Chapter Text
"At the crossroads, don't turn left."
That's something I would've—I have said in the beginning. A warning. It is for you to save yourself from the _thing_. That thing that will destroy you and everything and everyone in the world. My mind is losing itself. It feels like an icepick is trying to mine its way to the core of my brain, and I can feel every crack that is made... but anything for the greater good.
I have walked down the path, chose the roads, and faced what awaits so you don't have to.
I remember the cold breeze entering my room while I'm glued to my computer, mining through stone. The weird moss I know that shouldn't have been there. I should have stopped.
I wonder what would have happened if I had stopped right there. Then, maybe none of this would've happened. On the other hand, that horrible thing would've also got you. It would've corrupted you, but then, why do I care?
Curiosity always get the better of me.
So I dug deeper.
At first, it felt harmless. Just patches of moss here and there. The barren cave with nothing but stones. Strange? Yes, but nothing out of extraordinary. It may have only been a bug.
But as time went on, you can't just keep a blind eye on the elephant in the room. There are so much things that screams that this isn't natural; this isn't normal. There's something wrong in this world but I can't quite put my finger on it. All of the trails and all of the path lead to nowhere. Somehow, something feels wrong. There again the unusual trees, but now it's stacked onto each other. It's quite mesmerizing to look at but what pulls me in the most is the tunnel.
I walk down the tunnel. Taking in the mud brick walls and floor. I keep my steps light and careful, glancing back every few moments or so. And then...
The first pair of torches turned off.
I kept walking, occasionally looking back but everytime I do, a few torches dies. More and more, much faster, as if chasing me. Finally, it's the end.
I am out of breath, my hands shook as it hovers above the keyboard. "I'm not scared. Not of a game," I gasped, swallowing much air as I needed.
I continue to explore more, the feeling grew, it is heavy. Something in me says there is something—or someone.
The gloomy cave and the unusual trees are unsettling. The forest seems so... structured that it is uncanny the more you walk through.
I should have left. Right there are the signs—I should have stopped. But I think to myself, I made it this far, why go back? Acting impulsively, I did. I know there's someone or something following me. I heard it. It's not as smart as it thinks it is.
I took the leap, deep into the cold and dark water I go. Tunnel after tunnel, it gets narrower and narrower and narrower. I'm almost out of breath, my lungs are contracting, my eyes hurt. Alas, in the oasis.
Upon gazing on the scenery, I stood there and think for a while. That thing is coming to get me. It's following me since the beginning. It knew. Everything that has been happening from the start, every step I take, and every decision I make, it knew.
It's coming to get me.
And it did.