Chapter 25: The Hollow Voices

Nathan was engulfed in total darkness, his body weighed down by the cold, grasping shadows. They clung to him like thick, suffocating tar, pulling him deeper into the abyss. The world was gone. Enoch, the cave, the twisted form of Angel—they all dissolved into the void. All that remained was the oppressive silence and the constant pressure squeezing his lungs, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

But worse than the suffocating void were the voices.

They whispered softly, yet their words felt sharp, cutting into his mind like shards of glass.

"You failed..."

"You abandoned her..."

"You let them all die..."

Nathan tried to scream, but no sound came. His throat felt raw, and his mind was splintering under the weight of the accusations. He wanted to fight back, to push the voices away, but his body refused to obey him. He was drifting, sinking into a darkness so deep it felt as if he would never surface again.

Is this it?

A fleeting thought broke through the haze. Was this his end? Would he die here, consumed by the monsters within and without? Nathan could feel his consciousness slipping, the weight of the shadows pulling him further and further away from reality.

But then, from somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind, a voice broke through. This one was different—calm, strong. Familiar.

"Get up."

The command was quiet but forceful, cutting through the chaos in his mind like a beam of light. Nathan's eyes fluttered open—or at least, he thought they did. It was still dark, but the sensation of being submerged in the shadows lessened. The pressure around his chest loosened slightly, and with it came a fleeting moment of clarity.

"Get up, Nathan."

The voice called to him again. And this time, Nathan recognized it. Angel. The real Angel, not the twisted figure that had haunted him in the cave.

But how? How could it be her?

With a surge of determination, Nathan focused on the voice, letting it guide him. He pushed against the cold weight of the shadows, his muscles burning with the effort. He was exhausted, broken, but the thought of Angel gave him the strength he needed to fight back.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Nathan broke free.

The darkness shattered around him, and he collapsed onto solid ground, gasping for air. His entire body ached, his limbs trembling from the exertion. For several moments, he lay there, staring up at the swirling sky above, unsure if he had truly escaped.

The world around him had changed. The oppressive fog was gone, replaced by a pale, sickly sky that seemed to stretch endlessly above him. The ground beneath him was cracked and barren, a vast wasteland littered with jagged rocks and twisted trees. Everything was dead—lifeless. There was no color, no sound. Just an eerie, unsettling silence.

Nathan groaned as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. His head was spinning, his vision blurry, but he forced himself to stand. He had no idea where he was. The cave, Enoch, the monstrous Angel—everything had vanished. He was alone in this forsaken place.

"Nathan."

The voice came again, softer this time, but no less urgent. He turned, his heart pounding as he searched for the source. And there, standing just a few feet away, was Angel.

But this Angel was different. She wasn't the grotesque, corrupted figure he had encountered in the cave. This was the Angel he remembered—his friend, the one who had stood by his side through everything. Her eyes were sad, filled with an overwhelming sense of loss, but she was alive. Or at least, some part of her was.

"Angel?" Nathan's voice cracked as he said her name, disbelief and confusion flooding his mind.

Angel nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving his. "I'm sorry, Nathan. I tried to hold on, but I couldn't." Her voice was soft, fragile, as if the very act of speaking was painful for her.

Nathan took a shaky step toward her, his heart aching. "I thought you were dead. I thought I lost you."

"You did," Angel said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm not really here. Not fully. This… this is all that's left of me."

Nathan's chest tightened. He wanted to reach out to her, to hold her and tell her that they could find a way to fix this, but deep down, he knew it wasn't possible. Angel was gone. What he was seeing now was just an echo, a fragment of the person she had once been.

"I don't understand," Nathan said, his voice trembling. "How are you here? How did you find me?"

Angel looked down at the ground, her expression pained. "I don't know. After I… after I died, something pulled me here. It's like I'm trapped between worlds, stuck in this place." She gestured to the desolate landscape around them. "I can't leave. Not completely."

Nathan's stomach churned. "Is there a way to help you? To bring you back?"

Angel shook her head sadly. "No. There's no coming back from this, Nathan. I'm gone." She looked up at him, her eyes filled with sorrow. "But you… you still have a chance. You can still escape this place."

Nathan shook his head, his throat tightening with emotion. "I can't just leave you here. I can't lose you again."

"You don't have a choice," Angel said softly. "This place… it's not what it seems. It's alive, Nathan. It feeds on despair, on fear, on death. If you stay here, it will consume you, just like it consumed me."

Nathan's mind raced, trying to make sense of everything. "But I can fight it. I can find a way to—"

"No," Angel interrupted, her voice firm. "You can't." She stepped closer, her gaze intense. "The only thing you can do is survive. You have to keep moving. Don't let it take you. Don't let it win."

Nathan's heart ached as he looked at her, at the person he had lost. "Angel…"

But before he could say anything more, the ground beneath them began to tremble. The air grew colder, and a deep, guttural sound echoed across the wasteland—a sound that sent chills down Nathan's spine. The shadows around them began to shift, growing darker and more solid, twisting into monstrous shapes that loomed over them.

Angel's eyes widened in fear. "It's coming."

Nathan turned, his heart pounding as the monstrous shapes drew closer. They were massive, their forms grotesque and twisted, like living nightmares made flesh. Their eyes glowed with an unnatural light, and their mouths twisted into horrible, jagged smiles.

"You have to run," Angel said urgently, her voice trembling. "Go, now!"

Nathan hesitated, his mind torn between wanting to stay with her and knowing that he had to survive. But the decision was made for him as one of the creatures lunged toward them, its massive claws slicing through the air.

"Go!" Angel screamed, shoving Nathan back.

Nathan stumbled, his feet catching on the uneven ground as he turned and ran. His heart was pounding in his chest, his breath coming in ragged gasps as the ground shook beneath him. The creatures were gaining on him, their guttural growls filling the air.

But Angel was gone.

Nathan's chest burned with the effort, every step a struggle as the landscape shifted around him. The ground seemed to stretch and twist, the desolation turning into a labyrinth of jagged rocks and towering cliffs. The creatures followed, their massive forms slithering and crawling across the earth like living nightmares.

He didn't stop running. Couldn't stop.

But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't escape the overwhelming feeling that something inside him had broken. Angel was truly gone this time—there was no saving her, no bringing her back. And with every step, the weight of that loss grew heavier, pulling him deeper into the despair that threatened to consume him.