Welcome back, Seekers of the Unknown...
Do you feel it? That weight pressing down on your chest? The hush before the storm? The way the air hums, thick with the echoes of something unseen—something waiting?
You should have turned back by now. Any sane person would have.
But you're still here.
Curiosity is a curse, isn't it? It beckons you forward, weaving illusions of truth and revelation. It makes you believe that knowledge is power. That answers will bring peace. But some truths are poison. Some doors should never be unlocked.
And yet, we step deeper.
The ruins beneath Blackvale Orphanage breathe like a living thing, the walls damp with secrets older than memory. The tunnels shift, listening, waiting for the next foolish soul to stumble too far. To listen too closely.
And guiding you ever forward? That ever-familiar whisper in the dark...
"La La La Do is here, dear Seekers. Do you think I lead you toward the light? No, no... The abyss is far more welcoming. And it has been waiting for you."
Episode 11 - Part 4: No Way Out
Darkness swallowed them whole.
For a moment, Edgar felt weightless—adrift in a void of whispers and unseen hands brushing against his skin. The grip around his ankle tightened, pulling. His breath hitched as he flailed, his fingers scraping against the stone floor, desperate for an anchor. But there was nothing. Just the endless pull.
Then—
A jolt. Ice-cold fingers seized his wrist, yanking him back. He gasped, lungs burning as if he had been drowning in something far thicker than water. His vision swam, the dim light of the lantern bobbing wildly as the girl struggled to hold on to him.
"Edgar!" Her voice was distant, muffled, as if the shadows themselves tried to swallow it whole.
He coughed, choking on the taste of decay, and forced himself to move. The grip around his ankle relented, slithering away into the abyss like a thing disappointed in its failed hunt.
The girl hauled him upright, her breath ragged. "We can't stop."
He nodded, though every nerve in his body screamed in protest. The tunnels stretched before them, winding and hungry. The walls trembled as if aware of their presence, the stones whispering secrets in voices he couldn't quite decipher.
Then, from the blackness ahead, came a sound that froze his blood.
A giggle. Soft, lilting. Childlike.
Edgar's fingers dug into the girl's arm. "Did you hear that?"
She swallowed hard. "Run."
The lantern flickered as they sprinted forward, the echoes of their footsteps swallowed by something unnatural. The giggle followed them, closer now, overlapping voices weaving into a melody of something forgotten.
And then—
A door. A heavy, rusted door set into the stone. Hope flared in Edgar's chest as they stumbled toward it. He shoved against it, but it didn't budge. His pulse thundered in his ears.
The giggling ceased.
Silence. A terrible, suffocating silence.
Then, a whisper. Right behind him.
"Let me out."
The lantern went dark.
A shuffling sound echoed in the pitch-black space. Something moved in the darkness, slow and deliberate. Edgar's breath came in sharp, panicked bursts as he pressed himself against the cold metal door.
The girl fumbled for something—matches? A lighter? Her fingers trembled as she struck at the darkness.
A tiny flame sparked to life, barely illuminating their surroundings.
And there, standing mere inches away, was a figure.
Pale. Hollow-eyed. A child, but wrong.
Its lips curled into a jagged smile.
The flame died.
And the screaming began.
To Be Continued in Episode 11 - Part 5...
The screaming didn't stop.
Edgar's world twisted—black tendrils slithering through the air, wrapping around his limbs, dragging him toward the door that had no right to open. His body convulsed as an unseen force peeled him away from reality, fingers scraping against cold stone.
The girl's voice was lost in the abyss.
And then—
A hand. Small. Ice-cold. Digging into his skin.
A voice, sweet and rotting, whispered against his ear.
"Stay with us."
The door slammed shut.
Silence.
Then, a slow, deliberate tap-tap-tap of a cane against the stone floor.
La La La Do sighs, amused.
"Oh, my dear Seekers... did you think this would have a happy ending? How adorable. But you know me better than that, don't you?"
His voice slithers through the dark, curling into something hungry.
"Edgar is trapped now... but for how long?"
"Next week's session will be quite... deliciously horrific. The grand finale of Episode 11. The moment where truths unravel, where nightmares take shape. I do hope you'll join us."
"And if you don't?"
A chuckle, deep and unforgiving.
"Well, let's just say... something might come looking for you instead."
The candlelight flickers... then dies. 🕯️💀🔮
YOU ARE READING
The last hour
HorrorHello dear readers, We are ARK'SZ. Each letter carries deep significance, symbolizing our mission and purpose. We are explorers, riding through the darkness that cloaks our world. Though we appear as ordinary humans, we are the hunters of the shado...
