The descent felt endless.
Not steep. Not winding.
Just… down.
A straight, impossible descent that made no physical sense.
Aya kept checking over her shoulder, half-expecting to see the entrance still behind them, as if they were walking on a treadmill built out of lies.
"We've been going for too long," she muttered. "We should've hit the bottom or died of cardiac arrest by now."
Tomas grunted.
"Stop. You're making it worse."
Leo wiped sweat from his palms onto his shirt.
"Why is it warm down here? Shouldn't underground be cold?"
Nia's voice was tight.
"It is cold. I feel it on my arms. But the air is warm. Which makes no sense."
Felix didn't respond.
His chest ached a sensation not like pain, but like a violin string pulled too tight.
The key inside him beat with a soft rhythm, like a second pulse, guiding him deeper.
It whispered.
Not in words.
In sensations.
A bitter taste on his tongue.
A metallic sweetness slipping down his throat.
A pull at the base of his spine.
Here. This way. Closer.
"Felix," Nia said softly, brushing his shoulder. "What do you feel?"
He opened his mouth...
but before he could answer...
the tunnel ended.
Abruptly.
As if sliced.
---
They stepped into a vast chamber that smelled of raw cocoa and cold air.
Lina gasped.
Her sketchbook nearly slipped from her hands.
The chamber was carved from chocolate stone, but not polished or molded.
It was rough, jagged, almost violent.
Like something had clawed its way out.
Across the chamber, huge mechanical structures hung from the ceiling like rusted gears the size of car tires, broken conveyor arms dangling like bone, and belts of hardened caramel crumbling in slow flakes to the floor.
Leo whispered, voice barely breath:
"This is… old."
Aya's eyes narrowed.
"No. This is abandoned. And not in a normal way."
Tomas pointed toward a row of shattered glass vats.
"What were they doing here? Brewing chocolate? Mining it?"
Nia took a hesitant step closer.
"No," she breathed.
"They were refining. Something stronger."
Felix swallowed hard.
He felt it.
In the air.
In the floor.
In his bloodstream.
A flavor so intense it curled at the edges of his awareness: bitter, old, fermented.
The taste of betrayal.
He staggered.
Nia caught him again.
"Talk to me. What's happening?"
Felix pressed a hand to his chest.
"It's like… the room is speaking to me."
Leo squinted.
"In... Words?"
"Not exactly.... In flavors."
Aya blinked slowly.
"Okay....That's horrifying."
But Lina was staring at Felix with wide eyes.
"Felix… does it feel like déjà vu?"
He froze.
Because yes.
Yes, it did.
Like he had been here before.
In the vision.
In the pain.
In the shadow of the masked figure.
A sudden crack echoed through the chamber.
Everyone jolted.
The sound came from the far wall
the one covered in twisted pipes and dark caramel rivets.
A circular hatch jerked violently.
Once.
Twice.
"Is something coming out?" Tomas whispered.
Aya reached for a broken metal rod, gripping it like a bat.
"Let it try."
Leo picked up an iron gear as a makeshift shield.
Nia pulled Felix behind her.
"Whatever it is, we're ready."
Felix's heart hammered as the hatch wheel spun, screeching.
The key inside him thrummed.
Not warning.
Recognition.
"Wait," he whispered.
"I think…"
The hatch burst open with a shower of dust and ancient sugar shards.
Something stumbled out.
Not a monster.
Not a masked figure.
A machine.
A sentry drone, half-destroyed and covered in crystallized cocoa.
Its one remaining lens flickered to life.
"IDENTITY… UNKNOWN…"
Its voice crackled like static grinding through syrup.
"DISTRICT… ACCESS… PROHIBITED…"
Aya lifted the rod.
"Oh great. A zombie robot."
Tomas hissed, "Felix, tell it who you are!"
Felix stepped forward despite Nia's hand clutching his sleeve.
The machine's lens adjusted, focusing on him.
"ANALYZING…"
Felix felt a jolt run through his body.
Not from the machine.
From the key.
A wave of bitterness surged up his throat—sharp, overwhelming.
He gasped, almost choking.
The machine beeped rapidly.
"SIGNATURE… MATCHED."
"BEARER OF THE BITTER KEY… DETECTED."
"ACCESS GRANTED."
Everyone stared at Felix.
Aya muttered, "You've GOT to be kidding me."
The sentry's shattered compartments shifted.
A panel opened on its chest, revealing a holographic map of layered tunnels.
Lina stepped forward, mesmerized.
"That's… beautiful."
Leo pointed.
"What are the glowing parts?"
Tomas squinted hard.
"Paths? Sectors?"
Felix felt the taste again,metallic and dark as his eyes locked onto the deepest point of the map.
"That," he whispered, "is where we need to go."
The machine's lens dimmed.
Its voice sputtered:
"WARNING… WARNING…"
"UNSTABLE STRUCTURES… UNSTABLE RESIDENTS…"
"THE SHADOWED—"
The machine sparked.
Then collapsed into a heap of caramelized rust.
Silence swallowed the chamber.
Aya exhaled shakily.
"I hate this place so much."
Nia turned to Felix, eyes tight with concern.
"You okay?"
Felix nodded,but barely.
But his voice was quiet, afraid, certain:
"We're not alone down here."
A soft scrape answered him.
From the dark corridor beyond the hatch.
Lina's breath quickened.
"Something's moving."
Leo tightened his grip on the gear.
"No one panic. No one scream. No one—"
A whisper slithered through the dark:
"Felix…"
Not a voice.
A memory.
A flavor.
A summons.
Felix stepped back, trembling.
"That's the thing from my vision."
Nia grabbed his arm.
"And we're not letting it get you."
The corridor shook a little, once, twice—
as footsteps approached.
Slow.
Hungry.
Sharper than teeth, sweeter than sin.
Aya raised the metal rod, jaw set.
"Everyone get ready. It's coming."
Felix's heartbeat synced with the approaching rhythm.
And the taste in his mouth twisted into pure, terrifying bitter truth.