Val pov(first person point of view)
With Eclipsara still quietly holding my hand, the three of us stepped back into the hallway.
Nothing had changed.
The faint blue light still washed across the polished black walls, making the countless thin white lines resemble tiny veins frozen beneath stone. The air remained unnaturally cold, and the silence felt just as heavy(Emotionally oppressive. Oppressive means making you feel mentally trapped, heavy, or uncomfortable.)as before.
(Polished = Very smooth and shiny. Context: The soft blue light covered the shiny black walls. It made the hallway look calm but eerie. Veins = Blood vessels that carry blood back to the heart. Frozen beneath stone = Looking trapped inside the stone and unable to move. Context: The white lines looked like veins inside a body. The walls almost looked alive.)
Mira was already waiting beside the second unopened door.
Her fluffy pink side ponytail rested over one shoulder as she folded her arms, her bright green eyes following us as we approached. She looked exhausted after everything we'd been through, but the determined look on her face hadn't faded in the slightest.
Beside me, Eclipsara still hadn't let go of my hand.
Her long black hair, fading into golden yellow at the tips, swayed gently as we walked. The torn black jacket she'd stubbornly refused to replace hung loosely over her shoulders, its golden zipper occasionally catching the blue light. Her visible ruby-red eye wasn't watching the hallway.(Occasionally = Sometimes. Catching the light = Reflecting the light. Context: Every now and then, the zipper shined because the blue light hit it.)
It was watching me.
"...Val," Eclipsara said.
"Hm?" I replied.
She suddenly stopped walking. Before I could ask why, she wrapped both arms around me. Very tightly.
"...E-Eclipsara?"
She squeezed even harder. Then, wearing the brightest smile I'd seen from her all day, she looked up at me with unmistakable excitement.
"Cheer up!" she declared.
I blinked. "...What?"
"We've survived everything else." She nodded with absolute confidence. "We're clearly professionals now."
"...Professionals?"
"Yes."
She gave another firm nod. "Everything will be A-OK!"
A tiny pause.
"...Probably."
Another pause.
"...Maybe."
I couldn't help laughing. "You're right."
"I am right." She puffed out her chest proudly. "I have decided optimism is statistically beneficial."
I raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we literally just read documents proving statistics can't be trusted anymore?"
She paused. "...That is an unfortunate counterargument."(A point that argues against someone else's idea.)
I laughed again. "You know what?"
She tilted her head. "What?"
I hugged her back. "I agree."
Her visible eye immediately brightened.
"We're going to be approximately A-Okay."
"Exactly!" She beamed.
"We're both approximately A-Okay."
"We're incredibly approximately A-Okay."
"I believe in us."
"I also believe in us."
I smiled. "...Besides the creatures that chased us."
"Minor complication." Eclipsara answered smoothly.
"...The giant monsters."
"Temporary inconvenience."
"...The underground horror laboratory."
"Questionable architecture."
"...The mysterious doors."
"Suspicious decorating choices."
I lightly patted her shoulder. "But whatever happens...we're the ones who keep making excellent survival decisions."
She immediately nodded. "Exactly."
I pointed toward Mira. "Unlike Mira."
Eclipsara glanced toward the pink-haired princess before leaning closer to me. "...You have once again proven my theory."
I smiled as I sighed dramatically with my eyes closed. "...The single brain cell theory?"
She nodded dramatically. "Exactly. You and I really do share a single brain cell."
I stared at her for a moment. Then nodded like a wise philosopher reaching enlightenment. "...You're absolutely right O wise Eclipsara."
"I know."
Then without another word, we quietly hugged each other again. Mostly because we were both trying very hard not to laugh. Tiny snorting noises escaped anyway.
Across the hallway, Mira slowly narrowed her bright green eyes.
"...I can hear both of you."
The two of us immediately buried our faces against each other's shoulders, desperately trying not to laugh loudly enough for her to hear.
"...She heard us." Eclipsara whispered.
"...She definitely heard us." I whispered back.
"...Abort mission."
"...Abort mission."
"This is a stealth operation."
"I know."
"We cannot be discovered."
"I understand."
Mira sighed. "You two realize I'm standing five meters away."
Neither of us moved.
"...We underestimated your hearing." I admitted.
"...It was an operational error." Eclipsara agreed.
Mira rubbed her forehead. "...You two are weird."
"We're approximately okay." Eclipsara informed her proudly.
Apparently deciding she wasn't going to get a better explanation, Mira simply sighed again. "I worry about both of you."
"I do not," Eclipsara replied cheerfully. She gave me one final victorious squeeze before finally letting go, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.
Mission accomplished.
A second later, her fingers quietly slipped back into mine as naturally as breathing. She glanced at me.
"...Feeling better now?" she asked softly.
I thought about the strange unease from the previous room. It had disappeared somewhere during our ridiculous conversation. "...Yeah."
Her shoulders visibly relaxed."...Good."
Together, we walked the last few steps toward Mira. The three of us stopped in front of the second door. Nobody reached for the handle immediately. Instead, we all stared at it.
Finally, Mira broke the silence. "...Alright."
She rested one hand on the handle. "Any last-minute guesses?"
I raised one finger. "...Maybe this room actually contains a laboratory."
Eclipsara gasped softly. "...With explanations."
"Oh!" I pointed at her. "Actual explanations."
She nodded excitedly. "Documents that explain the previous documents."
"Perhaps even..." I lowered my voice dramatically. "...Titles that make sense."
Her visible eye widened. "...Impossible."
Mira folded her arms. "I'd settle for one report that actually defines synchronization."
I nodded. "I'd settle for one scientist who knew how percentages worked."
Eclipsara nodded seriously. "I'd settle for a report that simply says, 'Hello. This is what we are doing.'"
I grinned. "'Dear future reader: here's the entire plot.'"
"'Project DAEMINA is this.'" Eclipsara continued hopefully. "'Synchronization means this.'"
Eclipsara paused before adding in an overly cheerful narrator voice."'Please stop asking questions, Val.'"
I laughed. "I would genuinely appreciate that."
"So would I." Mira admitted.
"I might hug the document." Eclipsara said.
"I believe you." Mira replied. Despite herself, she smiled.
"...Well." Mira wrapped her fingers around the handle. "Let's find out."
The door slowly swung open. The three of us instinctively leaned forward together.
Silence.
"..."
"..."
"...You've got to be kidding me." Mira muttered.
It was another room. Almost perfectly identical to the previous one. The same polished black walls. The same thin white lines spreading across every surface. The same faint blue glow. Only this room wasn't square. A short, narrow hallway stretched straight ahead before ending at another plain black door.
Nobody spoke. Then all three of us sighed at exactly the same time.
"...Well." I muttered. "There goes the laboratory."
"There goes my giant machine." Mira sighed.
"There goes the glossary." Eclipsara added mournfully.
"...And the helpful arrows." I said.
"...And the explanations." Mira added.
"...And the report titled 'Here's the Entire Plot.'" I finished.
The three of us exchanged resigned looks before stepping inside. As we began walking down the narrow hallway toward the final waiting door, Mira glanced back over her shoulder.
"...Anyone have any last-minute guesses?"
Eclipsara immediately raised her free hand. "...Another room."
"...Bold prediction," I said.
"I am feeling optimistic." Eclipsara said as she smirked with her eye closed.
Mira sighed. "I'm predicting more paperwork."
I nodded. "I'm predicting disappointment."
Eclipsara thought for a moment before smiling.
"...Statistically..." She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "...That seems the safest guess."
Together, we continued toward the door at the end of the hallway.
We arrived at the door near the end of the hallway. For a moment, none of us reached for the handle.
Mira let out a slow breath before glancing between Eclipsara and me."...Last chance to change your predictions."
I folded my arms thoughtfully. "I'm still hoping for a laboratory."
Eclipsara nodded.
"I'm still hoping for paperwork."
"The paperwork better explain itself this time." Mira muttered.
"It owes us several explanations." I agreed.
Despite everything, Mira smiled.
"...Alright."
She wrapped one hand around the handle and looked at both of us.
"Together?"
Eclipsara and I nodded.
"One..."
"Two..."
"...Three."
The three of us pushed the door open at the same time.
Our smiles disappeared almost instantly. Nobody moved.
The room beyond looked nothing like the others.
The walls were a filthy, uneven brown, scarred with long cracks and countless dark stains that had long since dried into the surface. Thick patches of moisture clung to the corners, while entire sections looked swollen and decayed, as though years of rot had seeped into the walls themselves. Whatever this place had once been...
It hadn't simply been abandoned.
It had been left to decay.
The air hit us a heartbeat later.
A thick, rotten stench rolled through the doorway so suddenly that all three of us instinctively recoiled.
"...Ugh!"
Mira stumbled back a step, immediately pulling a sleeve over her mouth.
"That's awful..."
Even Eclipsara visibly flinched.
Her entire posture stiffened as her visible ruby-red eye slowly swept across the room. Without seeming to notice, one hand drifted toward the handle of her axe.
I wasn't doing much better. The smell wasn't overpowering. It was worse than that. Old. Stale. Like something had been rotting here for a very..very long time.
The room stretched much farther than the previous ones. A wide corridor disappeared into the distance before curving sharply to the right, cutting off whatever lay beyond the bend. From the doorway, that was all we could see.
No furniture. No machinery. No equipment. Just filthy walls, cracked flooring, and darkness waiting farther ahead.
Then my eyes drifted to the nearest wall. There, smeared in dried blood with frantic(Full of fear and panic.), uneven strokes, were several words.
WE DID IT
A little farther down-
WE SUCCEEDED
Another message.
IT LIVES
The handwriting changed with every sentence. Some letters were enormous. Others trembled so violently they were barely legible.
Nobody said a word. Then Eclipsara stared into the room for another second before quietly saying,
"...Oh, fuck this."
She immediately turned around. Without another word, she reached over, grabbed my wrist, and started walking back the way we'd come. As she marched past me, she pointed her thumb over her shoulder.
"...Val."
"...Yeah?"
"...Come on."
I looked back at the room. Then at Eclipsara. Then back at the room again.
"...You know what?" I nodded decisively. "...I choose paperwork."
"So do I."
We both took one perfectly synchronized step away from the doorway.
"...Let's go back."
"I suddenly miss synchronization percentages." I admitted.
"I would happily read another thirty pages of confusing reports." Eclipsara agreed.
"They were so much less threatening."
"They were practically comforting."
Behind us, Mira slowly lowered the sleeve from her face. She stared at the two of us for a long moment, her bright green eyes somehow managing to look both exhausted and completely unimpressed.
Then she walked over. Without saying a word, she grabbed Eclipsara by one arm and me by the other.
"...Hey."
"...Princess?"
"Nope."
She began dragging both of us back toward the doorway. "We're doing this."
"Ehhhhh..." Both Eclipsara and I groaned in perfect unison.
Mira didn't even look at us.
"Oh, no."
A small, smug smile appeared on her face. "A few minutes ago, the two of you were giving motivational speeches."
Neither of us responded. She glanced back at us with raised eyebrows.
"What was it again?" Her smile widened.
"'Everything will be A-OK.'"
Eclipsara looked away. "...Probably."
Mira nodded. "That's right."
She tugged both of us another step forward. "'Probably.'"
I sighed dramatically. "...Princess..."
"And then..." She looked between us. "You said you were professionals."
"We are." Eclipsara muttered.
"You also said you keep making excellent survival decisions."
"...I regret saying that."
"I don't," Mira replied cheerfully. "Now come on."
She gave both of us another firm pull. "You've already committed to being approximately A-Okay."
Eclipsara let out the deepest, most defeated sigh I'd ever heard. "...My own optimism has betrayed me."
"I warned you statistics couldn't be trusted." I said.
"You did...I should've listened."
Still dragging us forward, Mira couldn't help laughing. "Too late."
With the collective enthusiasm of three people volunteering for spectacularly bad life choices, we finally turned our attention back to the room. The blood-stained messages stretched farther along the walls before gradually disappearing into the darkness. Beyond that, the corridor curved sharply to the right, hiding everything that lay deeper inside.
Whatever waited around that corner...we couldn't see it yet.
We moved forward slowly. Nobody spoke for a while. The only sounds were our careful footsteps against the cracked floor (A floor with long broken lines in it.)and the occasional drip of water echoing somewhere deeper within the corridor.(Corridor = A hallway.Context: Sometimes they heard water dripping somewhere farther down the hallway. The echo made the place feel empty and creepy.)
Without saying anything, Eclipsara quietly reached over and slipped her hand into mine again. This time, she held it much more tightly than before.
I glanced at her.
She didn't look back.
Her visible ruby-red eye remained fixed on the hallway ahead, carefully scanning every shadow, every crack in the walls, and every dark corner as though expecting something to lunge out at any moment.
"...See anything?" Mira asked quietly.
Eclipsara gave a small shake of her head. "...Not yet."
"I don't know if that's reassuring," I admitted.
"...Me neither." Mira murmured.
Almost unconsciously, Eclipsara's fingers squeezed mine just a little tighter every time another bloodstained message came into view. There were more of them now. Far more.
Every few meters, another frantic sentence had been smeared(Smeared = Spread messily across a surface.) across the filthy walls in dried, darkened blood.
HELP US
WHY?
OUR HELL
IT'S TOO LATE
IT KNOWS
WE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED
IT'S STILL GROWING
The next message looked as though whoever had written it had collapsed halfway through.
IT'S INSIDE THe-
Another, only a few steps farther:
IT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO-
The sentence ended there.
Nothing followed. Nobody commented. There wasn't really anything to say.
Some messages were little more than desperate scratches carved into the wall. Others looked as though whoever had written them had been shaking so violently that entire words dissolved into crooked, barely recognizable lines.(Dissolved = Lost their clear shape. Crooked = Bent and uneven. Context: Their shaking made the writing almost impossible to read.)
None of them were signed. None of them explained anything. They only made the corridor feel more oppressive.
"...I don't like this," Mira admitted quietly, her bright green eyes never stopping as they swept across the hallway ahead.
"...Neither do I," I replied.
Eclipsara didn't say anything. She simply tightened her grip on my hand again.
The corridor finally curved to the right(Curved = Bent instead of continuing straight. Context: The hallway turned right.). Carefully, the three of us rounded the corner together.
The sight waiting beyond made all of us stop.
"..."
Eight beds stood in two uneven rows beneath dim(Not bright.) yellow ceiling lights that flickered(Turned on and off repeatedly.) weakly overhead.(Uneven rows = The beds were not lined up perfectly.) Their sickly glow cast long shadows across the room, somehow making everything appear even more lifeless than the corridor behind us.(Sickly = Unhealthy-looking. Glow = Soft light. Context: The yellow light made the room feel unpleasant, like a hospital that had been abandoned. Cast = Created. Shadows = Dark areas where light is blocked. Context: The weak lights made long dark shadows across the room.)
Calling them beds felt generous. They looked more like rusting medical cots that had been dragged out of storage decades ago and forgotten.(Cot = A small simple bed. Medical cot = A basic hospital bed.)
The thin mattresses had long since collapsed into uneven lumps. Rust consumed the metal frames, creeping across the rails and legs in thick reddish-brown patches. Many of the stained white sheets still clung to the beds, though age had turned them a sickly gray. (Mattress = The soft part of a bed. Collapsed = Lost its shape. Uneven lumps = Bumpy areas. Context: The mattresses had become old, flat, and uncomfortable.)
(Rust = The reddish-brown damage that forms on old metal. Consumed = Covered almost completely. Frames = The metal structure of the bed. Context: The beds had been abandoned for many years.) (Creeping = Slowly spreading. Rails = The metal bars along the sides of the bed. Context: Rust had spread over almost every metal part.)
Dark stains covered nearly every mattress. Some were brown. Others...had unmistakably once been blood.
Heavy privacy curtains(Curtains around hospital beds so patients cannot be seen.) hung around each bed from rusted ceiling rails. Some had been left half-open, while others had been ripped almost completely from their tracks(Context: The curtains had been violently pulled down.), hanging limply toward the floor(limply:Hanging without strength.). Several were stained so heavily they barely resembled fabric anymore.
Beside every bed sat a small metal desk. Each one was rusting. Several drawers had been left hanging open, as though someone had searched through them in desperation.
An overturned chair (Knocked over upside down or onto its side.)rested near one corner of the room, while another had somehow become wedged against the frame of one of the beds.(Wedged = Stuck tightly. Frame = The structure of the bed. Context: The chair was trapped against the bed.)
Everything looked as though whoever had once occupied this place had vanished in the middle of using it.
Or perhaps...as though they had been forced to keep living here long after it had ceased being a place anyone could survive in.
Nobody moved.
Mira slowly surveyed the room from left to right. Her eyes searched every bed, every curtain, and every dark corner.
Beside me, Eclipsara's gaze never stopped moving. She studied the spaces beneath the beds, the narrow gaps between the curtains, and the ceiling above us with quiet intensity, still refusing to loosen her grip on my hand.
I found myself checking everywhere she wasn't. The far corners. Behind the overturned chairs. The rusted desks. Anywhere something could be hiding.
Then all three of us instinctively looked beneath the nearest beds.
Nothing.
"...No creatures," Mira whispered.
"...Thank goodness," I breathed.
Eclipsara visibly relaxed, though only slightly.
"...Let's keep it that way."
Keeping our voices low, we cautiously crossed between the rows of ruined beds, peering behind every curtain as we passed.
Empty. Every single one. No bodies. No skeletons. No signs that anyone had remained here.
Only abandoned beds and the lingering feeling they hadn't always been empty.
At the far end of the ward, another black door stood waiting. Unlike everything surrounding it, it looked almost untouched, as though it belonged to an entirely different place. No blood. No rust. No frantic messages. Just another silent door.
Mira glanced toward it.
"...Looks like that's where we're going."
None of us argued.
The three of us exchanged uneasy glances before slowly making our way toward it, every careful step accompanied by another sweep of the room. Our eyes instinctively revisited every shadow, every gap between the curtains, every space beneath the beds, and every dark corner, silently checking whether we'd missed something the first time.
Still nothing moved.
The silence remained absolute.
And somehow...
That only made the room feel even more unsettling.
The three of us stopped in front of the black door. After everything we'd already seen, none of us were particularly eager to discover what waited beyond it.
Mira rested one hand on the handle. "...Ready?"
"...No." I admitted.
"...Also no." Eclipsara agreed.
Mira sighed. "...Too bad."
With a quiet click, she pushed the door open. The hallway beyond was almost completely dark.
Not pitch black.
Just...dark. Darker than anywhere we'd been before.
A handful of dim ceiling lights stretched into the distance, each one casting only the faintest pool of pale yellow light beneath it before the darkness swallowed everything beyond(A small circle of light on the floor. Context: Each ceiling light only lit up a small area beneath it.). The lights were spaced unnaturally far apart, leaving long stretches where almost nothing could be seen.
"...Is it darker?" I asked.
Mira peered into the hallway before giving a slow nod. "...Much darker."
"...Well." Mira muttered. "...That's encouraging."
"It somehow got worse," I said.
"...I miss the blood room." Eclipsara replied.
I blinked. "...That's a sentence I never thought I'd hear."
"...Me neither."
Keeping close together, we stepped inside.
The door quietly shut behind us. The faint light from the previous room disappeared almost immediately, and the darkness seemed to grow heavier around us.Each pool of yellow light barely reached the next, forcing us to walk through long stretches where only vague outlines remained visible.
After only a minute, Mira quietly reached out and grabbed my sleeve with one hand and the edge of Eclipsara's jacket with the other. "...I'm not getting lost."
"...Reasonable." I said.
Eclipsara nodded. "...Very reasonable, considering we can barely see ten meters ahead."
So we continued together. Nobody let go.
The only sounds were our footsteps echoing through the darkness.
One dim light.
Then another dim light.
The farther we walked, the weaker they seemed to become, until it almost felt as though the darkness was slowly swallowing what little light remained.
"...Can either of you see how much farther this goes?" Mira asked quietly.
"...No."
"...No."
We kept walking.
Minutes passed or at least...they felt like minutes. Time was becoming strangely difficult to judge.
Eventually, I glanced back over my shoulder.
"...Guys."
Mira immediately turned as well. "...Where's the door?"
Eclipsara looked behind us.
Behind us...there wasn't even a faint glow anymore. The light from the previous room had vanished completely. Only darkness remained.
"...That's..." Mira whispered. "...I don't remember it being this far."
Neither did I.
"...Let's go back."
Nobody argued.
Still holding onto one another, we turned completely around and began walking in the opposite direction. The same careful pace. The same silence. The same endless darkness.
One minute passed.
Then another.
Then another.
The doorway never appeared.
"...We should've reached it by now," Mira whispered.
"I know."
Nobody stopped walking. Nobody suggested an explanation. We simply kept moving.
Then-
Thunk.
"...Ow!"
I walked face-first into something solid.
A heartbeat later-
Thud.
"...Ah!"
Eclipsara bumped into my back, and Mira stumbled into both of us a moment later.
"...What happened?" Mira asked.
I slowly reached forward.
Cold. Smooth. Solid.
"...There's..." My hand slid across the surface. "...There's a wall."
Silence. None of us remembered there being a wall.
"...Did we..." Mira began.
She hesitated.
"...No..."
She never finished the thought. Neither Eclipsara nor I said anything. Instead, we quietly turned around again. If this wasn't the way back then there was only one direction left.
Forward.
"...Let's just keep going," Mira said quietly.
There wasn't really another option. So we did.
Minutes blurred together.(Time became hard to notice.)
Five. Ten. Twenty. Maybe longer. Time itself seemed to lose meaning. The darkness never changed. It simply surrounded us from every direction, swallowing everything beyond a few steps.
Eventually-
"...Wait."
Eclipsara pointed ahead. "I see something."
Far in the distance, a tiny light glowed beneath what slowly resolved into the outline of another black door.(Slowly became clear enough to recognize.)
"...I see it too." Mira whispered.
It remained perfectly still.
As we continued walking, it gradually grew larger. Not brighter, just closer.
"...Finally," Mira sighed in obvious relief.
None of us questioned why another door was waiting here.
At that point, we were simply relieved to see anything at all.
We continued toward it. Slowly. Quietly.
Somewhere along the way, I blinked. My vision blurred for just a moment.
Strange.
I rubbed one eye. "...Is anyone else..."
My sentence trailed off. Everything suddenly felt...heavy. Like my body weighed twice as much as it had only seconds ago. Beside me, Mira stumbled before catching herself.
"...I'm..." She frowned. "...Really tired all of a sudden."
Eclipsara slowed to a stop. Her breathing had become noticeably heavier.
She pressed one hand against the side of her head. "...Something's..."
She blinked hard. Then suddenly her visible eye widened. Without warning, she grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me.
"Val!"
The sharpness in her voice instantly snapped me to attention.
"What?"
Her expression had changed completely. For the first time since we'd entered the hallway, she looked genuinely frightened. "...Something's wrong!"
She tried to shake herself awake, clenching her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white.(Knuckles: The joints on your fingers.)
"No..."
She took another unsteady step. Then another.
"...Wake up!" She practically screamed the words, forcing them out through increasingly slurred speech. "Wake up! Wake-"
The sentence broke apart as her legs gave out beneath her.(Stopped supporting her body. Context: Her legs become too weak and she falls.)
"...Eclipsara!" I caught her before she hit the floor. Almost at the same moment, Mira swayed beside me.
"...Val..." She barely managed to say my name before collapsing as well.
I caught her too. "...Come on..."
My own knees threatened to buckle(Bent and collapsed. Context: His knees cannot hold his weight anymore.)
No.
No, no, no.
Something was happening. My vision blurred again as I now see the distant door seemed to sway from side to side. Both of them had already gone completely limp in my arms, breathing softly.
Asleep.
"...Damn it..."
Every instinct screamed at me to close my eyes. To stop fighting. To rest.
"...No..."
Summoning what little strength I had left, I carefully lowered Eclipsara to the floor first, gently supporting her head until it rested safely against the cold stone. Then I did the same for Mira, making sure her head touched the ground just as gently. Only after I knew both of them were safe did my own strength finally give out.
My legs collapsed beneath me. The side of my head struck the stone floor with a hard thud.
"...Gh..."
Pain shot through my skull, drawing a quiet groan from my lips. Even that wasn't enough to keep me awake.
My eyelids became impossibly heavy. "...Something..."
The word barely escaped as a whisper. I tried to force out one last warning. One last sentence. Anything.
But before the words could leave my mouth, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Darkness.
...
Pain.
A dull ache throbbed through the side of my head(Pain that is not sharp. It is constant and uncomfortable.). My eyelids felt impossibly heavy, but little by little, I forced them open. The first thing I saw was a cracked ceiling lit by a handful of weak yellow lights. The second thing I realized was that I couldn't move.
"..."
Rough rope dug into my wrists. I looked down.
My arms were tied securely behind the back of a wooden chair. More rope wrapped around my chest and waist, fastening me tightly against it, while another length secured my ankles(The joints above your feet.) to the chair legs.
I instinctively pulled against the restraints. Nothing. Not even a little.
"...Val."
The quiet voice came from my left. I turned my head. Eclipsara sat in another chair a few feet away, bound just as tightly.
Her long black hair fell untidily over her shoulders, the golden-yellow tips resting against the worn fabric of her torn black jacket. Her visible ruby-red eye immediately met mine.
"...You're awake."
"...Yeah..." My voice came out hoarse.
I looked to my right. Mira was tied to another chair beside me.
Her fluffy pink side ponytail had mostly come undone, several loose strands framing her face. The moment she saw my eyes open, her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.
"...Val..."
There was unmistakable worry in her voice.
I blinked. "...How long was I asleep?"
Neither of them answered immediately.
Instead-
Crunch.
...
Crunch.
...
Crunch.
The slow, wet sound echoed through the room. Only then did I realize someone else was there. At the opposite end of the room, a lone figure sat with his back facing us.
He was painfully thin. Not merely skinny.
Emaciated.(Extremely thin because of starvation or illness.)
His spine protruded sharply beneath skin stretched so tightly it barely seemed capable of covering bone(Context: His spine sticks out because he has almost no flesh covering it.). Every rib was clearly visible beneath the shredded remains of what had once been a laboratory uniform, now so stained with layers of dried blood that its original color had long since become impossible to identify.(Protruded definition: Stuck out. Rib=One of the curved bones protecting your chest.)
Long white hair hung messily down his back. Two dragon horns curved from his head. One sleeve dangled empty. His right arm was simply...
Gone.
Crunch.
...
Crunch.
He continued chewing without acknowledging us.
"...How long?" I whispered again.
This time Eclipsara answered.
"...I'm not sure."
Her voice remained low.
"...Maybe twenty minutes..." She hesitated. "...Maybe longer."
She gave a tiny shake of her head. "...Actually... I don't even know if it was twenty minutes. That's just my best guess."
Her gaze shifted toward the bruise forming along the side of my head. "...You probably hit your head harder than we did."
I frowned. "...What?"
She nodded faintly. "...Before you fell asleep..."
Her voice softened. "...You caught both of us."
I blinked. "...You made sure neither of us hit the floor."
Mira nodded quietly. "...I remember feeling someone holding me up."
Eclipsara continued. "...Then you carefully lowered us down."
She studied the swelling near my temple(The side of your head between your eye and ear.). "...After that, I'm guessing your legs finally gave out."
She frowned. "...Your head must've hit the floor."
Mira's worried expression deepened. "...That sounded painful."
She looked me over carefully. "...Are you okay?"
I managed a small nod. "...I think so."
Neither of them looked entirely convinced.
A brief silence followed.
"...Thank you." Mira said quietly.
Eclipsara gave a small nod. "...Yeah. Thank you."
Before I could respond-
The man spoke. His voice was calm. Almost conversational.
"...It's been..."
Crunch.
"...A very..."
Crunch.
"...Long time..."
Another bite.
"...Since I've spoken with anyone."
He chuckled softly to himself.
"...So..."
Crunch.
"...I think..."
Another bite.
"...We'll talk."
A pause.
"...In a few minutes."
Crunch.
"...I'm thinking."
Another bite.
"...Need to keep thinking."
Silence.
Mira stared toward his back.
"...What..."
Her voice barely escaped her lips.
"...Is he..."
The figure shifted slightly. Something wet splashed onto the floor.
Eclipsara leaned forward ever so slightly. Her visible eye widened.
"...What the fu-"
The movement finally revealed what had been hidden from view.
He wasn't holding food.
He was holding his own leg.
Dark blood coated what remained of his lower calf. Entire strips of flesh had been torn away, exposing fresh bite marks beneath layers of older wounds that had only partially healed before being ripped open again. Thick, dark blood crawled slowly down his shin(The front part of your lower leg.), dripping onto the cracked stone floor below.
Crunch.
Without the slightest hesitation, he calmly tore away another strip of flesh with his teeth.
Chewed. Swallowed. As though eating himself were no stranger than eating bread.
"...Don't worry."
Crunch.
"...It heals well."
He sounded almost amused.
"...Always has."
A quiet laugh escaped him before he resumed chewing in complete silence, as though no further explanation were necessary.
Nobody spoke. Nobody knew how to respond. The room became deathly silent except for the slow, rhythmic (Happening in a steady pattern.)sound of flesh being chewed.
Then...
Very slowly...
The man pushed himself to his feet.
Every movement looked stiff, almost painful. His shredded clothing hung loosely from his skeletal frame as he turned just enough for part of his side to become visible beneath the dim yellow light.
Mira's eyes suddenly widened.
"..."
Eclipsara froze.
"..."
Something metallic protruded from beneath the torn fabric covering his abdomen.(The stomach area between your chest and hips.)
Not a knife. Not a piece of machinery.
A sickle.(A farming tool with a curved blade. It is used for cutting crops. Context: A sickle has been stabbed through his stomach.)
The curved blade had been driven straight through the center of his stomach, the sharpened tip angling upward through his body toward his chest.
It had never been removed.
Just...dar darker than anywhere we'd been before.
Dar darker lol scooby doo when hes scared
A sickle.( A farming tool with a curved blade. It is used for cutting crops. Context: A sickle has been stabbed through his stomach.)
'A sickle' is bolded
Loved the chapter ngl
Elite reference! I honestly didn't even realize I unintentionally referenced something I've watched so much. Now that you mention it, it makes perfect sense-I can totally hear Scooby saying "dar darker."
Thanks for catching those mistakes too! I've fixed them now. And I'm really glad you loved the chapter!
@CrustedMuffin02
