"Kyaaaak!" A sharp, high-pitched shriek echoed in the empty hallways of the building.
Followed by the loud thuds of desperate steps, a young woman mindlessly ran through the corridor. Her eyes were open wide with streaks of tears tracing down her pale face.
With each frantic step, a different panel of memories would flicker before her eyes. Memories that she hated, yet was fortunate enough to have lived.
Then suddenly, a cold voice struck her ears from behind, widening her eyes further in fear. She slightly twisted her head and glanced behind from the corner of her eyes—her irises trembling.
A man draped in long black robes slowly stepped forward, revealing himself from the shadows. His face was partially hidden beneath the veil of his robes, but one could see the wide grin curling across his face clearly.
Walking towards the woman, his faint giggles eerily crept into her mind. As such, her footsteps grew more hurried. Though, still, the distance between them remained unusually the same.
Fear-struck, she didn't look back even once. While the man following behind began slouching forward. His back hunched, and the robe covering his face slid down.
His head was completely bald, though a black snake was tattooed on his head, its body sliding all the way back to his neck.
The man smiled as he stared at the scared woman's back, his striking red irises glistening in a strange, ominous glow.
He then slowly raised his hand and rubbed it along his face in a sudden rush of manic thrill, as his cold voice laughed out loud through the walls.
"How long are you going to run away from me, my dear Sera~? No matter how much you run, you will soon be mine~."
Sera, frightened by the unknown man's intentions, took a sharp turn across one of the hallways. Seeing this, the man behind slowly raised his right hand and swiftly aimed it towards her as a strange dark glow slithered through the insides of his robes and traced along his hand.
All of a sudden, it stretched out towards his palm, converging into a tiny, bead-sized orb that shimmered in a dark violet hue.
Then, it shot out almost instantly, leaving behind a slowly dissipating trail of violet. In a heartbeat, the bead reached Sera's turning back. Just before it could truly hit her, the bead unexpectedly burst out into tiny scentless fumes and stuck to her clothes in a strangely accurate circle.
In the split second, the fumes thinned and a bright pattern was revealed. A perfect circle comprised of different geometric shapes and foreign symbols that blended together to form a perfectly layered vessel.
The circle glistened in a violet light, glowing brightly behind her back as a faint trail of scentless smoke seemed to be leaking from its very center.
The man then retreated his hand behind, letting the dark energy slip off his hand.
"Let's see how long you can run for~?" The man muttered to himself—grinning—as his eyes glimmered with a strange exhilaration.
Just as he finished his words, one after another, a bunch of small silhouettes began to appear behind the man.
Each silhouette was small—comparable to half the size of the man—and hidden behind shadows. Their eyes carried a cold, striking red color. And hidden within those eyes was the glimmer of insatiable hunger. A well so deep that it could not be filled.
Muffled, animalistic groans began to reverberate within the hall as if they were all trying to control themselves.
Then, after a few seconds, the man standing ahead slightly turned his head and looked at the hungry eyes of the creatures and said,
"Go." His voice was low, comparable to that of a whisper, yet the creatures heard it loud and clear. And before he could know of it, they had disappeared within the shadows.
***
On the other hand, Sera frantically ran throughout the corridor. Her hoarse voice echoed through the hall as she heaved for air.
'I-I need to escape!' A single thought rang in her mind, making her steps even more desperate despite the lack of air.
Out of exhaustion, her vision slowly grew blurry, and his mind corroded away. Suddenly, as it grew beyond control, Sera tripped over her own leg and slammed right into the ground.
"Ack!" She let out a guttural groan as she realized that her lower half had gone numb from exhaustion. The upper half had become immobilized from the impact.
Struck by fear that the man might be approaching, terror reflected in her eyes as she stuttered on her words.
"I-I...N-No..." As she was mumbling, a sharp shriek sounded behind, forcing her to flinch and freeze in fear.
Behind, the same shadowed silhouettes lurched towards her at a fast pace. She desperately moved her trembling body towards the other side, only to be sentenced to death by fate.
Raising her head, she stared at the wall with shattered hopes. The corridor ended there. There was no way out.
And Sera understood it more than anyone. Still, she slowly dragged herself towards the wall and rested her back on it.
Staring as her death neared with the footsteps of the creatures, she couldn't help but shed tears. The muffled groans of the creatures only seemed to intensify her fear.
All of a sudden, their groans stopped. The hall had fallen dead silent. She softly rubbed her eyes and cleared her blurry vision, only to find the silhouettes retreating with their eyes widened and fixated on her left.
Sera tried twisting her neck to look for herself as to what could make even 'them' retreat. But her fear-struck body had grown stiff from the shock.
"Goblins? That's the first..." A man's voice echoed from the left, causing her to flinch.
"Great timing, though!"