Chapter 34 - The Dark Hall
Sid stood in front of the hut, its wooden frame seemingly fragile under the weight of time. The waterfall beside it continued its quiet flow, like a lullaby meant to distract him from the strange gravity this structure held.
He raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Once.
Twice.
Silence.
No sound stirred from within — not even the creak of movement or the shifting of air. He knocked again, a little firmer this time, "Is someone in there?"
Still nothing.
He waited for a while, then slowly reached forward and pressed his palm against the door.
Creaaak…
The wooden door gave way with a gentle resistance, swinging open.
The hut was empty.
No sign of life. No scent of meals or warmth of fire. Just a plain wooden table and chair, a long-dead hearth, and a single bed fit for one. Everything looked untouched, as though frozen in time.
But the silence felt wrong.
Like the world was holding its breath.
He hesitated at the threshold.
Then, after a moment of tense silence, he took a step forward and crossed the doorway—
Whoosh.
The air twisted. Shadows rippled.
The instant his foot landed fully inside, the world around him began to distort. The wooden interior melted away into darkness as the ground beneath him shifted—
He was no longer in the hut.
Darkness.
He now stood in a vast hall shrouded in gloom. The ceiling was high and unreachable. Shadows clung to the walls like smoke, alive yet silent. There were no windows, no torches, and yet the space was dimly lit — not by light, but by the absence of it.
The floor beneath him was stone, cold and smooth.
Far ahead, a short set of stone stairs led to an ominous throne.
And seated upon it…
A figure cloaked entirely in black.
Sid froze.
His breath caught in his throat. His body… wouldn't move.
It wasn't fear of death — it was something worse. A primordial terror that sank into the soul. Something deep within him screamed danger, yet all he could do was stand… and stare.
The figure sat motionless, as if carved from shadow itself. But the presence it exuded weighed heavily upon the hall — and upon him.
A closer look revealed faint horns protruding from the top of its hood, twisted slightly backward like old roots. Long, bony fingers rested on the armrests, unmoving.
Sid couldn't see its face — only a dark void beneath the hood. But he felt eyes staring back. Ancient eyes. Watching. Judging.
Then…
It moved.
Slowly, the cloaked figure raised its head.
From within the blackness of the hood, two glowing red eyes emerged. Crimson. Piercing. Alive. They seemed to pulse in the shadows like twin embers.
The moment Sid saw those eye, an involuntary shiver rippled through his entire being. It was as if time itself slowed under their gaze.
Then came the voice.
A hoarse, dry whisper that echoed across the chamber and rattled the very air.
"At last…"
The hall trembled faintly.
The voice belonged to a woman — not a young one. but aged… cracked by time and weathered by memory. Yet behind that roughness lay power. Old power.
Sid's knees almost gave in.
His instincts screamed at him to flee, yet there was nowhere to run. Not anymore.
A demon?!
The red eyes narrowed slightly, and a subtle grin seemed to form beneath the hood — though Sid couldn't see it, he felt it.
And then, the silence returned… but not the calm kind.
It was the silence before something begins.