using the wall, you shakily stood up and walked a few more feet away from the cellars, thankful that you were alive. You turned around and took a breath of relief. Suddenly a black, mottled skeletal hand broke through the water's surface and grabbed the floor.

You yelled in terror and made a run for the door. Your numb legs felt like tiny pins were stabbing into them as the creature let out an even louder cry that made your ears ring. The corridor seemed longer as the torches behind you went out one by one. The monster's claws scratched against the floor as it scrambled towards you. Its heavy breathing was drawing near and you could almost feel its hot, rank breath on the back of your legs.

Just as it seemed like there was no end, the open door came into view. Keeping your eyes on your exit, you sprinted towards it as fast as you could. Your lungs felt like it was set on fire as your numb legs threatened to collapse from exhaustion.

Keep moving! You're gonna make it!

The monster snarled and made a swipe for your leg, but you were too far from its reach. Sweat was pouring down your face and clung to your back.

Just a little more...

You nearly fell over yourself as you entered the dining room and pushed the heavy door. The creature shrieked in fury and frantically scrambled towards the door. With what little strength remained, you closed the door in time. The statue slid back into place and you stepped away as the monster banged against the door. It thing let out a scream of frustration before it slinked away from the door and back towards the wine cellars. You put a hand over your chest and fell into a nearby chaise.

"That was way too close," you shuddered and rested your head against the chair's arm. As you were catching your breath, you opened up your satchel's pocket to see the medallion you collected from the wine cellars. In your hand was a medallion in the shape of the comedy and tragedy masks from theater.

I'm assuming for a theater of some kind. Just how big is this house if it has its own theater? You thought and put the medallion back into your satchel as you walked over to the fireplace to warm up your legs.