'It hurts! My head's going to split open!'
The searing pain jolted my eyes open. After so long in darkness, the sudden light stabbed into them, blinding me. My vision swam, tears stung, and for a moment I couldn't see anything clearly. But slowly, everything came back into focus.
"Where… where am I?" I muttered, glancing around.
The air was heavy, sour, poisoned with a stench that burned my nose with every breath. The walls were slick with damp, crumbling as though they might collapse at any moment. High above, a small barred slit allowed a thin shaft of sunlight to pierce the gloom.
I understood then.
I was in a dungeon.
"They locked me up," I whispered, trying to take a step forward.
But something yanked me back. I lifted my head—and froze. My wrists were shackled high against the wall. I pulled hard, shaking the chains again and again. No use. My skin turned pale where the iron bit into my flesh, my hands numb with pain.
"They've pinned me here like an animal," I hissed.
I forced myself to remember how I'd ended up here.
'The city gates… the soldiers pouring out… the strike to my head…'
Before I'd fallen unconscious, I remembered looking at Eli.
'Eli… is she alright? Did they hurt her?'
The thought almost made me laugh.
'Why am I worried? She's a Swordmaster. Nothing could harm her.'
I shook my head. "No. I need to think about myself—how to get out of here."
My eyes roamed the dungeon again. That's when I noticed it. A door. Or what looked like one.
'Was that always there?'
It was a dull, rotting brown, etched with strange lines, tilted slightly as though it barely clung to the crumbling wall. Old, worn, out of place. And yet… something about it set my nerves on edge.
'It's wrong. It's… missing something.'
Then it struck me—there was no handle. No lock. It clung to the wall, but only barely, like an illusion.
And a single, chilling thought surfaced.
'If it isn't a door… then what is it?'
The answer slammed into me.
'A creature.'
My breath caught, and the air stuck in my throat. I felt a prickling across my face, my skin crawling. I forced a long, steady inhale.
'Don't panic. Think.'
'It hasn't moved yet. Maybe it hasn't noticed me—or maybe it's waiting. I need to break free before it does.'
I strained at the chains again, pulling until my arms shook and blood drained from my wrists. Still nothing.
I looked back—
And froze.
It was gone.
'No… no, it was just there!' I scanned the walls, the floor, even above me. Nothing.
"Damn it, where—" I squeezed my eyes shut. Sight wouldn't help me now. I reached instead for the Forest Terror sephir.
At once, sounds and scents mapped themselves in my mind. The faint drip of water. The iron tang of rust. And then… there. The stench of rotting meat, foul and suffocating, wafting from the right.
'It's moving closer. I have to hurry.'
I braced my feet against the wall and pulled until my wrists screamed. Still the chains refused. Numbness spread through my hands.
"Break! Come on, break!" I shouted through clenched teeth.
Nothing. No matter how hard I fought, the iron wouldn't yield.
In desperation, I screamed.
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! SOS!"
Only silence answered.
And then—
The stench thickened. It was right beside me.
From the wall to my right, the creature revealed itself.
It peeled from the stone like a hideous living rug, its fleshy surface glistening red. It crawled forward, sliding along the wall in silence.
As it drew closer, I saw its size—it was as large as a bed. Between the jagged lines across its body, tiny yellow eyes blinked, each one glinting with sick amusement. Beneath them, a twisted smile stretched across its flesh.
For a heartbeat, I thought it was almost harmless.
Until part of its body split open, revealing a cavernous mouth lined with rows of shark-like teeth.
"No—no, no! That's not harmless!"
I thrashed, pulling back as its body unfurled, trying to engulf me. Desperate, I twisted to the side, every instinct screaming for escape, even knowing there was none.
It loomed closer. The reek was overwhelming. My arm brushed against its clammy flesh.
'So this is how I die?' My family's faces flashed in my mind. 'Forgive me…'
And then—suddenly—it stopped.
The monster convulsed, its body pressed against my wrist. A sharp impact rippled through it, like the blow of a hammer. Then, stillness.
'What… happened?'
I turned my head—and stared.
Between its two yellow eyes, a dagger jutted deep into its flesh.
The monster collapsed, peeling away from the wall. Its lifeless body slumped to the ground—where its own shadow rose up, swallowing it whole like water devouring a stone.
'It's dead…? Did someone kill it?'
My gaze lifted. From the center of the cell, where a dark shadow pooled beneath a shaft of light, movement stirred. This shadow was different—denser, darker than the rest.
"Another creature?" I whispered.
But from that darkness, a figure emerged.
A girl.
She stepped out of the shadow, her body draped in a long black cloak, a hood pulled low. Silvery hair spilled out beneath it, and her eyes—bright as the sea—glowed against the gloom.
'Who… is she?'