Silver and Gold ✿ Neytirix

Chapter One: The Skull Faced Girl

"You're a coward, oh Mr Boogie Man. You're nothing like me. You'll never be my friend."

I treaded on deeper through the cave, holding my lantern close and shivering. It was awfully cold, and while my cloak was warm, it was still frigid.

Fatigue started to wash over me as my adrenaline faded, but I had to go on.

It was only now I realized the cave had been getting lighter, this confused me. I hid my lantern under my cloak, and sure enough, there was a very faint light up ahead. I felt scared, but also hopeful. I quickened my pace, and the light got slowly brighter.

I broke into a jog as I progressed further until I noticed clangs instead of my footsteps. I slowed and looked down, and realized I had started to walking on metal. I looked around and realized the walls and the ceiling had also been plastered with metal plates. This is where my curiosity peaked, just what was this cave? I wondered if it had been carved out purposefully instead of naturally.

Up ahead was a corner with light brighter than my lantern. So I blew the flame of my lantern out and stored it back into my satchel before I turned the corner. I was a bit scared to do so, but I couldn't go back or stay here. The only was was forward.

I walked up and placed my hand on the wall and hesitantly peeked behind the corner.

———

I gasped as I laid my eyes on the huge room, and the metallic smell of blood hit me.

I covered my nose, the smell of rust, metallic substance, and rotting flesh overwhelmed me. What on earth had happened here? I felt scared, the smell seemed like nothing good had been going on in this place. I set aside that fact for now to focus on my surroundings.

The metal ceiling had to be at least 30 feet high, with huge florescent lights hanging down, occasionally flickering. The lights left a space in the middle where a hatch was, directly in the center of the ceiling. It was strange.. but I wasn't going to investigate it. The room itself was square shaped, but definitely a lot larger than the marketplace in my village, and I considered the marketplace a decently large size. The walls were made of metal, with a thin layer of rust covering the corners, and there was a large painted circle on the floor. The circle had red and white rings, like a target pattern, and there were some machinery with switches and buttons on the side of the room, almost like a panel. On the other side of the room was a.. mechanical belt? That side of the room was completely covered in a glass wall.

This room was very strange, it scared me how big it was, and how much I didn't know about these things. I never knew much about machinery, it was all still very new to the world I think. At least, my village never used machinery.

I spotted a metal door on the other side of the room, past all the machines. I knew I had to go to that door, but I fear the person who made all the would be on the other side. The thought that maybe whatever behind the door was worse than the crowd behind me kept playing in my head, and a shiver crawled up my back. Yet my curiosity had peaked, and I moved forward.

I slowly let go of the wall and took quiet steps forward, careful not to make a sound and alert anyone who might be here. I walked past the target circle on the floor, and out of the corner of my eye I saw some sort of brown crust splattered on the target. I looked at it, and a wave of nausea washed over me. There was bits of.. flesh, maybe..? On the floor, and that brown crust looked like dried blood. I suppressed the urge to vomit.