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They sent 5 of us up, hoping if they do this the monsters would be tamer for longer. None of us ended the same as we started.
First area was peaceful enough. A monster with no face told us not to be afraid. It brought us through the area, all the while we were met by others. Ones that looked like flies, frogs, and veggies. They all seemed confused, but friendly.
A frog said how the way back to the surface was at the other end of the mountain. The monster we followed turned to face the frog and it ran away.
We were all lead to the monster’s house. I can’t speak for the rest, but I could feel the heaviest amount of... something than I ever did in the air of the house.
The monster told us to stay a while. We didn’t really have a reason not to, so we agreed, all going into the strangely doorless room that was labeled with a sign next to it as ‘for guests’.
It was in the middle of the night something went wrong and we learned the true nature of this place.
It started with a loud thunk. I told him sleeping in the chair was going to lead to that, but he was determined to not have to share a sleeping space.
He then started muffling groans of pain. We all had our own reactions and one of the others jokingly said “What? Was falling out of the chair really that painful for you?”
There was then a loud crack and a masterfully muffled scream.
The other closest to the light turned it on to see what was wrong.
There he lay on the ground, curled up in a ball, pillow to his face to prevent from getting loud.
His spine had clearly snapped and began relocating itself. I watched for a little too long to see it actually move. He seemed to have something sprouting from his forehead and lumps forming and moving on his back.
We rushed over to try and help him up, all the while he kept grunting in pain. His legs refused to work, almost as if they weren’t even real. We opted for holding him steady and in place to try and help.
The pulsating lumps on his back suddenly started to stretch out.
And with a sharp gasp, wings sprouted. As I learned, razor sharp wings that cut open both of my cheeks. The cuts were so precise that I didn’t even start bleeding right away.
I backed up in pain and we all kinda dropped him when the wings came out. That drop allowed him to let go of the pillow as we all realized what was happening. We whispered among each other until I heard him actually try to speak.
A slightly quiet, pain filled word came out, but none of us could really make the word out. “What?” One of the others finally got out, to which he looked up at us, face half inhuman, and screamed the word again.
“RUN!”
The shout got us all back to our senses and we did as instructed; we ran. After all, the culprit was bound to have awoken after that.
We all ran as fast as we could. I could hear some more screaming, then muttering. And then the monster’s voice shouting at us. Its exact words were lost, but it was something along the lines of “come back!” With more words than just that.
We were then four.
The air around us was freezing. It was cold enough that there was snow and ice everywhere. We all were really glad we wore warm clothes.
“What now?” Was the first thing said once we were all out. They other three started arguing about whether that one frog monster could be trusted or not. Eventually one spoke.
“Ok, fine!” He looked at me “what do you think?”
I thought about it and sighed. “I think we need to keep alive and human. The best bet is trusting the frog.”
We walked in snow. Partially through it one of the others noticed something I was trying to ignore.
“Your hand.” I look and, as I suspected, two of my fingers were frost bitten. And there was no way of knowing for sure if there’d be any saving them.
“Ok guys,” I say with hesitation. “I... have an idea but it’s not the most subtle.” I look at one of the others. “You still have your knife?”
He nods, and pulls out a thick pocket knife. I grabbed it. “Anyone have any extra cloth by chance?”
They all knew what I was doing at that point. “This isn’t a good idea...”
“They’ll be damaged beyond repair anyway! Give me some cloth!”
The shout startled all of us, mainly because I echoed and that’s not a good thing.
One nodded and pulled out a piece of cloth that used to be part of the changed one’s shirt.
I winced a bit at seeing it but took it anyway. “Alright, I need one more thing from you guys.” The nod as we look at each other.
“I need something safe to put in my mouth to prevent from screaming if it ends up more painful than I expected.”
After being handed a stress ball that was already in use beforehand, I got to work. Shoving the ball in my mouth, I opened the blade and cut just below the parts that were frostbit.
The pain was sharp, but not as bad as expected. Maybe it was just that cold. I wrapped the bits up with the shirt cloth.
We kept going until we got to a specific sign. It was odd, as well as cryptic. It read as such:
“Moving is strictly prohibited for any non-magic creatures. Those not made of magic caught moving will be executed immediately.”
We all exchanged glances for a bit before one just started laughing.
“Really? How do they expect anyone to get further in the tunnel if they can’t move?” They said with joy.
They walked a few steps, and a howl was heard, causing them to freeze again.
A wolf? Down here? What does that mean?
“Ok we definitely have to go then.” One of the two still near me said. I nodded in agreement.
We all moved forward and the howl continued. The one more in front jumped. “Is it just me, or is it getting closer?”
The color faded from a few of us, and the front most one tried to run closer to us.
Only for them to be intercepted by the source of the howl and pushed down.
A lycan. There’s no way it could be anything else.
Their breathing hastened as they stared at the beast, who began frantically sniffing and turning about. One of the others sidestepped and the lycan’s eyes landed square on her.
“Keep your voice low and don’t move.” I say as a bit of a whisper. The one behind the lycan, however, seemed to have lost themself. Because they started frantically trying to stand back up.
And the lycan pounced them, growling. They whimpered and tried to curl up.
It was in that moment the lycan tore their stomach open.
While it was distracted we ran. The last things we heard were their cries for mercy, and then a triumphant howl. We ran into the woods, not trusting the path anymore.
Like that, there were three.
The next location was dark. The only location this whole journey to feel like a cave.
Before then, while we were wandering the forest like area, I had an unfortunate run-in with a bear trap. Wasn’t gonna die there, though, and used the knife I still had to saw off my foot. My face warmth was sacrificed as well, but that’s fine since it stopped the bleeding.
We just need to survive.
I just need to survive.
By feel we could make out we were probably back on a path.
We couldn’t rely on our hearing; all we heard was a loud rumble.
It took quiet a bit of walking, with a single moment of all of us stepping in a puddle or something, before we could see thanks to bioluminescent plants.
And we discovered two things once we could see.
One was whatever we walked through, it was too big to be a puddle. It was more like a remnant of a river.
Second, the rumble we were hearing was a number of waterfalls surrounding us. One backed into me, scared of heights.
It was ironic to me that she was scared of heights , since there was clearly much worse things down here.
We walked as silently as we could with all the water around us. It was like this part of the tunnel was right underneath a large lake.
Of course that thought process stopped once something unnerving started.
Whispers. It didn’t take too long to get an idea on where they were coming from, but it was still unnerving.
After all, why were flowers whispering.
“What was the poem?” The male of our remaining group said. “Ignore whispers? Or did we need to listen?”
“I think it was something about staying on the path and ignoring voices off it...” I say, not completely sure myself.
The girl, however, got giddy at a point, possibly to hide her fear.
“Look! That flower’s shaped different! I wonder what it’s saying!” She said. I guess she was listening to the words of the ones near the path.
But that was was off the path and near a pool of water. “Be careful...” I utter out.
She nods and walks to it. As she approached I noticed some things off with the flower besides its shape. For one, it seemed like it was actually in the pool and not near it.
And then I saw it bob as she got close.
I exchanged a glance with the other, and he jumped into action along with me. We moved her out of the way in time to save her from getting attacked by some tentacles. Whatever it was attached to managed to cut open my chest. I cursed at myself as I took the ripped part of my shirt and plastered it to my wound.
How many injuries was I gonna get? How many close calls?
We kept walking and, despite how loud the whispers were now getting, we stayed on the path. For once, it seemed we were doing things right.
Until something impossible happened.
We heard their voice.
The one in our group who we know died. I know for an absolute fact even. I saw them get torn open.
So why were we hearing them?
We all stared at the direction their moans seemed to come from. Then the moans became words.
“H....hel-elp.... me....”
We two looked at the girl, who was holding her chest.
“P... pl... ease.... h.... hel....elp m...me....”
Their voice was clearly pained. Our female stepped forward.
And the other member of our small group grabbed her arm. “W-we need to st-stay on the path...”
“P...pl....please....”
She shook her head. “But what it is them? Are we supposed to just ignore them?”
He looks at me, prompting be to listen to my soul. “There’s a higher chance that it’s a trap than it’s them. I’m sorry, but we can’t be leaving the path.”
“P....pl....please....”
At that she glared at both of us and yanked herself out of the other’s grip. “Then you guys can be the assholes. I’m gonna go help them.”
We could still the constant cries for help until she got out of vision.
“H...he.... how predictable.”
A scream after that, and then silence. We then started hearing what sounded like her voice.
“Guys, I-I’m stuck. Something’s tied around me. I need help.”
Still unwilling to leave the path, our only safety, I cried out “I could toss you the pocket knife if you need it.”
“No!” Cried out a voice we didn’t recognize, which then went into the girl’s voice again. “No, I don’t think that will work.”
It wasn’t a difficult thing to figure out. She was dead. We had to just keep walking.
We were now 2.
Things were looking desperate as we wandered the magma-filled new location. I had gained a few new scars and lost another appendage or two. I didn’t care at this point.
All I cared about was making it out alive.
That was the only thing that mattered at this point.
I just needed to survive.
Who cares how I look?
We had to take a lot of off trails to avoid being seen. This place was a lot larger and with fewer unopen areas than the last few.
We both felt as if we were seeing things because of the heat, as well. But that wasn’t gonna deter or trick us. We did refill our water bottles with the ‘complementary water’ right at the entrance of this area, after checking if it was actually salt water or not.
No matter where we went we seemed to be constantly seeing things everywhere.
It looked like a tv screen or something. Whatever it was, it had to have been a human.
I’m sure he just had better hearing than me, but my only remaining companion mentioned the thing speaking.
“All the more reason to ignore it and stay together.” I said to him, knowing whatever this thing chasing us was, it would’ve attacked by now if it was going to without us going to it.
So in this situation, staying together = survival.
We eventually stumbled across a cave within the cave. As humorous as that would’ve been in any other situation, it was nothing but unnerving here.
We enter and the lighting goes down greatly. Our eyes had to adjust, and we kept walking.
The walls were uncomfortably sticky to touch, so we did that is minimally as possible. Even if we weren’t uncomfortable touching the walls, we probably would’ve minimized anyway, because every time we did we heard a laugh.
We hit a point in the tunnel where walking was harder, like wading through swamp water. Once it got brighter, my partner screamed.
We weren’t walking through swamp water; we were walking through spider webs. We were crawling our way out when we heard a voice.
“Would you look at that. It appears we’ve snared a few new insects~.”
The source of the voice made us both stop breathing for a second. It was a spider. A large spider with human-like features.
We both just stared as it walked around both of us as effortlessly as one would expect a spider to do on its web.
“So, my darlings, which do you think we should keep?”
There was a lot of clicks and some shrill whistles as some smaller spiders of normal spider sizes appeared.
“I agree, that one does look tastier.”
In a motion faster than we could prepare for, it was shooting a web at my companion. I went reaching for him once it registered in my mind, but I wasn’t fast enough.
The spiders were carrying his tied up body up the walls when one crawled to the large one’s head.
“Oh dear,” it said, looking at me. “Is this your friend? Maybe you should come get it.”
It dangled him down to where I could see his face. It had covered his mouth, but I could still tell by his eyes that he did want me to help.
But that was a bit of an issue to me.
You see, I had two options in front of me.
One had a chance of getting him back and both of us making it out of this realm. But it wasn’t a guarantee. There was a chance that instead both of us would be spider food. And that chance was high.
The other choice was to run. Leave him to die here. And I’d be able to live. That one had a very low chance of me dying.
I apologized to him with my eyes before running off. My arm got stuck and I pulled until my skin got ripped off. The last thing I heard in that area was intense laughter.
With that, there was just one.
Just me.
I don’t think I would qualify as ‘human’ anymore, with how many holes in my body and missing limbs or appendages I had. I was stumbling, weak, and for the most part hungry.
But I was alive.
It wasn’t too much further. Just needed to get through the final stretch.
Supposedly I could get out then.
Just a little longer.
Sneaking into the castle was surprisingly easy, and blending in with the monsters easier with my current mangled state. I might actually be able to do this.
That was my thought for quite some time.
I reach the end. The barrier. I have the right type of SOUL to pass through with enough focus.
So I focused and pushed.
My hand started phasing through. Like pushing into slime. If felt gross, grosser than I expected, but I was almost out.
And then I get pulled away by a large clawed paw.
No.
A large, dark-furred monster drags me away, a smirk on his face.
No no no.
He was saying something, but I couldn’t make out words. The blood flow in my ears was too loud as I struggled to get back to the barrier.
I found myself shouting as I struggled. “No! Put me down! I’m almost out! I need to go ba-“
I moved wrong and felt a rib crack, leading to pained moans leaving.
The monster laughed, and I finally was able to hear his words.
“As a specimen of human, you’re very much pathetic. But that SOUL... it’s just what we need.”
I didn’t know what he meant. And, quite frankly, I didn’t care. Tears were streaming down my eyes as I spoke again, ignoring the burning of my chest as my ribs likely pierced my lung.
“Please... I just want to go back.”
His face remained menacing, and his grip tightened, but his tone and words were calm and reassuring as he put his other paw at my shoulder.
“Don’t worry young one. We’ll all go back eventually.”
He then pulled on my body. I heard a crack.
Then there was none.