Into the Dark

Chapter 46

Xur continued to forcefully push me down flights of dark staircases, growling as we apparently drew nearer to the Below.

I wanted to say something to him, to ask him why he endured the harshness that Salazar threw at him... but I couldn't find the words to speak. They were lodged somewhere deep inside me where I was shaking with fear.

Before too much longer, we reached a large, iron door, rusted and full of age. Completely solid, I realized, except for a small cut out closer to the top that was closed off with three evenly spaced bars. With that, it was equipped with locks that seemed untouchable from the inside. I gulped at how intimidating it seemed.

Xur, with a bit of struggle because of the rust, snatched open the locks and shoved me into another dark hallway. The first thing I noticed was the putrid smell, worse than the smell from earlier. There was more than a scent of death... I could smell the suffering and despair of poor and lost souls, some who were probably dragged here against their will, even when innocent. A scent that also carried the stench of rotting... corpses. I was certain that was the smell because I had obviously smelt it before.

The second thing I noticed was the jail cells aligning each side of the hall. They were lit by torches placed on columns in between each one, barely doing their intended job. I had a feeling it wasn't an accident, though.

I heard groans and moans of suffering, small cries, loud cries, begs for help, some for death. No doubt they were coming from the cells. It wasn't until I began my walk down the hall that I soon found their sources... and the reason the people made them.

The cells were sheeted in filth, blood, and other substances I didn't dare begin to think about. Their inhabitants were just as worse, skinny, dirtied and bloodied, and so shabby looking I wasn't even sure how they were still alive. Some of them clung to the bars begging for my help and others clawed at me with long, ugly nails. I hadn't noticed their deformities before, but some were so crippled, they couldn't even stand. Some didn't have arms, some with no legs, and some with faces that looked either burnt or skinned. I don't want to go into depth about some of the other things some of them were missing. To sum it up, I'd say these were all victims of torturous experiments... or just torture itself.

Part of me crumbled while passing them and the other part cringed and turned away. I hated that honestly... these people had been here for I don't know how long and had to endure such torment the whole time. They were stuck in eternal suffering until death... if they could even die.

"Monsters," I whispered.

"Indeed they are," Xur growled in disgust. I glanced over my shoulder at him and snarled.

"I wasn't talking about them."

"Shut up!" he barked while shoving me forward. I had no choice but to follow his orders and continue walking. Eventually, we reached the end of the incredibly long hall and almost as if it were fate, there was a conveniently empty cell on the right that I soon occupied. Xur said nothing else when he locked it and left.

"Well this is great," I groaned to myself as I collapsed onto the filthy floor. I sat close to the bars so I could get a bit of light and possibly see anybody coming down the hall, although it was too dark to see that far. I ended up just leaning against them and thinking quietly to myself... waiting.

I was distracted by the inhabitant of the cell in front of me when they started groaning out of nowhere. I could tell they were turned away from me, laying down and twisting uncomfortably. By the deepness of their sounds, it was safe to assume it was a guy. His hair was dark, his clothes a little shabby like mine, and his form oddly muscular, unlike all the others.