A party of four cautiously stepped down dark stairs. The moldy smell and the wetness was giving goosebumps to the daring adventurers.

Just a week ago to access a hidden entrance to the catacombs one had to pay a small stack of gold.

Now? Now one needed to at least pay.

The bandits disappeared, the stir around the ‘life underground’ faded, and those who previously dared to go underground were no longer heard of.

Together with the dwindling crime rate, the importance of the underground passages was also lost. Even the nosiest of guards no longer bothered with the tunnels.

Manuel, the group’s unofficial leader, stroke a spark and lit a dried up torch. When the faint flame lit the walls around the adventurers, the people at the top of the stairs silently closed the door and left the idiots to their own problems.

One torch lit another, and the party split in two, cautiously going by the brick walls of the first level, almost rubbing against the walls as they went.

The recent reputation of the catacombs was disturbing, and although all but few believed it to be no more than a bunch of nasty rumors, the adventurers chose to stay vigilant.

Mack gestured to Manuel, and the adventurer gestured back. It was a routine check-in, for cases when people get charmed and lose track of their surroundings, which makes some nonchalant adventurers fall in trap. But this check-in had another reason, to keep people focused.

The silent tunnels were depressing place to stay in, the cold walls pressed on the men’s minds, and the stuffy air made it hard to breathe.

Layers of dust and torches that burnt-out long ago were not a good sign either.

‘Just how long a last man pass here…?

…ere…

…e…

…’ An adventurer whispered, but the empty soundless underground echoed even whispers. Everyone felt their hearts dropping to their heels, and felt even more frightened, when…

…the echo was not responded.

‘Too fricking quiet…!’ Mack mumbled.

‘Hush…’ Manuel gestured, but his friend did not do so.

‘What’s the point?’ Mack chuckled bitterly, and then shouted:

“HEEEY!!! WE’RE HERE!!!

See? Nothing…” He then trembled from the echo’s mocking calls.

‘…ere…

…re…

…e…

…’

Completely empty. Completely lifeless. Previously the city howled from the bandits, now, now it seemed they would cry from the empty palace of terror, built right below their feet.

The adventurers walked further and further, encountering anything but good news: abandoned items, old crates, dried drops of blood below layers of dust.

The dead spare around them was not even eerie at this point, it had no mysterious charm some find in ancient ruins and abandoned buildings. This space was dreadful. Not a single soul, even though dozens crawled down here in search of at least some home. Where they went? What happened to them?

Nobody could answer. Rather, nobody tried to search for an answer.

The adventurers were for sure not interested in searching answers. The party yearned for nothing more but to get the Avern out of here. As soon as their legs allowed. As fast as their torches could withstand.

They passed by many side tunnels that either led to other parts of the catacombs, or went deeper below the ground. It was a cold and unsettling place.

And what was even more unsettling…

…they felt something watching them.

Mack nervously turned his head left and right, back and forth, searching for the ethereal gaze he felt on himself. Manuel felt it too. In every nook and cranny, in every tunnel he felt it, and it was feeling closer and closer…

‘God almighty…! Forgive thy sons…! I shall never sin…! I shall attend every mass…! I shall donate all my money to the poor…!’ One of the adventurers started hysterically praying when something darted in the darkness ahead.

And then…

…

…

…

…there was light.

“FOUND IT! GOD, THANK YOU!” The adventurers cried in relief when a faint trace of light appeared at the end of the tunnel. The gazes and the dread disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving the adventurers to their own fate as they started their lives anew.

‘Hisssss….’

While one shadow lurked outside of its habitat…