Dawnpoint

Chapter 1

He was on the same, spiral staircase again. Whether he went up the stairs or down the stairs didn't matter; he always ended up in the exact same spot. A single lightbulb flickered overhead, but if he put a foot on a different step, it exploded and plunged him into complete darkness. Then he only had two choices – either move back or walk to the next floor blindly only to find himself back in his original place.

The darkness was suffocating, but the walls glowed a soft grey, casting just enough light for him to make out his hand if he lifted it in front of him. He could make out the crumbling stone walls and the ceiling that looked one hit from caving in. There was a stench, putrid and cloying, that seemed to permeate his clothes and skin.

Something shifted behind him, and he froze even though his heart was pounding in his chest and his limbs were screaming at him to move. He stared into the dark, his eyes fooling him into thinking something was there when it wasn't. Or maybe it was because it shifted again – a slow, prolonged drag and a thump as it stepped on one of the stairs. The bulb flickered. Illuminated the figure.

He ran.

He sprinted up the stairs, breathing heavily, unable to scream. The creature advanced slowly, obviously taunting him as he ran up endless stairs, never moving from the same spot. The staircase grew longer, and the footsteps grew heavier. It was coming. Clawing and crawling its way to him, dragging itself up the stairs. It came faster, quicker, pounding against the stone stairs and the walls started breaking.

Micah screamed as it seized his leg, claws tearing apart his skin and a painful warmth knocking him sick. He collapsed, whacking his head on the stone, and thrashed as it dragged him back down the staircase. He cried with each hit, tears flowing freely down his face, and shivered when he touched something cold: mud – not cold enough to freeze yet numbed his fingers as he desperately dug them into the ground.

It dragged him deeper and deeper, away from the staircase. The treacherous mud smothered him, cramming into his mouth as he was dragged through it. Deeper, deeper, deeper –

Micah gasped and bolted upright in bed. He threw his legs over the side and lurched to the door, his entire body shaking, drenched in sweat, and reeking of the same stench from the staircase. He fell into the corridor with a heavy thud and checked his legs, finding no evidence of ever being injured.

Stumbling to the bathroom to wash it off, he pushed the dream out of his mind, though it lingered, insistently gnawing at his consciousness. After scrubbing harshly at his skin and changing into a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt, he finally made it to the kitchen where Kato greeted him with a large smile that faltered when she took one look at his face.

"Again?" She asked as she placed a bowl in front of him; Micah hummed in response. "Maybe we should speak to someone..."

"No. It's just a dream, I'll be fine." He smiled slightly and found it took great effort to move his lips.

Without truly eating it, he scooped up the cereal and dropped it back in his bowl repeatedly as Kato moved to make her own. He couldn't shake the feeling from his dream, the mud, the groans of the walls.

"We've been here for a couple of days," Kato said, twisting the locket her grandmother gave to her when she left Tsuen Wan between her fingers.

"And yet we haven't gotten anywhere," he grumbled, sending her a quick glare.

She sighed as she sat opposite him. "This has already been reported-"

"Not the full story."

"It's already been labelled a chemical disaster," she insisted, taking a swig of water. "There's nothing more to it."