"Uhm... Hello?" My voice wavered, but I forced the word out.
A moment of silence stretched before a whisper, low and resonant, echoed around me, bouncing off unseen walls.
"I'm sorry, lady, but you should leave. I don't want to hurt anybody."
The voice was everywhere and nowhere at once, making it impossible to pinpoint its source. My grip tightened around the torch as I pressed forward into the suffocating darkness.
"W-Well, as much as I'd love to, I don’t exactly know how," I replied, my own voice small against the emptiness.
The unseen presence paused. Then, in a breath that curled around my ear like frost, it whispered—
"You are Tabitha, right?"
I froze mid-step. Every muscle in my body tensed.
"Show yourself!" My voice was sharp, unwavering.
"But the walls said so..."
I flinched, the whisper now right at my ear. A chill ran down my spine.
My breath hitched as I turned sharply—and there he was.
A young man stood in the dim torchlight, his wavy black hair cascading over his face, casting shadows over his sharp, weary features. His clothes were loose and tattered—an old white shirt and pajama pants, both stained with something dark. Despite his gaunt frame, his skin was still eerily fair, his lips still a deep, haunting red.
"Y-You're the last descendant, aren't you?" My voice cracked with something between fear and anger.
"I guess," he murmured, his voice quiet, exhausted. "I wasn't supposed to be. But then... shit happened."
I studied him. He was too thin, too hollowed out, like a man drained of life—but his eyes held something sharp. Something dangerous.
"So... were you sent here to tame me?" His lips curled slightly. "Or to be my food?"
"Neither," I hissed. "Look at you. You don't need taming. And if you're planning to eat me, well—" I spread my arms mockingly, "—go ahead."
His eyes glinted.
"Ohhh! So they lied to you, too?" He let out a dry chuckle, but there was no humor in it. "You see... when they found me, I was at the brink of despair. They swore they'd help me, swore they’d bring me back to normal. But instead, they locked me here. In the dark. Again." His fingers brushed the stone walls beside him. "The walls told me a tamer would come for me."
"...The walls?" I echoed warily.
"Yes."
I barely had time to process that before—
"Ow—!" I hissed, pulling my hand back when the flame of my torch licked at my skin.
"Careful!" He stepped closer, his expression suddenly serious. "It’s dangerous for you to get wounded around me."
I frowned, rubbing my scorched fingers. "Why?"
"You already know why." His voice was softer now, yet heavier. "I’m no ordinary descendant. Any amount of blood will awaken the demon inside me."
Something clicked in my mind. A realization.
Before he could react, my free hand dropped to the hilt of my sword.
His expression darkened. "What are you doing?"
"The only way to tame you..." I said, voice steady, "...is to drive your demon out."
His breath hitched.
"Wait—!" He took a half-step forward, then stopped himself. "You’ll regret this. When that thing takes over, I might kill you. Or worse... I might tear open a chaos so deep that even the underworld itself won't be able to contain it."
I let out a slow, deliberate breath. "Haven't we already been living in chaos?"
"You don’t understand." His hands lifted, a silent plea for me to reconsider. "Do you know why they locked me here for a decade, even though I did nothing? Because I can't be tamed. They lured you here to seal you away with me."
His jaw tightened. His lips thinned into a grim line.
"I know the real you, Tabitha. And you know it, too."
"Shut up!" I snapped, the words tearing from my throat before I could stop them. "You don’t know a damn thing about me, or the hell I’ve been through!"
His eyes blazed. "We've all been through hell! Can’t you see?! We're a threat to them! Even if you tame me, they will never let you go. So, please—"
"No," I whispered hoarsely. "They have to. They gave me their word. And I have to get back to my mother... before it's too late."
My vision blurred as the thought of her, frail and waiting, hit me like a dagger to the chest.
His expression hardened. "You’re naïve if you think they’ll honor their promise. The likes of us are bound to die, Tabitha. You have to accept that."
"No," I breathed. "I made a promise. I'm leaving this place—dead or alive."
Without another word, I threw the torch aside, unsheathed my sword, and slashed it across my arm.
Pain exploded through my body as crimson droplets splattered onto the cold stone floor.
"You little—!"
A shudder passed through him.
The moment my blood touched the ground, the air changed. The darkness trembled. A pulse, raw and primal, rippled through the space as an inky black miasma erupted from his body, swallowing the chamber whole.
I could barely see through the thick, shifting fog, but I saw the marks—the glowing red-black runes that slithered across his skin like living veins of corruption.
Then he chuckled.
The sound was deeper now, distorted, inhuman.
"Who would've thought," he mused, voice laced with something dark and amused, "that the Goddess of Mayhem could be this stupid?"
I clenched my jaw.
"You really think you can escape this wretched place?" His head tilted, his eyes flickering a molten red. "When you're the one who brings chaos wherever you go?"
His pupils, now thin slits, locked onto me.
A tremor ran through my bones.
"You should have listened to my other side," he murmured. "Because now—"
The torchlight flickered.
Then, with a sharp hiss—
It went out.
And the darkness swallowed me whole.