Level And Life | KTH ✓

20. Fear the Dark

"Welcome to Level 5!"

Dark.

Nothing other than that word could describe the place the best where they stood in. The air was numb and with every breath they drew, a misty, chilly exhale followed. A booming sound shook them out of their musing state. Thunder roared more intensely as if the storm was ready to pour at any moment. The windows rattled vigorously from the howling wind, as though they were about to fall out of the frames which were made from rotting wood being eaten away by woodworm.

All of a sudden, the lights started to flicker furiously. A bulb tied to a grey rope hung from the ceiling, swaying sideways like a pendulum, fighting against the gusts of wind. Within the blink of an eye,

BAM!

The swaying bulb burst into millions of small pieces. All the lights went off, resulting in turning the place darker than ever.

A feeling of uneasiness crept up to Yoongi's mouth as it became dry as if all the saliva was sucked up by his throat. 

No matter whether he was in a 'real world' or a 'game world', his fear of darkness never left him alone. After all, it couldn't change the fact that he was still a human. 

Wherever he looked, he couldn't see anything. Everything was pitch dark. His palms felt sweaty. He started to feel breathlessness. His body began to shiver.

"W-what's wrong, Yoongi hyung?!" Namjoon muttered as he took his trembling hands in his own.

"I-I couldn't look. It's dark. I..." Yoongi couldn't be able to finish his sentence. When he dropped down on the cold floor, both of his hands covering his ears, head buried in between his pale knees. His head felt like someone was hammering a nail on it. His heart palpitated to an abnormal beat.

Then it didn't take long for them to realize that why he was behaving like that, actually he was having a panic attack. 

An overwhelming feeling of anxiety and dizziness took over Yoongi as he had the intense need to escape the situation. Even if he had powers yet he once again felt powerless over his fear.

"Hyung Hyung! Just look at me." Hoseok requested as he kneeled in front of him.

His voice denied to came out. He didn't listen to him like his ears lost all the will to hear anything.

"Look! Jimin turned on the lights back. There's no dark anymore." Hoseok placed his hand on the former's shoulder as he tried to calm him down.

Yoongi slowly lifted his head as his body was still quivering, his lungs gasping for air.

"Take deep breaths." Hoseok said as he demonstrated by doing himself.

"In, out

  In, out."

Yoongi proceeded as he was told through his blurry vision. He somehow gathered himself together. It took a moment to force himself to breathe steadily until the buzzing in his ears stop as his chest felt too tight.

As soon as he became normal, Hoseok wrapped his arms around him firmly, rubbing his back.

"Don't worry hyung, everything is alright now." he assured as a lone tear slid down from his eye.

As they went further, observing the details eventually they comprehended it wasn't just a room, it was a whole freakin' ass Villa.

The moonlight cast a ghoulish glow on the villa. The walkway leading up to the corridor was cracked. Weeds and dandelions poked out from those cracks. The walls showed black decay by neglect, they were so cold to touch, stealing the heat from their warm fingers, never caring if their own hearts would freeze. Cobwebs covered the corners of the doors, big black spiders threading towards their prey. They could feel the unevenness of the old carpeted floor beneath them.

As soon as they stepped inside the hallway with uncountable rooms to choose from, a grand staircase greeted them, as if welcoming them dramatically and elegantly.

A magnificent chandelier with broken strings of crystals hung from the creamy ceiling, ready to fall anytime.

At the side, there were big weird statues of the heads of cows with horns on the black, mossy pillar that had nearly fallen off.

A misplaced grand bookcase stood in the corner of the hall, which seemed undisturbed for a long time as if selecting the correct book could reveal a secret doorway into a labyrinth. Ancient portraits hanging from the walls followed them with their eyes like human eyes.

"Huh...that person was smiling before, how did its expression change to a sullen one?" Taehyung yelled, getting flustered as he noticed the man drawn in one of the paintings closely.

"And that man's eyes were opened just now. Yes, I definitely saw that and they are c-closed now?!" Jungkook who was next to him stuttered as he pointed towards the other painting. They both decided to quietly move on from there as the ice replaced their spines.

On the other hand, as soon as Moon twisted one of the cold doorknobs with a creak, the bats came screeching at her, startling her.

"AHHH!" an unintentional scream escaped her mouth as she quickly slammed the door back.

Then, as the lightning continued to flash, illuminating an eerie way, Bee saw a silhouette of a woman passing by.

"WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!" she was the first one to witness that, alarming everyone up as they now glanced in the same direction as hers.

The figure of the woman slid smoothly like she had roller-skates instead of feet. She wore a torn, floor-length ivory gown, long straightened black hair falling freely on her back, her lips tinted in red gloss.

After then what happened next had their jaws dropped, almost displacing them from their cavities.

The white-powdered feet of the woman slowly began to climb up the wall, making her body turn perpendicularly against the wall. She was comfortably progressing like it was just the floor.

Suddenly, the sound of someone's footsteps running by filled the air that made them spiked their heads on the other side. When they looked, there was no one.

And when they turned their heads back towards that woman, their eyes widened in shock to find no one there. She had disappeared into the thin air, only leaving behind her bloody footprints imprinted on the dusty wall.

It made them gulp the lump formed in their throats. No one said anything as they couldn't find the exact words to describe the situation they were engulfed in.

A cold drop of sweat rolled down Jin's forehead when he felt it and peeked down. The pool of thick scarlet liquid underneath him, blood... 

Author's Note:

Hey guys!! As it's the 20th chapter so something interesting had to arrive into the scene...*smirks*. I'm excited about this level. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Have a nice day/night!! Take care and stay safe~

I purple you 💜💜💜