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The fall was hard, and they never told me it would be.
Of course, that’s not their fault I guess. You’d have to have gone though this to know. No one’s made it out alive.
There was probably a lot of things to wait through and figure out, and that’s why no one else got through.
So I was slower with my walking, unsure of what I would discover.
So when a flower with a face popped up, I wasn’t really surprised. I think it was going to talk, but then I heard a feminine “hello” and it left as quickly as it showed.
In walked a monster who almost resembled ancient drawings of the white dragon, except minus wings.
And minus a face.
The sight was overwhelming and I stumbled back a bit, landing into what I could guess were the faced flower’s brethren.
“Oh, dear! There’s no reason to worry!” She said, directly into my head.
It wasn’t as reassuring as she thought.
But I waited. It’s what I was good at.
She held a clawed hand out and spoke into my mind again.
“Come, young one. I’ll lead you through the safest path of the ruins.”
I won’t lie, I hesitated. I didn’t know her or her intentions, but I didn’t have many other options, so I went and took it.
We walked for a while in silence. Eventually we made it to a small house.
“Here we are.” Echoes through my head as I enter. “Once you’ve made yourself comfortable, you may wonder the ruins. Only the ruins.”
It was odd that she specified that. I’m sure she’ll change her mind eventually. She has to.
Of course, even a patient person has to take matters into their own hands after 4 days of no change.
I went to go down to the basement. I guess she heard me because she came there quickly. “No, you must stay here.” It was pretty clear to me that that meant I found the way forward.
So I’ll do what I do best and wait.
She got to sleep and I moved. I thought I should move quickly, but not too quickly as to prevent making too much noise.
I managed to go through mostly silently even, until I hit a door.
It wasn’t gonna be easy moving the large, stone door, especially quietly, but I had to.
It was a lot of effort to push, but I eventually got it.
And I also heard a “wait!” ring through my head, causing me to move fast for the only time in my life.
And I only moved fast to close the door. I figured if she didn’t want me going through, then she wouldn’t.
And I instantly went back to my normal, slow pace. The cold was going through my light clothes and I needed to focus on staying moving.
The area was quiet, even for a snowy landscape. My own footsteps couldn’t be heard. It stayed quiet for most of the walk.
Course, I still heard the occasional movement in the trees, but as long as I wasn’t confronted, I was happy.
The movement nearby stopped, and shortly after I came across a sign.
“Moving is strictly prohibited for any non-magic creatures. Those not made of magic caught moving will be executed immediately.” That’s what it said.
I looked at the sign for a bit, debating what to do next. A shiver in my body told me to walk, just even slower than I was before.
“You sure about that choice?”
I craned my neck to see who was talking, only to see a skeleton, which made me jump.
“Careful, don’t wanna be caught moving.” He says in reply.
I looked him over a bit more, and looked into the snowy scene that was now behind me.
I stared back at the skeleton, certain he’d say more.
When he didn’t I simply asked him “What do you want?”
I swear he smiled through the mask as he answered.
“I’m just curious on how this will play out. Most humans laugh at or freak out about the sign if they understand what it means. But you aren’t doing either.”
I just sighed. “I’m sure if I move slow enough, I can get through without being noticed.”
As I turned back the way I want to go I heard “We’ll see how that works for you.”
I glanced back only to see he was gone.
And began walking slowly through the snow.
I’m not sure how long it took before my legs started to hurt, but I did know that there didn’t seem to be anything nearby.
So I sped up as much as my frozen legs would let me.
A howl. Should’ve known.
The lycan came running over, snarling. But then it stopped and stared.
And sniffed as it looked away.
I started moving slowly again. It didn’t notice.
So I kept inching.
When I got so close to the Lycan I paused. Something in me wanted to pet the creature.
I ignored the impulse, turning slowly as I walked pass it.
I tried to keep vision on it until it was out of view. I then turned around quickly and walked off at normal pace.
It didn’t come at me, which tells me I was out of its range.
Most of my time underground consisted of slowly moving to avoid attracting attention and stopping for even days waiting.
Everything in me felt stiff as I crossed the threshold into the castle.
My patience had done me good. I was in pain in a lot of areas from the amount of standing and sitting and all other actions, I was stiff, but I was here.
And I heard him before seeing him.
“Well, well. You must have a pure SOUL to have made it this far.”
I turned slowly, as fast movements went from stupid for survival to painful, and faced the monster who spoke.
He was large, covered in black fur, and had horns covering his head from what I can see.
Course, I can’t move my head too much or it hurts. It’s as if I became a living statue while down here.
“That SOUL is what allowed you to make it here, isn’t it?”
“I believe so, but I don’t quite understand what a ‘SOUL’ or it being pure has to do with my survival. I just remained patient with everyone and everything.”
A deep, intimidating chuckle escaped the monster king.
He replied as he grabbed me. “Yes, I can see you’re a patient one. Hopefully your SOUL will remain useful.”
Before I could even ask about it, I was slammed into the ground. Hard. And then again.
And one last one, causing my world to go dark. I last heard a crack, too solid to be of bones breaking.