Inner Discord

Prologue

There I heard a bang again. This time, it was much louder and closer than the previous ones.   But, despite the fact I could die any moment if I was not careful, I kept running as fast as I could. I had to make it in time. Otherwise, all would have been for nothing. I ran around the corner, almost slipped, and ran farther. Someone was yelling behind me as if he saw Death itself. But I did not care. The purpose of my journey was not much further, I would be there in a few minutes. I kept looking behind me, I did not want to be followed right now. That would be terrible. Suddenly I stopped. I thought I had heard something fall. After I did not hear anything for a moment, I concluded it must have been my imagination, and began running again.

Then, I was still gasping from my effort, my trouble finally was rewarded: there stood a large villa right in front of me. Before I could even take a little rest,  I opened the big, massive, vast doors. I entered. My black, torn clothes hung along my terribly wounded body. I would not last much longer. On the ground, I saw a huge puddle of red liquid. It was real sticky. Before I even had even noticed it, I slipped. The moment I stood up, I saw there was a mirror above me. I looked like I had just killed someone.  But there was no time to wash it off, it was not there I had to go. Upstairs, second room to the right of the corridor, if I remembered correctly. I climbed up the stairs, I heard them squeak, like there was some old woman whose voice sounded like never used chalk that scratches a blackboard, that was screaming as loud as she could. I fastened my pace. Apparently there was some automatic lighting system, because as soon as I entered the first floor, the lights toggled on. It scared me. This was proof that in my absence, someone used my father's house... 

 Beneath me I heard the doors close. Some people had come in. One said: 'Let's be quick, we do not have too much time.' Someone else replied: 'Shut up! Somebody has come in, the lights are burning!'  I looked downstairs, and saw three people: one had a purple hat, another was dressed all in black, the third had a mask on. They seemed to carry something with them... It was a big package. I would easily fit in, and I am not the most thin person. I would fit in even if I were together with at least two of the other men, and they were just massive.  They blustered up the stairs and when I noticed them coming, I ducked away in the nearest room.

The room was not lit at all. The dimness stumped me a bit. After a few minutes, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I could differentiate some shapes. It were weird shapes. I went for a closer look. I grabbed something and hit the ground with it. It sounded hollow. When I saw it a little better, I thought it resembled a human's skull very much. Just next to it, there was a bottle, which seemed to contain some organs. I grabbed it and felt a blubbery substance. It turned out to be a brain. It looked like it fitted perfectly within the skull. I could not withhold my disgust and vomited. When I heard the three men had passed by, I came out of the room, still dizzy, and went to the room I had to be in. It was a surprise they had not seen me sitting here. I had to hurry, because it would not take long before they came back.

Without any difficulty, I reached the room I had to be in. It was a bright room without windows, in which all of the walls were dark grey. On the ceiling there was a drawing of a pentagram with a huge circular crack in the middle of it. In the crack, a golden ring was put. It fitted in perfectly. Right beneath it, an altar rose out of the ground. On it, there was a transparent sarcophagus, which looked like it was exactly made for a human to lie in. Next to it, there was a button and a lever. The lever was toggled 'on'. 

Luckily, the three men only seemed to have completed two of three steps. If I would just grab the ring, and destroyed it, all would be saved. I stretched out my hand, but I could not reach it yet. Suddenly I heard footsteps coming my way. I tried to grab the ring while jumping, but, because I was in a rush, I still could not quite reach the ring. The footsteps sounded louder and louder, and, when my hope just went down dramatically, my hand felt something cold and hard, and I was able to put the ring out of the crack. But, when I turned around, I saw that the other men had joined him in the room, and thought everything was lost.

The man with the purple hat looked angrily to me and said: 'How were you able to come in?' 

I replied: 'I have a key.' 

The other one reacted and said: 'That won't be of any importance if he dies here. Did you really think we had not noticed you in that little room? We just wanted to know what you were doing here.' 

I looked around and, to my great regret, I saw there had not suddenly appeared another exit. But, what I did notice, was that only two of three men were here. Where did the third one go? 

'Listen, I'm willing to spare your life, if you're willing to work with us', the guy with the purple hat said. 

'Never ever will I work with you rats', I spouted at him. The man looked angry and got ready to hit me, but as he rose his arm, he created a small opening which I just fitted into. I ran as fast as I could, passing the befogged other man, and hoped the third one had to pee or something.

Running through the corridor, I did not notice the guy who was standing in front of me and bumped into him. It was the one with the mask. He had a gun in his hand. It was a large, grey, gun, that is usually used for hunting. The moment he saw I held on to the ring, I could not be saved anymore. The last thing I heard was a bang, and as I felt the bullet piercing my forehead, the guy grinned. Everything was lost.