Chapter Three

  I approached closer and sat beside her on the worn wooden chair, while the fire crackled quietly in the hearth.

  “I’ve seen many walk toward it…

  Some with eyes full of hope, some with hatred, and some didn’t even know why they were walking.”

  I gnced toward the window, where the moon hung still in the sky… unmoving, unchanging.

  After she finished her words, she fell silent again, as though she hadn’t said anything at all… as if she were speaking to herself, not to me.

  I sat alone for a few moments, watching the firelight dance on the stone walls, my chest still aching from the wound.

  I tried to rise… this time, I managed.

  I walked slowly toward the door and opened it.

  The wind was waiting for me, cold, heavy with the scent of ash and dust.

  I saw the path… narrow, devoured by thorns on both sides, and above it, the moon hung like an eye that never blinked.

  I began to walk.

  An hour passed… or a day… I couldn’t tell.

  Then, I arrived.

  A small house, its doors shut, all its windows sealed.

  But a voice came from within, a young woman’s voice, cautious and uneasy:

  “Don’t come closer… tonight is not ordinary.”

  I stood before the wooden door.

  “The moon is too close tonight… It sees everything.

  Please, if you’re alive, turn back, lock the door behind you. Don’t let the light enter.”

  I said,

  “I’m… not looking for a fight.”

  There was a brief silence.

  Then, in a softer voice:

  “Do you see that light on the ground?

  It’s not moonlight… it’s his breath.”

  I asked,

  “Who are you?”

  She replied:

  “Just a girl… trying to stay away from everything.

  But you… it seems you don’t have that choice.”

  We were silent.

  Then she whispered, as though afraid the moon itself might hear her:

  “Be careful… because the moon doesn’t light without a cost.”

  After that…

  The sound of locks returned, one after the other.

  And once again, silence became my only companion on the road.

  The path before me was covered in dust, with old footprints as if someone had passed here just hours ago…

  But everything around me was still, more still than it should be. No birds, no sounds…

  Only the moon, following me like an unseen shadow.

  Suddenly, the city appeared before me, behind low hills and barren fields.

  A rusted iron gate, half broken, as if something had forced its way through… or out.

  The wooden sign was crooked, barely readable:

  “Hakrim.”

  The city looked deserted from a distance, but as I approached, I saw something move behind one of the windows.

  And in the opposite corner, a man stood before a small house, unmoving.

  Wearing old armor, with a sword pnted in the ground before him.

  I approached the warrior, my steps heavy, and something inside me whispered to turn back.

  Before I could speak, he raised his head and said in a hoarse voice,

  “Don’t come closer… not through this door.”

  I stopped.

  I looked at the door behind him… it wasn’t open, but sealed tightly, as if someone had sworn it would never open again.

  But beneath it… a strange scent leaked out, not the smell of death, but something older… something decayed deep within the earth.

  The whole pce felt like a wound that never healed.

  I looked back at him…

  Sweat dripping from his forehead, his sword trembling slightly in his hand.

  I asked quietly,

  “Who’s inside?”

  He answered without blinking:

  “My mother… she’s still sleeping.”

  I wanted to tell him that the smell didn’t suggest something sleeping… but something dead for a long time.

  But he looked at me with the gaze of a man who had nothing left…

  A man who had left his soul behind the closed door.

  He said,

  “I promise you… nothing will harm you, as long as I’m here.”

  I lifted my gaze to the moon… its light had weakened, as if something had angered it.

  I had to decide: Stay with him… or continue my path, before the monsters arrive.

  The tension? It’s here, let’s dive into the scene with darkness and ferocity, and end it with an unforgettable moment:

  I moved away from the warrior’s house, his voice still chasing me:

  “Don’t come closer…”

  The road ahead was unnervingly quiet.

  No screams, no footsteps, no groans…

  Only the wind passing through the broken windows, producing a broken melody, as if the city itself was crying.

  I walked, and everything around me felt like it was waiting.

  Then…

  The first one appeared.

  From between the shadows of a narrow alley, a creature crawled out, its body made of torn flesh, with swollen, unblinking eyes.

  It crawled first… then stood.

  Then came the second.

  Then the third.

  Then dozens of them.

  They surrounded me, their bodies making a cracking sound as if their bones were forced to move.

  I drew my sword.

  I breathed.

  “One… two… three…”

  I charged toward the first one.

  I stabbed its neck, its head rolled, but its body didn’t fall.

  It grabbed my wounded hand.

  I screamed, and swung my sword with all my might, slicing half its body.

  The pain grew stronger, but I refused to fall.

  My sword became an extension of my soul, my rage burning hotter with every strike.

  I killed them… all of them… but I wasn’t unscathed.

  My knees betrayed me.

  I colpsed to the ground, blood soaking the dirt.

  “This isn’t my death… not yet.”

  I said that as I fought against the darkness creeping into my vision.

  And suddenly…

  A shadow moved slowly behind the scattered monsters.

  It wasn’t walking… it was as if the earth was making way for it.

  In its hand, a long staff, the same staff I had seen before.

  It struck the ground.

  Silence.

  Then, an explosion of bck light…

  Swallowing all that remained of the monsters.

  Before the darkness could engulf me…

  My lips barely whispered:

  “…Who are you?”

  But it didn’t answer.

  It simply disappeared, leaving me to fall into an endless abyss.