Euphoria

Chapter 22

Splashing water greeted (Y/N) as she raised her head and reluctantly opened her eyes. Her pounding head blurring her memories as she took in the oppressive dark fog around her. Rubbing her head, she vaguely remembered falling and hitting the water at such a speed it felt more like concrete.
"Where is this place?" She wondered as she shakily rose to her feet, she could see nothing but fog as it seemed to stretch forever.

She began to aimlessly wander, looking for a sign of something, someone or anything besides fog. Her foot suddenly hit something and (Y/N) looked down to see a small stone sitting on the ground. Nothing more than an ordinary rock until she reached out to pick it up, the stone began to glow a breathtaking aqua and hummed with energy. Shock and wonder lit up in her mind as she turned it over and studied it for a moment. "Some kind of tool or something?" She didn't have an answer but resumed her search, aided by the light from the stone.

She kept walking for what seemed like hours, however for all she knew it could've been much longer. Time was hard to figure out in a boundary at the best of times, and it was near impossible when everything was draped in shadow.
The area suddenly began to shift and change, going from a dark landscape to a ruby red hallway with dozens of staircases seemingly going to other levels. A small prick of dread shivered through her body as she observed the hall, her instincts telling her to be careful to pick the right hall. This was definitely some kind of test, however she doubted anyone would find her if she were to perish in these halls. Her feet froze for a moment as her heart began to race in her chest, a feral desperation began to sprout inside her mind as the reality of the situation began to sink in.

She vigorously shook her head to clear the panic and let out a breath. "I won't die here, I'm not going to end up as another one of those monsters." Slightly reassured, she squeezed the stone for comfort as she made her way to the first staircase. Whispers that she could barely hear came from the shadow of the stairs, swallowing her fear, she stepped down the first step and held out the stone so as not to trip down the rest of them. The glow began to pulse brighter as she started her descent, taking her by surprise before a loud roar rang out just a few inches in front of her and dozens of purple glowing eyes appeared. She screamed in shock and bolted back up the stairs into the main hall as the sound of dozens of scuttling legs began to follow her. She frantically gazed at the many different sets of stairs before bolting to one that disappeared into the ceiling, praying that the creature wouldn't follow her as she emerged into another hall with eyes carved into the walls and ceiling. It somewhat resembled the halls of the old building, just in a more twisted disturbing version of it.

The scuttling of the creature was replaced with an ominous crunching noise as she made her way further in, the glow of the stone got brighter as the noise grew louder. She covered the stone somewhat to hide her presence as a sickly green light came into view through one of the openings carved into the walls, crouching and peering into the room, she saw another one of the knights made of black smoke. It's armour was splattered red as the sickening snapping continued, it was then that she realized that the snapping was the bones of one of the students. The poor girls mouth had been sewn shut and half of her body was covered in some kind of black mold, one of her eyes was missing and various wounds were strained across her stomach. (Y/N) felt queasy and struggled to push down the bile rising in her throat and wanted to burn the scene from her eyes.

Her body began to tremble as she stepped away from the room, covering her mouth to muffle her panicked breathing as she struggled to pull her eyes away from the horrifying sight. However her foot caught on the rubble littering the hallway and she failed to keep her balance and tripped onto the floor, the shadow knights were on her in an instant as she struggled in vain to pry their attention away from her.
Her fear began to reach a boiling point as uncontrollable tears began to spill over and run down her cheeks. The creatures still remained indifferent as they studied her form, turning her head this way and that as she began her silent breakdown.
The creatures seemed to reach the end of their examination as her hope and determination to escape began to wilt in her chest, the knights heaved her limp form off the floor with ease and began to drag her deeper into the depths of the hall, she tried to give one last attempt to struggle but the knights gave no indication to acknowledge her efforts.
The stone's glow suddenly turned a blinding white, the grip around her suddenly vanished as she dropped to the floor. (Y/N) was confused and slightly stunned from the fall, adrenaline pounded through her as she clumsily grasped the stone off the ground and bolted down the hall while the knights were blinded by the flash.