He fell into the hole as if the forest itself had opened its mouth to swallow him whole. The descent felt endless—sixty heart-stopping seconds of helpless freefall. By all logic, it should have been his death. A fall that long should have shattered every bone in his body, leaving him a broken corpse at the bottom.
But fate had other plans.
Instead of stone or jagged roots, Rathmur struck something strangely soft. The impact still sent pain surging through his body, but not the kind that killed. Groaning, he lay there for a moment, trying to catch his breath.
It was pitch black. No hint of light pierced the suffocating gloom.
The air was thick with a rotten stench, sharp and nauseating, making him gag. Beneath his body, the ground felt damp and sticky. As he shifted, his fingers slid across a slick substance that clung to his skin. Cold. Viscous. Wrong.
Where the hell am I? …Ah, fuck. What kind of hell hole did I fall into? he thought, grimacing as he wiped his hand against the ground, only to smear more of the foul liquid.
"Grrrrrrr…"
The low, guttural sound rolled through the chamber, vibrating in the darkness. Rathmur froze. His breath caught in his throat. The sound was close—too close. And though he couldn't see a thing, the roar told him enough.
He wasn't alone down here.
Needless to say, it was a truly horrific moment. Then, without warning, the pitch-black void began to change. A faint glow shimmered through the darkness, spreading into a bright yellow as countless torches burst alight along the walls.
Flames lined the passage on either side, revealing a long, crumbling hallway. The walls were cracked and haggard, the floor fractured and worn, like some forgotten dungeon. What had been suffocating blackness only moments ago now shone as bright as day.
Rathmur's eyes snapped open at the sudden flood of light. And what he saw made his very soul tremble.
He was seated atop a mountain of corpses. Beast after beast, piled high, their bodies twisted and broken, as if they too had fallen into this pit but were not as fortunate as him.
The sticky liquid smeared across his hands and clothes was their blood. And the stench that filled the chamber came not from the dungeon's age—but from the rot of countless dead.
It wasn't over.
From the shadows of the cracked hall, pairs of eyes began to ignite—red, glowing, hungry. One pair, then another… until nearly around thirty sets of eyes burned in the darkness, circling him like predators.
They stepped into the torchlight, their forms revealed at last. Wolf-like, yet far more grotesque—shoulders hunched with bony ridges, fangs jagged and dripping with saliva, fur matted with blood and rot. Their presence was suffocating, each growl vibrating through the stone floor beneath Rathmur's feet.
Spirit Beasts.
He didn't need anyone to tell him. The power radiating from them was crushing, their movements far too sharp, far too deliberate to be mistaken for ordinary beasts.
They spread across the cracked floor in unison, a wall of snarls and snapping jaws, edging closer with every breath—as if the moment Rathmur so much as blinked, they would rip him apart.
It was in that moment he thought, What sin did I commit in a past life to deserve this cruelty? The weight of it filled his chest, a bitter mix of sadness and fear.
But even so, he wasn't ready to give his life just yet. Mother is still waiting… I have to find a way out.
The thought burned with determination, though deep inside he knew the truth—his chances of leaving this place alive were slim to none.
His eyes darted across the mound of corpses beneath him, searching desperately for anything he could use. His fingers closed around a long, jagged bone jutting from a beast's carcass. He tore it free, the sharp end glinting faintly in the torchlight.
A pitiful weapon against such atrocity—but the only thing standing between him and being torn apart.
"Grrrrrr… Grrrr…"
As if waiting for him to arm himself, two of the beasts lunged at once.
Though fear rattled his every bone, Rathmur gripped the jagged weapon with both hands and thrust it forward. The sharpened bone drove straight into one beast's gaping maw, piercing through its jaw before it could bite down.
"SHHK!"
"HRRRRKKKHHH!"
The creature shrieked in agony, thrashing as it collapsed to the ground. But before Rathmur could even breathe, the second beast's claws raked across him, hurling him sideways into the stone wall.
"Uhhh—!" he gasped, the impact tearing the air from his lungs. Hot pain exploded in his shoulder as blood spilled freely from the wound, soaking into his torn clothes.
Author's Note:
"Thanks for reading, everyone!
I hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to share your thoughts in the comments—I'd love to hear from you."