Part 12

As Knight walked through the silent tunnels, long gone from the clanging of pickaxes and the jovial humming of the chained speaker, dotted lights appeared in his vision.  Yet, they only adorned the path ahead, not the offshoot to the left. The last offshoot before the exit.

Knight was cautious. If it was right near the exit, then anything could be down there. However, before he could even debate whether to shine his light, a rough, hoarse noise entered his ears.

Knight bolted down the tunnel. He wanted nothing to do with that was there. He doubted they slept but it must have been a guard.

However, it was only a few seconds before his bad luck in this new world would come to an end. There was a bright, warm glow emitting from the end of the tunnel roof. It was accompanied by a ladder.

Knight couldn’t hold his excitement as he dashed toward the ladder. Looking up, a hand on the ladder ready to climb, Knight could see an arched stone roof lit by the sconces on the wall.

His sudden enthusiasm died down, realising that it may just be the way to another section of this prison. Though at this point, he had to take every chance he could get.

Before Knight could begin climbing, booming footsteps echoed through the tunnel. It was like slabs smacking concrete repeatedly.

Knight couldn’t help but glancing back to see what it was, despite it being obvious from the snore before.

It was a cloaked giant and it was rapidly approaching.

His heart now racing, Knight threw his foot onto the ladder whilst swinging the other one up simultaneously. His foot slipped, shifting his body weight backwards. With only one arm to support him, he fell to the ground instantly. “Shit!”

He heard a cackle, and then with a flash of pain was on his back, dazed.

Knight was given no time to wonder why it was draped in a cloak as a cold hand gripped his face. The creature wasn’t messing about.

Time passed ever so slowly, as the giant carelessly lifted him off the ground. The crushing pain was stifled by the sheer fear Knight felt. The creature wasn’t like the others. Insanity was oozing from under its hood.

The sight of Knight squirming to free its grip seemed to amuse the creature, as it let out a snort followed by hysterical cackling.

However, Knight’s fear was replaced with an intense feeling of disgust as the creature unfastened the clasp at its throat, the cloak slithering over its scaly hide and off its body. Knight noticed how the crimson scales became human flesh at the shoulder. But what the thing that disgusted him was its head. It was like thousands of ocelli squashed together on top of the scaly neck. It was completely different from the other creatures Knight had become so familiar with.

Just as this abomination entered Knight’s gaze, blueish rays shone from the thing’s scales. Before Knight knew it, he was unconscious again.