The sound of slow footsteps broke the silence.
I raised my eyes and saw the short man smiling slyly:
"Now you're starting to see… the true market."
I walked beside him hesitantly, the black sword in my hand pulsing as if it were another heart inside me.
The air changed… heavier now, tainted with the scent of iron and blood.
Then it appeared before us — a massive gate of black stone, etched with symbols glowing red.
Mysterious voices echoed inside my head… as if they were screaming my name.
I whispered:
"What… is this place?"
The short man answered coldly:
"The Gate of the Dark Market. Here, all forbidden things are sold… souls, blood, even memories. Everything that shouldn't exist… exists."
I stepped closer, and with every step it felt as though the ground was swallowing me.
But the sword in my hand trembled, as if the darkness itself was urging me to cross.
Suddenly, the guardian I had just defeated appeared in my mind… like a distant voice:
> "You have stepped onto the path… you will never be the same."
I gasped and clutched my chest.
The pain of the curse burned me again.
The short man turned to me with a mocking smile:
"The curse has begun to feed. If you don't control it… it will tear you apart from within."
I stayed silent, sweat pouring from my forehead.
But despite the pain… my eyes never left the gate.
I said quietly, but with a storm inside:
"I will enter."
The short man smiled and struck the gate with his short staff.
The stone cracked… and the gate opened with a loud scream.
Beyond it, a new world appeared before me:
Streets made of bones, a black sky lit by a broken moon, and strange creatures moving in the shadows.
I stepped inside.
And instantly… I knew I hadn't entered an ordinary place.
I had stepped into another hell.