Page 28 of Destined to the Reaper

The first staircase felt suffocating with its low ceiling and narrow walls that made it impossible to see what awaited me on the landing below. That no torches or other sources of light illuminated it made the confined space even more claustrophobic. I considered casting a light spell but decided against it. It wasn’t a long way to go before reaching the bottom, which clearly was properly lit.

My jaw dropped as I got off the last step. The room I entered proved to be even more massive than my memory from the vision. It was vaguely rectangular, with five landings located at different heights in the space and connected by a variety of staircases leading to other levels and semi-hidden passages. At a glance, the lowest landing was located at least twenty meters below my current position.

All around me, alcoves covered the walls, some big enough to act like a doorway, others the perfect size to fit one of the many caskets on display, and smaller ones serving as deep shelves on which a plethora of bones and skulls had been haphazardly piled on. However, what initially resembled thick, blood-covered cobwebs covered far too many of those alcoves. But on further inspection, they seemed to be fleshy membranes woven into spider-like webs.

As I walked past a row of caskets, I realized that quite a few lay open. Those that weren’t empty displayed obvious signs of having been desecrated in one outrageous form or another. Iaverted my eyes, not allowing my fertile imagination to recreate the horrors that had taken place here.

The eerie silence of the place was only disturbed by the echoing sound of my footsteps going down the second set of stairs, the crunch of dirt and small pebbles beneath my boots, and the occasional odd sound impossible to define. And I wouldn’t even speak of the creepy sighs that could simply be the result of the wind passing through random openings.

Following the path Pharos had indicated in the vision, I walked across the second landing to find the secret passage hidden by an optical illusion of the stone walls. This one, too, proved insanely claustrophobic. Barely two meters wide, it stretched over at least ten times that distance. On each side, carved directly into the walls, four stacked recessed shelves overflowed with human skulls. Judging by the extreme sizes, a few clearly belonged to young children.

Only three torches at about a six-meter interval each illuminated the enclosed space. The purple flames of the magical fire projected dancing shadows that freaked me out even more, creating the illusion that the skulls were moving.

I almost heaved a sigh of relief once I finally reached the other side. It turned out to be another large open area similar to the first one I entered previously. However, this one had the massive pool of water at the bottom from last night’s dream. Since I could see the top of a few alcoves now underwater, I could only assume this pool had not been intended but resulted after some kind of flood. The pool had the green tinge of unclean water filled with algae. Despite the thick, chalky film that hid what lurked below, the water stirred, hinting at the presence of something swimming in its noxious depths.

It was the first living being I’d perceived so far.

Using my Blood Magic, I stretched my senses to assess it. The wretched thing was massive. It overflowed with arcane power,the type likely to overwhelm me in a confrontation. I quickly withdrew when a slithering sensation creeped over my psychic mind. The creature was aware of my presence and was assessing me as well.

Intent on avoiding it, I walked closer to the walls, while still maintaining a safe distance. I didn’t doubt something might jump at me from behind the fleshy membranes that covered them.

However, my feeling of unease cranked up another notch as I felt for the first time evil closing in from behind. A dark entity was stalking me. I didn’t feel the threat of an imminent attack. It was biding its time, waiting for the strategic moment to strike, likely once I was trapped in an area that would make it difficult for me to escape.

A spark at the edge of my vision startled me. I barely held back a yelp and pressed my palm to my chest at the sight of a weak purple glow ahead. For a split second, I feared it was some kind of shade or nightmare taking form before me. I altered my vision to help me better see ethereal or ectoplasmic presences. To my shock, it turned out to be the purple thread from my dream. It appeared to be shooting out from my chest all the way along the path leading to the room where Pharos would be lying.

The sense of the evil presence closing in spurred me on. I hastened my steps although not as much as I would have liked. If the thing stalking me had strong predatory instincts, running or loudly broadcasting my fear might trigger it to go on the attack. If I had to battle before summoning Pharos, I didn’t want it to be in such an open space with far too many potential enemies to join the fray.

Thankfully, I didn’t have another narrow passage with bone shelves to cross. I didn’t doubt my stalker would have lunged at me had he been tailing me previously. After what felt like an eternity, three more staircases, two additional landings, and onelarge open corridor, I finally reached two massive doors that I did not recall seeing in my dream. If not for the purple thread now shining brightly before me and vanishing behind the doors, not to mention the extremely strong pull that tugged at my chest to move forward, I might have wondered if I had made a wrong turn.

Another glance over my shoulder didn’t reveal any presence. All I could see were countless skeletal remains and bones scattered around the edges of the large room. It was empty of any furniture. But tall arches on each of the walls were adorned by tinted glass windows, each one depicting some horrible human sacrifice performed by monsters and demonic creatures.

Although they were shaped like windows and even seemed illuminated from behind like from daylight, they couldn’t be real windows. We were far too deep underground for this.

Dismissing them from my mind, I closed the distance with the massive doors. To my relief, they too opened with a will of their own. I had dreaded they would require some sort of complex puzzle solving or ritual to be granted access.

But all such musings also flew right out of my mind as I took in the spectacle before me. The large circular room was indeed the sacrificial chamber Pharos had shown me. A small bridge led to a central island in the middle of which his body rested atop a rectangular altar. All around the island a thick pool of blood almost appeared to simmer as the occasional large bubble of air popped at its surface. Inside it, I spotted several fleshy chunks of gore and bones.

On the other side of the pool, another large platform lined the left and right walls. Like in the stairs maze, they were pockmarked with more alcoves over three levels, All of them covered in those fleshy web membranes.

But it was the terrifying statue on the back wall staring down at Pharos’s inert form that claimed all my attention. Iimmediately recognized her for what she was: a Keres. Those demonic creatures—usually females—were the spirits of violent death and doom. While they couldn’t kill anyone themselves, they got creative in inciting others or facilitating them to perform the deed so that they could feed on the dead and dying. They had a particular predilection for blood, which explained the pool at her feet.

She looked partially embedded into the roughly carved rock wall at the back. Her hands were extended forward, her sharp claws pointing upwards as if in a summoning gesture. Her head, slightly bowed, hid nothing of her terrifying face, humanoid in structure, but framed by two dozen snake-like hair. But it wasn’t Medusa’s mane. Instead of snakeheads, humanoid skulls with bulging eyes tipped the snake-like tendrils of her hair. She looked emaciated, the tanned and almost mummified texture of her skin stretching tightly over her bones.

Despite her petrified appearance, the reddish beige hue of her complexion made it clear she wasn’t a nightmarish sculpture adorning the place. She might appear dormant, but my gut told me the Keres was keenly aware of my presence in her chamber. Once again, I quieted down my urge to hightail it from here. The knowledge that she could not personally attack me went a long way into helping me keep my cool. Even in her apparent stasis, the power radiating from her had me nearly petrified.

Clamping down on my curiosity to get a closer look at Pharos, I circled around the island to place a few wards by the outer edges of the pool and near the alcoves on the walls. Beyond the fleshy webs, I detected lifeforms hiding behind them. They felt undead to me. However, I could also feel that they possessed flesh and blood. For this reason, I set down a series of blood darts aiming at the alcoves. If whatever lurked within came out, I could shoot them with the darts. Once it started coursingthrough them, I could use my Blood Magic on them to bend them to my will.

As I walked in front of the entrance doors to circle back to the other side of the room, I sensed my stalker nearby. It had stopped its approach. My gut said it feared entering this room far more than it ached to harm me. As I placed more wards and blood darts on the right side, I kept stealing furtive glances at the Keres. Although she had not moved, I knew with unshakable certainty that she was intently observing me.

And she was mad.

My task completed at last, I crossed the short bridge onto the circular island. This time, I feasted my eyes over his body. Although also desiccated, his mummified appearance was nowhere near as gruesomely sunken in as the demonic female on the wall. To my shock, I noticed wing bones on each side of his body.

Could he be an Angel of Death and not a Reaper?

I knew there was a distinction between them, with one having more restrictions than the other. If memory served, the Angels reaped the souls of the righteous, while the reapers indiscriminately took both good and bad people to the afterlife on top of acting as executioners whenever they so wished.

There would be time to dwell on that further once we were both safely out of here.

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