The lucky Storyteller

The silence was strangely comforting. I could barely hear my own steps, and I had that feeling of expectancy that I experienced while playing horror games with tunnels and secret doors, or those where something chases you in the woods, and you know it's there... watching, waiting. I almost had the impression something would jump out on me at the next corner. A few times I stopped on my track and looked back in the darkness behind me. There were no pairs of eyes, no strange noises. Nothing, only darkness. 

"I have no idea why, but this tunnel feels different from the others above. Must be my imagination. But how long is it? I should've arrived somewhere by now..." 

The air was dry and had a stale smell, but as I kept going, that gradually changed. It was a foul odour: a sweet metallic smell combined with sweat and human waste. Suddenly, I stopped, paralysed, holding my breath, unsure of what I heard.

The wailing was faint, but I definitely heard it. Someone was crying. I proceeded a few more meters and the sounds were clearer and clearer. 

"I see. So I'm close to the dungeons. I should hurry." 

I tried to ignore all the whispers, screams for help, mercy beggings, and with each step ahead my resolve was crumbling under their desperate voices. 

"What will happen to us? Will we die like the others?"

"There is nothing I can do for them."

"A worse fate awaits us."

"I have to survive. It's not my job to save a bunch of strangers."

"Why worse, Dad?"

"I don't care about them!"

"Because they have new heroes, lad."

"Huh? But the heroes are good. They protect us."

"Foolish boy!" said another man with a voice that suggested to me that he could barely keep his pain under control. "They protect the coins, not the people. We are doomed. No chance to get out of here alive."

"So... They are just like me... Damn it! I should mind my own bussines! My only duty is towards me. Nothing else matters. I am useless and can't do anything for them, even if I wanted to."

I moved faster, wanting to forget their words and go as far as possible. I didn't want to hear them anymore. I had my own problems to solve, before putting the lives of others above my safety. In fact, there was nothing I could do for them. 

"No one will raise me a statue for dying like a martyr for trying to be helpful to some strangers. I don't want to risk my life, when I already struggle to survive. If they were in my place, they would do the same. It's just human nature. It's unjust, but I dont pretend to be anything else than a coward. And since I'm a coward, I know my limits."

I was walking fast, my thoughts returning to those poor souls that were waiting on a death row. And I didn't feel guilty at all. I was not a hero, I had no responsabilities towards others, so my conscience was clear. 

Suddenly, I found myself near a transparent wall on the left side, that gave me such a jumpscare that I sat a few minutes glued to the right wall, watching terrified how two soldiers were carrying a cart with bodies on the other side.

"What is this? They can't see me?"

I waved my hand at them. Nothing happened, they minded their job. They came out from a dark room with an iron door at the end of the corridor.

"This is so annoying!" said one guardian, letting the handles of the cart drop. "Are we idiots? All the others went to make bets with the Captain, and we just do all the work? We should be there too. At least to get some booze."

"I hate it too, but someone has to do it," replied the other. "In fact, I think I prefer to get rid of the corpses, than to be in the same room with all the others."

"You're right. Our job is to clean after they murdered everyone. Have you seen them? The more they kill, the easier it becomes. When that wench gave the order, the soldiers didn't even flinch and started to kill as if possessed. Eighty people were killed! It was a bloodbath. More than the sacrifices from eight years ago."

"Back then, they gave eight sacrifices, but the summoning was a failure. You know how much our people invested in that ritual... But since Bezmal took over the place of the High Priestess, things started to change. I don't like her methods at all, they are extremely cruel. But efficient. And if that helps our kingdom, then who am I to question them? Anyway, let's get going. We have more than half remaining there, and we need to finish it before morning."

"Why didn't they sacrifice them closer to the furnals? It takes forever to carry them all in the valley. And how many have we carried so far?"

"The blood had to be soaked by the pillars with the statues of the eight gods, or so I've heard from one of the priests. And wait, it wasn't your job to count them?"

"I forgot. Maybe there were 23 or 24, or 25? We will know there were 80 when we finish."

They took the left corner and disappeared with the cart.

"This wall is like the glass from a police interrogation room. I can see without being seen. But why is it here? What was so interesting for the king to watch here? That secret room the guards were talking about? Nevermind. The blueprint does show some stairs that lead to a secret passage that should be on top of some huge chamber, but that is a dead end. I should stop wasting time and get the hell out of here. Oh! The right corridor I passed ten meters ago, probably led to the dungeons... No! I should avoid that place at all costs, otherwise I feel like I'll do something really stupid. On second thought, I may find something useful in that chamber above..."

I found the stairs next to the iron doors, and climbed them. This time I was in a circular wall structure that was completely transparent, and was like I was walking in the air or ice. It was sturdy, but I still felt uneasy up there, especially as I saw the eight giant sculpted pillars that made me think of the Greek Pantheon from my world. Most of them were truly terrifying. One was definetly a warrior, another a beatiful goddess.

"These two resemble Ares and Aphrodites. War and love. More or less, I can imagine these gods preferring someone very strong physically, and someone very beautiful... like that ragged man and the supermodel woman..."

Next was an old man with a staff, a woman with a book holding a stone in her hand, another woman holding something like an orb and a needle between her fingers, a knight in armour with a sword and a shield, an assassin with blades, and a very scary pig-like cook with a pan and a cleaver. And it wasn't hard to guess what heroes they chose. At the feet of the statues, at each one of them, there was a large pile of bodies and pools of blood, that seemed almost dark in the eerie misty light of the blue crystals.

"I am pretty sure this sacrificial chamber is right beneath the great hall where we were summoned."

I really hated the looks on these statues' faces. It's like I knew they hated me too. The two guards entered the chamber and lifted five corpses onto the cart, then left again. 

As I circled around, while approaching the opposite side I heard music and whispers.

I checked the blueprint again and stared baffled for a few seconds. It was like one of those games where you had to find out the right way through a maze, but as the plans of the castle were so complicated I didn't realize how they were all interconnected with the great hall. 

"As if it wasn't already hard enough! So annoying! It's like I'm deciphering hyerogliphs. This leads to the great hall above… hmm, then goes up right to the passages I escaped… to the kings' room… and then surrounds the dome above the great hall… I think this is the way Bezmal went… but that leads to another dead end? No, there must be a way out, even if it's not shown on the map, otherwise she wouldn't have gone that way. Could there be secret chambers to already existing chambers? I think I'm getting a headache. Anyway, I have no business up there again." 

I returned to the path from the dungeons. As I went straight ahead, I started to notice that it was getting hotter and hotter and I could feel the heat even under my fluffy slippers as if I was barefoot. That didn't stop me, though. I was so close to the underground chamber that I was running. At the end of the tunnel, there was a fiery incandescent glow.

As I was getting closer and closer, my stomach was starting to churn. I was afraid, and the desperation crept under my skin, smoldering my breath as I saw what terror was nestled in those nightmaerish depths.