warlock way

Carnicería

Eric, seeing the entire structure before him, intuitively and logically believed that this place was the exit, but his senses were also screaming that it was a trap.

"I've spent so much time in this labyrinth, and fortunately, I've only encountered one creature. I don't think it will be that easy to get out of here," Eric thought, doubting as he scanned the landscape for any creatures or traps, since it was too calm and easy to be true.

Unsure of how to verify this, he attempted to pry some glowing rocks from the walls and gather them in one place before reaching the bridge. After collecting a large amount, he prepared to throw several stones into different spots in the black lake, specifically into the black liquid surrounding the bridge, as he needed to cross it and didn't want any surprises.

He threw some stones into the black water but couldn't see anything, as the faint golden light was not enough to penetrate the lake, which appeared to be quite deep.

Determined, he pushed the entire pile of rocks at the side of the bridge into the water. The golden stones fell into the liquid, but due to their large number, Eric was now able to glimpse what was beneath, and it terrified him.

The pale creature he had killed before was now there, but there were seven of them in the black liquid, illuminated by the golden stones. They were swimming in the black liquid, some even fighting and biting each other, but this was interrupted when, noticing the golden light, the creatures fled further into the lake where the light did not reach.

"Damn, if there are seven of those things here and I've only seen a small part of the lake, how many of those creatures could be here?" Eric questioned with a worried look.

"It doesn't seem like it's going to be as easy as I thought. Now I need to test how they will react when they notice an object touching the bridge," Eric thought. He then threw some stones further away, near the bridge stairs, so that if any creature emerged, it wouldn't kill him.

The lake remained eerily silent as the rocks hit the bridge. Not a single creature emerged from the black liquid. Eric didn't know if the creatures were indifferent to the rocks or if they didn't notice what crossed the bridge. Or if it wasn't enough to make them come out. Additionally, what reassured Eric was that, apparently, there were no traps on the bridge, as it remained undisturbed.

Eric was in a dilemma about what to do to get to the other side of the bridge. "There are two possibilities. The first is that I cross the bridge and the creatures don't notice me, just like with the rocks. That would be the ideal case, but it's playing with luck. Nothing guarantees that those things will stay down there. The second case is that I cross and the creatures come out and devour me alive."

"It's pointless to doubt; it's not like things will change just by waiting. I need to do something," Eric thought.

Thinking of a solution, Eric decided: "I know those creatures don't like the light from the stones. So, I should carry a lot of them on my body. When they come out, they won't attack me and will stay away from me. But I hope this works, as, despite the small size of the stones, their weight cannot be ignored. Carrying several of them on my body will slow my progress, and that, not to mention the climb to that opening, will make it a difficult path, but I must do it if I want to survive, or at least try," Eric said with a confident tone.

So Eric prepared to cross the lake. First, he unfolded his vest, which held the two vials with strange liquids, and put them in his pockets. Then, using the dagger he had, he opened an opening in the top of his vest to allow the small stones to be placed inside. He tore several golden stones and placed them in the vest. He checked after adding several to see if he could move with it on. When the vest was quite full, he found that running was a bit difficult, so he stopped adding more stones. With great care, he made several holes in the vest so that the light could shine through from inside. He made many holes until it looked like a sieve. Obviously, he made sure it would hold and not break from the weight.

Eric put on the vest and found it quite striking as it emitted a strong golden light. He tried running and it was indeed uncomfortable, as the weight made him tire more quickly. Additionally, the vest, while moving, sometimes struck his body, causing him minor pain, but nothing serious.

He grabbed the largest golden stone he could find with his left arm and used the curved black dagger in the other arm. Eric, fully prepared, stood in front of the bridge and gathered the courage to move towards what would be his freedom or his death.

Just as Eric was doing this, he heard many footsteps from the golden circular hallway. It was as if an avalanche was coming down towards where he was. Worried, Eric didn't give himself the luxury of waiting to see what was coming from behind. If it arrived, the hallway was so narrow that he couldn't escape, and they would end up killing him.

So, with firm steps, Eric slowly advanced across the bridge. Seeing that he was almost in the middle and the footsteps behind him were growing louder, he decided to run up the stairs as fast as he could.

Fortunately, none of the creatures emerged from the bottom of the lake, and Eric reached the base of the stairs. They were not very long, just enough to reach a gap in the black wall, from which a faint blue light emanated. Thus, Eric climbed them without finding anything to hinder him. Soon he reached the top, facing the gap. But before he could take the last step to enter the gap, he heard a loud scream from the hallway, followed by a series of heavy footsteps.

Turning his head, Eric saw several children who had, fortunately, managed to survive, emerging from that hallway. But they looked injured, some on the brink of death. Among them were Aiden and Blair, who had some injuries; as for Blair, she had tearful eyes but a burning fury inside her.

They seemed to be fleeing from something because, just as the last child turned in the hallway, he was impaled in the chest by a spiked tail. Seeing this, Eric knew what creature they were fleeing from. His suspicions were confirmed when dozens of pale creatures emerged from the bottom of the hallway. These, mercilessly, devoured the child and moved on to their next victims.

The children fled. Seeing Eric at the top of the stairs and the blue light on the wall, they didn't hesitate. They judged it to be the exit. They ran desperately towards it, chased by the creatures.

Perhaps due to fear or seeing hope before their eyes, they didn't think about the strange cavern and simply ran. It was chaos. Some pushed each other in the hallways and grabbed onto each other. Others sacrificed a child beside them so that the creatures wouldn't kill them.

When the first child stepped onto the bridge and advanced heedlessly across it, followed by the others, chaos and death emerged from the lake. They didn't even manage to reach halfway across the bridge when the lake stirred, and the continuous splashes echoed through the cave. The sight of pale creatures leaping from the water towards their prey lit up Eric's view.

Witnessing everything happening before him, Eric, with a solemn look, could only say: "It's hell." He had never imagined seeing a scene like this: a few dozen children fleeing and hundreds of horrible pale creatures emerging from the hallway and leaping from the water, trying to catch the nearest victim to devour. Soon, the sounds of agony and pain filled the cavern, along with the countless amounts of blood that stained the entire bridge and the black lake.

Disturbed by the scene before him, Eric murmured: "It's madness. This is confirmation that in this world, life means nothing and having power is the only salvation." Then, he turned around and entered the gap in the wall to disappear.