A slender man sat alone on a rust-eaten bench at the edge of a dying park.
The iron slats groaned softly beneath his weight—*creeeak*—as if protesting his presence. Levi stared down at himself, eyes dull, unfocused. White, tattered hospital pajamas clung to his thin frame, frayed at the cuffs, stained with time. He had never taken them off. Not once.
He didn't know why.
Maybe because the moment he did, this fragile illusion of normalcy would shatter.
In his trembling hands rested a paper cup of coffee, steam curling upward in pale ribbons—*hssss*—hot enough to stab through the fog in his mind. Levi hadn't slept in five days. Five nights of refusing the seductive pull of unconsciousness. Five nights of forcing his eyes open whenever they lingered shut for more than a heartbeat.
Dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes, deep and unmistakable.
Slowly, he lifted the cup.
A sip.
The bitterness slammed into his tongue like poison. He grimaced, lips twisting in disgust—*tch*. It tasted vile. Burnt. Hollow.
And yet… useful.
The heat spread through his chest, cruel but effective, propping his failing consciousness upright. Levi took another sip. Then another. Each swallow was a punishment he endured willingly, forcing the liquid down as if daring his body to betray him.
Minutes passed.
Finally, with a long, hollow sigh—*haaah*—he stood. The bench groaned one last time as he rose. Without ceremony, he flung the half-empty cup into a nearby trash can.
*CLANG.*
He stepped onto the sidewalk, shoes scraping softly—*tap… tap…*—dark, unkempt hair brushing against his forehead as he walked.
That was when the thought surfaced again.
The Midnight Spell.
He had learned of it by accident. A whisper passed too carelessly. A name spoken where it shouldn't have been. For people like Levi—losers already sentenced by fate—it sounded almost merciful. A blessing disguised as horror.
Almost.
If not for the trials.
If not for the things that lived there.
The Midnight Spell chose anyone. Anytime. No warning. No mercy. It dragged its chosen into a world of trials—*gurgling*, shifting labyrinths of suffering—designed to break, kill, or remake you into something unrecognizable.
It was rumored that merely **knowing** about the Midnight Spell placed a mark on your soul.
And the trials…
God, the trials.
No timers. No guides. No mercy.
Just one command: *Complete it. Advance. Survive.*
Simple?
A lie.
They were cruel. Unforgiving. Designed with a malice that felt deliberate. The Midnight Spell did not care about screams or pleas. It only rewarded success—and punished everything else with death or madness.
Most never reached halfway.
Most lost their sanity long before their bodies failed.
Only those with undying will—those who refused to break—could endure its torture.
Levi wondered what it would feel like… to complete one.
As that thought lingered, something shifted.
A sound.
At first, barely audible.
*whisper… whisper…*
Levi slowed.
The murmurs crept in from the distance, low and indistinct, like voices spoken through water. His breath hitched as he looked ahead.
The world… changed.
A single **red door** stood at the far end of the street.
Everything else dissolved.
Buildings bled into mist. Trees faded. The sky collapsed into a suffocating crimson fog. Red smoke rolled across the ground—*shhhhhh*—thick, endless.
The whispers grew louder.
Closer.
*come… come…*
Levi's heart slammed against his ribs—*THUD—THUD—THUD.*
"What the hell—"
He tried to step back.
Instead, he moved forward.
Each frantic step dragged him closer to the door. Panic clawed at his chest as he turned, searching desperately for an escape.
There was none.
Only red.
The smoke seeped into his lungs, heavy and metallic. His vision spun—*whrrrr*—the world tilting as if reality itself had lost balance.
Then—
*CREAK.*
The red door began to open.
Beyond it lay nothing.
No light.
No ground.
Just endless, devouring darkness.
Levi's breath caught in his throat.
*What's on the other side…?*
The thought barely formed before the darkness surged outward, swallowing him whole—
—and the door slammed shut.
*BANG.*