In the depths of slumber, I awoke. My hands grasped upon the sides of the small alcove I had fallen asleep in, while my clothes, though torn and non-uniform, were matted tightly to my skin. I quickly knew that I had been writhing and tossing in my sleep, the cold sweat that covered my neck, arms and chest told me that without a moments hesitation, but my mind was foggy, and I had no recollection of whatever Nightmare had been plaguing me. It was for the best, I supposed.
It felt like only a few hours, not even a sixth of a day had passed, though the number that I was thinking quickly fled from the light of observation. I frowned, realizing that this hell was taking its toll upon me, steadily but surely. With a soft sigh, I rolled over, gripping at the uneven ground and pushing myself onto hands and knees. Without thinking, I overextended and slammed into the roof of my tiny sanctum, cursing under my breath in frustration.
With cautiously held breath, I began to slowly shift and extend my form, gazing out of the alcove and around the forsaken ground with which I had only recently rushed through. The shuffling feet and eldritch voices had ceased, slipping back into their holes, completely devoid of everything but the facade of Life which these monsters strove in. I finally shuffled out of my makeshift retreat.
I swiftly realized something was wrong, instead of the impermeable gloom and shadows, I could see! Due to many nights awake with little to no light of my own, I had somehow helped myself in this situation. Though my sight was far from perfect, Shades and Silhouettes made themselves visible to what vision I had through some exiled contrasting darkness. Though, through the discovery of this would mean I was becoming used to this place, I took it with far greater happiness. I saw it was my body adapting as best as possible to a malefic circumstance brought on upon by some methodical roll of the Die of Fate.
Silently and carefully, I began to slip through the halls of this abdicated sanctum of depravity and unearthly behemoths. My feet connected with the ground, making little to no sound as I moved as quickly as I could force myself to, hands bracing against walls to help me move, pushing off of whatever surface i came in contact with to increase the speed of my progression.
As my furtherance brought me deeper into the heart of this place, The shadows began to lift even more than before. The grime and muck which covered walls, parts of the floor, and even the corners between the two, shown through the veil which my sight had held hours before hand. I could see deep, elongated gouges in the wall, held in a close quintet. My eyes averted to my shirt and the flesh under it, where blood matted the once light gray vestment, making it a darkened red. My gaze combed over the wounds which decorated my skin, which would inevitably become scars.
I slowly exhaled a soft sigh, which was receprocated by the darkness behind me. Whether it was the area shifting due to some loss or gain of an exceptional weight, or some roguish skulker within the shadows mimicking my sound of frustration. Habit kicked in within the breadth of a hummingbird's wing beat and I was already twisting around as I caught a glimpse of a shadowed skeletally thin being upon the walls, whose large, soft incandescently glowing eyes gazed out of the shadows at me, a whimper of anxiety escaping its hidden mouth. I saw, for a split second, what could be pale white flesh stretched taught over the being, whose fingers ended in lengthy nails, gouging silent holes into the wall, which hadn't murmured a protest in such a very long time.
All the while i gazed at this being, I began to realize just how hauntingly quiet the halls had gotten without the voices and murmurs of those depraved shades which groped and clutched at me unendingly in the hall. My feet began to slide backwards over the tiles, almost like hands fumbling for a grip upon a wall or floor. I watched the being mimic my movements with its own, my foot moved back, it would extend an arm so much closer to me than I liked, and deep within my form, the very movements of this behemoth, mimicking skulker infuriated me to levels which could barely be described.
A Primal urge of Violence gripped at my stomach, my blood heating up quickly with rage as I watched the world begin to darken and twist colors until it was rushing through the shades of purple, from the once dark, barely distinguishable bluish it had been. My hands twitched and gripped at my side, knuckles cracking loudly below the flesh, the nerves and tendons within my fingers begging to feel the impact my mind so protested against. My muscles clutching and coiling with each simplistic movement that was made, then mimicked.
I know not what was infuriating me about this being, maybe it was the aspect of my life I saw within the being, it was intolerable to watch. My mind strained against the urges and wants, but eventually, I knew it would falter and that would be enough. My foot hesitated this time, instead of touching ground as it finished extending, it slowly, and steadily began to push forward, though stopped to shudder forward and backward where it had been.
I felt a unwholesome cold sweat begin to permeate my brow, my hands unclenched from the fists they had balled into at my side. My teeth ground together, the sound echoing weakly through the corridor where in I stood. Slowly, but surely, I felt my mind lose control, at first it was a tiny flicker of the fire, expanding for a split second. It was like a flashlight to pierce the darkness in the room which i had locked away all of my emotions for so very long. Then, the first response came, an extended grumble, the shuddering of the walls as they were forced over to allow the beast room to move.
Finally, the last vestige of control shattered like a bulb slamming into the ground, and in the room, the beast roared, with no light to hold it back, and no handler to keep it at bay, it lunged. My mind reeled as the beast broke through to the very core of my being, wresting control from my mind like I was a mere child. My vision became hazy, slowly I began to slip from consciousness. My Body stood there, while I slipped from it, as if i had been pushed off the edge of a cliff as a mere soul.
A cry of fright left my lips, my arms windmilling uselessly through the air as I attempted to latch onto something, only to find there was nothing to grab. No ledge to clutch at, no walls to find or crash into. My horror at the sudden situation only grew as I fell, my vision quickly became useless. My mind, what little I felt was left, shut down. The last thing i remember seeing as my body went limp, was the view of my body lunging away from the gap with that hatred driven purpose.
