The ancient castle groaned around Cindy like a dying beast, each creak of timber and mournful sigh of wind through shattered glass a stark reminder of its age and decay. The cold bit deeper with every step upward, a damp, insidious chill that seeped through her armor, rattling her teeth.
At last, the second floor. A long corridor stretched before her, swallowed by shadow, lined with doors whose warped and cracked wood whispered stories of neglect. Now she heard it clearly – a faint, heart-wrenching whimpering, a child's voice, thin and desperate, calling for help.
Trap, her mind screamed the word, a sharp, urgent warning. Zariel was a master of deception, a puppeteer of the soul. He relished in exploiting weaknesses, in twisting compassion into a weapon.
But a stubborn flicker of hope, a desperate refusal to believe the worst, burned in her chest. What if it wasn't a trick? What if, against all odds, it was a real child, truly in need?