Neo gasped desperately for his breath as his body ached all over. Slowly climbing up the ladder, he thought back on his dream. When he had fallen into the deep pool of blood, he felt the smell overtaking him. He had swallowed in the blood still somewhat tasting the iron in his mouth. It felt realistic, like he really did fall.
"Agh…shit."
His body trembled when he suddenly lost a hold of the ladder, almost slipping to the bottom. Looking down at the bottom was like a death sentence to him. It reminded him not only of the monster and pool of blood, but his mother who never reached a hand to him when falling into the abyss.
Having difficulties breathing he tries to stop his hand from shaking. But a few seconds passed, and he realized it wasn't his hand shaking but rather the ropes that were. Horror filled his eyes as the very screams he had initially heard from his dreams were now coming from beneath him.
Chills ran down his spine as he got that familiar feeling of those eyes watching him intently. Refusing to look down, he began to climb at a speed he thought he never could.
"No."
With adrenaline still coursing through his veins, he hurriedly climbs the ladder, attempting to reach the top. A light shone down on him, illuminating everything.
Whatever screamed out, was now climbing steadily after him. The sounds of the ladder creaking and the movements of the ladder from side to side, instilled a fear within him.
In his dream, he was only so brave because it wasn't reality. But now he was facing that thing in real life. It seemed to have followed him after he forced it to fall into the pool of blood with him. Gritting his teeth, he mustered the courage to confirm the identity of the thing following desperately after him.
The entity looked exactly like the one that had harassed him nonstop. This time, it had taken on a much more human-like form. Glancing at its hand, he realized claws were sprouting from there.
In a few seconds, its face had split into four pieces, slowly spreading apart. Neo breathes heavily as he witnesses it happening. Finally, he reaches the summit and grabs onto the edge.
Before he could climb all the way to the edge of safety, a hook was flung upward with such force that it punctured the stone ceiling above him. When he looked closely, he realized it was the same hand from the monster after him. He flees into the cell hallway, terrified.
How will he navigate this? Can he make it out of here?
Answering his questions, the hand on the ceiling pulls off, leaving a massive hole. Pieces of the ceiling began to crumble, falling over Neo's feet.
Some stones are stacked on top of one another. Using this to his advantage, he climbed up the stones, grabbing onto the edge of the hole. Finally out of the hole he ran forward without looking.
A group of soldiers surrounds him pointing their sharp weapons at him. They began shouting in a language he couldn't understand. Confused by everything, Neo's focus goes back onto the giant gaping hole he climbed from. If he didn't hurry out, it was going to catch up to him.
He turned around and ran a long distance but not enough. The forces surrounded him and questioned each other. He could see everyone glaring at his arm, which appeared to have illuminated veins.
Whatever they were concerned about was unimportant. Neo looked behind each of them, staring into the hole. Goosebumps appeared on his arm as he continued to fear the pit.
It soon climbed out of the hole and observed the entire area. Neo runs out of breath as his eyes widen. Another scream echoes through the entire chamber, shocking the soldiers.
They turned around to face the thing, surprised by its ugly form. In the next second, its hand pierces through a soldier's chest, ripping out their heart and eating it.
They gathered around it in a defensive stance, taken aback by what they saw. Neo merely turns around to get out. He opens the door out of the room and hears the soldiers' yells.
There's no going back now; he can only run for safety. As he approached the passageways, others began to notice him and his unusual appearance.
Neo concentrated his efforts on getting out of the dangerous situation, rushing past the crowd and out of the hallway. As he raced, he could hear people's shouts. Nothing made sense to him. How did the monster manage to follow him from his dream?
What was happening to him? To his arms? What was the weird crawling pain from within his veins?
As he rushed forward, the vision of the eyes following him appeared to overwhelm his head.
His pain became more intense as he lunged forward to escape through the door of the giant passageway. Strangely, he sees people wearing various types of silk garments with jewels on their faces.
Each of them appeared to be engaged in an unusual activity. Fear wriggled across his face as he stood petrified. As soon as he took one breath, the people came to a pause. They began to gather around him, and grab hold of him. Scared by their weird conduct, he yanks his arms away and starts shouting at them.
"Get away from me!"
Instead of doing so, they started laughing and whispering among each other. He flees from them, puzzled and terrified. Regardless of what he did, the laughing stayed loud and by his side. He felt as if his ears were bleeding from this. Finally, Neo closed his eyes hard, protecting both of ears.
He remained still for what seemed like ages, only opening his eyes when he felt something brush against his arm. In front of him stood the beast that was pursuing him. His eyes shook as the entity approached to study him.
It had marks identical to the individuals he had just seen and studded its brows with piercings. Strings of glistening silver flowed from the piercings brushing against his shoulder as it smelled him.
He held his breath until it came to a halt exactly in front of his face. Its face gradually came together, and Neo made out its face. It closed its eyes and moved cautiously forward to hug Neo.
Neo finally breathed in, closed his fists, and broke out of his unconsciousness. As he looked around, he discovered himself outside the door. His hand was splattered with blood, and his mouth was dry.
In front of him were many bodies that appeared to have been hacked into pieces. Guts spread everywhere, as blood piled up at his feet. When he looked across at what appeared to be a heart, he gulped.
He came to realize something else. His arm's persistent discomfort has stopped. Raising it, he notices the brightness gradually fade into a mark, and it stops glowing. As he reflected, something occurred to him.
Neo steals the knight's armor and wears it. He walks away from the horrific sight, dazed and clutching his own hand tightly. As he approached other knights, they gazed at him, confused at the blood but not questioning it. Sweat began dripping from him as he lurked around the place. The longer he was here, the more tired he felt.
Loud shouts from outside distracts him, causing him to look out of the windows. From beneath, a group of soldiers were marching towards the place. His eyes shook when he saw a glimmer of silver hair peeking from the far-left corner.
It was the girl from last time. The one that had desperately been running away from the soldiers. In the far distance, he sees a guard running over to her. She seemed paranoid, often glancing everywhere.
Neo clenched his hands as he realized what was happening. The girl had handed the guards money. His mother was dragged into this situation by the girl. Everything that had happened was because of this girl and the king.
"And Lord Dansa." He muttered.
The world has been unfair since the beginning of life. But this incident had instilled in his mind that it will always remain the same. Making his way out of the place, he hid behind the stone pillars as the groups of marching soldiers approached.
"Sir Aaron!"
Someone stepped up to greet the man leading the group.
"The quake seemed to have hit the cells today. The state of it is horrible. The stairs are blocked and…and we are sure the prisoners are dead." The guard stated.
"What about the Priestess? The woman and her son?"
Hesitating to answer the question, Sir Aaron raised his hands to slap the man in the face. Stunned by the sudden action, the soldier soon began to beg for forgiveness.
"What will I tell his Majesty? That I lost the criminal because of mismanagement during natural occurrences? I, the one that had the power to prevent this from happening?!" Sir Aaron yelled.
"Please forgive me for my negligence!"
The soldier began crying out in anguish on multiple occasions. The folks around them were all tense due to the sudden nature of the events. Everything was well; even the renowned Teja came here to explain the reasons for the earthquakes. They were all certain that the one this morning was the last one. The earthquakes had caused numerous problems throughout the kingdoms, but people were confident Vamore would not be affected because it was land located near Hilan.
"It was inevitable." A familiar voice spoke.
Everyone turned over to the figure approaching the group.
"Lord Dansa!"
They all shouted together. Neo's gaze remained fixed on him as he approached the group. His eyes seemed to bore holes onto Lord Dansa's face while listening on. Neo had heard of the man briefly from the internet. He was known as the man that had helped the duke in protecting Vamore's borders.
Yet he was here, in the kingdom while everything else was unknown at the borders. Not only that, Neo grits his teeth. This man seemed to know of his father. Ignoring the ringing pain from his head, he thought back on the hostility that his mother showed the man.
That wasn't their first meeting.
A soldier rushes in, out of breath, and points to the direction Neo had come from. His eyes were big, and he appeared terrified, as he attempted to inform every one of the situations. As the group of men rushes in the direction, Lord Dansa looks to where Neo had been hidden. He goes over to check it out, but no one is there.