The mist grew thicker as we moved, curling around our legs and arms like cold smoke. Every step we took made a faint sound against the wet ground. My breath came out in short puffs, and my legs still ached from running earlier. The silence between us was heavy, and though I wanted to ask Liz more questions, something about the way she walked steadily and silently kept me quiet.
The path curved upward as we climbed toward a dark mountain that appeared ahead. Its top disappeared into clouds, and the air grew colder the closer we got. By the time we reached the base, my fingers were stiff, and my teeth had begun to chatter.
"Are we… going up there?" I asked, rubbing my arms for warmth.
Liz nodded without looking at me. Her red hair caught the dim light like a spark in the fog. "Yes. The Hall is up there."
"The Hall?" I asked. "What is it exactly?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she just said, "You'll see."
So we climbed.
The mountain's path was narrow, made of rough stone that crumbled under our boots. Cold wind swept down the slope, howling in our ears. I fell more than once, catching myself on sharp rocks that scraped my palms. Liz moved ahead with calm steps, as if she had done this many times before.
When we finally reached the top, I saw it, a massive building made of black stone, sitting like a giant shadow against the mountain. It was shaped like a cathedral, with its rooftop stabbing into the sky. A faint blue light glowed around its edges, and strange symbols ran across the walls like a flash of lightning.
The air around it was so cold that it hurt my lungs to breathe. My breath turned to white mist as I exhaled.
"What is this place?" I whispered, half afraid my voice would wake something inside.
"The Hall of Whispers," Liz said quietly. Her tone carried both respect and fear.
Before I could ask more, she pushed open the heavy doors. They groaned, a long, deep sound that echoed into the darkness beyond. The echo didn't fade, it just multiplied. It was as if the hall itself breathed, repeating the sound again and again.
We stepped inside.
The first thing I noticed was the light. It wasn't from torches or lamps. It came from the floor itself. The stone beneath our feet was covered with glowing lines and symbols that flashed softly, like heartbeats. The walls were tall and carved with figures that seemed to move when I wasn't looking directly at them.
Then came the voices.
At first, I thought it was the wind again, slipping through cracks in the walls. But then the sound grew clearer like soft whispers that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
They spoke in low tones, too quiet to understand at first. But as we walked deeper, the whispers grew louder. Some were crying, others laughing and muttering words I couldn't make out. The air felt thick with sound, like invisible hands brushing against my skin.
I stopped walking. "Liz… did you hear that?"
She didn't turn. "Yes," she said. "Don't listen too closely."
"What do you mean?"
She looked at me, her eyes sharp and serious. She said "These are souls that haven't moved on. Their voices stay here, whispering what they were… and what they lost. If you listen too long, their memories will pull you in and strip away who you are until you forget yourself."
I swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay. I'll try."
But the whispers were already changing. They weren't random anymore. They were… familiar.
Like they knew me.
"You failed them," one voice hissed.
"Why didn't you answer?" another cried.
"It's your fault."
My heart stopped for a moment. I looked around, but there was no one there—only endless shadows and those glowing lines of light underfoot. My chest grew tight. I pressed my hands over my ears, but the whispers didn't stop. They slid inside my head like cold water.
"Stop it," I whispered. "Please stop."
Liz's hand gripped my arm suddenly. "Stay close to me," she said firmly. "Don't let the whispers get inside. Keep your mind here."
I nodded again, even though my hands were shaking. We walked faster. Along the walls stood tall statues, hooded figures carved from stone. Their faces were hidden, but their hands were raised in warning. Each one seemed to watch us as we passed.
The deeper we went, the louder the voices became. They filled every corner of my mind until I couldn't tell if I was hearing them or thinking them. My eyes blurred. The floor beneath me rippled like water.
Then everything shifted.
The hall vanished.
I was standing in my apartment. The lights were off, and the only sound was the buzzing of my phone on the table. I saw the screen flash missed calls and messages, one after another. The names on the list made my stomach twist.
"No…" I whispered. "No, not again."
The air in the room grew heavy. I heard the whispers again, softer now, closer.
"You could have answered," one said.
"You could have saved them," another murmured.
"It's too late now."
My hands trembled. I reached for the phone, but when I touched it, it turned to ash.
"Don't look!" Liz's voice shouted somewhere far away. "It's not real! Fight it!"
Her words cut through the fog like a blade. Something deep inside me snapped awake. I squeezed my eyes shut, clenching my fists until my nails bit into my palms.
"This is not real!" I shouted. "This is not real!"
And just like that, the vision shattered.
The apartment fell away, the darkness peeling back like smoke. The whispers retreated, fading until there was nothing but silence.
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the hall. My knees gave out, and I fell to the cold stone floor, gasping. Liz knelt beside me, her face calm but her eyes wide with something that looked like surprise.
"You fought it," she said softly. "Most souls can't."
I didn't answer. My throat felt dry. My whole body trembled. I could still feel the echo of those voices inside my head.
"What… what was that?" I managed to ask.
"The Hall shows you your greatest regret," Liz said quietly. "It feeds on guilt. That's why you can't listen. Once it finds your weakness, it drags you into it."
I stared at the glowing floor. "Why bring me here then?"
"Because you have to face it," she said simply. "The Watcher won't see those who hide from themselves."
"The Watcher?" I asked.
She didn't reply. She just pointed ahead.
At the far end of the hall stood a massive stone chair like a throne. It was carved from the same black stone as the building. A figure sat upon it, still and silent. A heavy hood covered his face, and his hands rested on the arms of the chair. Even from this distance, I could feel his presence pressing down on me. It was like standing at the bottom of the ocean, the weight of it crushing on me.
Liz bowed her head. "The Watcher," she whispered.
I followed her lead, lowering my head though I didn't know why. The air seemed to hum, the same way the floor had. The whispers were gone now, but their memory still lingered, crawling under my skin.
The Watcher didn't move, didn't speak. But I could feel him looking at me. Not with eyes, but with something deeper. Like he could see through my skin, into every thought and every memory I ever tried to bury.
"Why are we here?" I asked softly.
Liz straightened, her voice calm but low. "He sees all who cross the line between worlds. He decides who may pass, and who must stay."
"What does that mean for me?"
"That depends on him."
She took a slow step forward and then stopped. "Speak, if he allows it. But be careful with your words."
I nodded uncertainly and looked up at the throne again. The Watcher's hood shifted slightly, and I thought I saw something, two faint lights where eyes should be. They glowed like dying stars.
A voice filled the hall, deep and echoing, though the figure didn't move. It wasn't loud, but it was everywhere, inside and outside at once.
"You are unbound and powerful but you carry a weight," it said.
"A burden not yet released will hinder you from activating your power to fulfill your purpose."
My mouth went dry. I didn't know if I was supposed to answer, but the silence pressed on me until I couldn't hold it anymore.
"I didn't mean to," I said quietly. "I tried to help. I just… I was too late."
The lights in the hood flickered. "Time is cruel," the Watcher said. "But the chains you wear are your own."
I took a step forward. "What do you mean?"
"You blame the world for your silence," it said. "But the silence was yours."
The words hit harder than I expected. My chest tightened again. I thought of those missed calls and messages, the ones I hadn't answered that day. The ones I could never respond to.
"I didn't know," I whispered. "I didn't know it would happen."
"Ignorance does not free you," the Watcher said. "But truth can."
I looked at Liz, confused. She was watching quietly, as if waiting for something.
"What truth?" I asked.
The Watcher's voice rolled like thunder. "The truth you fear to face that cost you your life."
Then the light in the symbols around us shines brighter. The air pulsed. A thousand whispers rushed through the hall at once voices laughing, crying, screaming but they didn't touch me this time. They were just noise.
I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly.
The truth. The one I never said out loud.
It wasn't just guilt. It was fear.
I had been afraid to answer that call because I didn't want to hear what was coming. I thought ignoring it might be the solution.
When I opened my eyes again, I felt something lift something heavy that had been sitting in my chest for so long I'd forgotten what it was like to breathe without it.
The Watcher's voice softened. "Now you see."
This path of yours will lead you to two options. When the time comes, I hope you choose wisely.
The lights on the floor dimmed back to their soft pulse. The hall grew still again.
Liz stepped beside me. "He's given you passage," she said quietly. "We can go."
I looked at the Watcher one last time. The hooded figure hadn't moved, but somehow, I felt a strange sense of peace in his silence. I bowed my head, not because Liz did, but because it felt right.
We turned and began to walk back toward the doors. The whispers had gone quiet now. The statues no longer seemed to watch us. Even the cold had softened.
As we reached the exit, I looked over my shoulder. The Watcher still sat upon his throne, unmoving, watching as we left. The glowing symbols beneath him flashed again faintly like a heartbeat.
Outside, the mist greeted us again, curling around our feet. But it didn't feel heavy anymore. The air was still cold, but now it carried something lighter like the first breath after a storm.
Liz stopped beside me, looking out over the misty valley below. "You did well," she said simply.
"I almost didn't," I admitted.
"But you did," she replied. "That's what matters."
We started down the mountain. The whispers of the Hall faded behind us, leaving only the sound of the wind.
For the first time since I arrived in this strange world, I felt… awake.
Not safe, not yet but alive.
And somewhere deep inside me, a new voice whispered not from the Hall, not from the past, but from within.
Keep going.