The sixth door creaked open.
A nauseating smell hit first. It crawled in his lungs till the smell became unbearable. And for few seconds he closed his nostrils. Before tilting his head.
Raviel froze.
His instincts screamed at him to leave this room at once. He felt it in the air as this room was not like the previous rooms he had visited in a carefree manner.
The room was dim almost black, if not for the desk-lamp illuminating the desk and the wooden bookshelf.
Papers were sprawled on the floors, some had illustrations of children's bedtime stories while the heap present near the furniture had black ink spilled on it.
But one thing drew his eyes.
A diary sitting on the desk, untouched by the chaos in the room, it's brown leather cover shone under the dim golden light.
He stepped closer, slow and careful as he maintained his balance on tip-toes as to not make any noise. Knife trembling faintly in his hands as he approached the desk.
The cover felt rough and slightly greasy in his hands, when he flipped the pages, his blood turned to ice.
It was his—no this body's name.
Everywhere
Raviel Thanarion.
Written from the first to the last page. It filled every corner, some written in ink while some words looked like a shade of crimson.
Some written in neat calligraphy, but as he flipped the pages, the once beautiful handwriting turned haunted.
And beside every Raviel was a tally mark.
Some where numbered from ten while others till hundred. Some names were even scratched off.
His breathing hitched.
His body trembled.
"What the hell is this..." He muttered as he couldn't stop flipping the pages to see if it was really real. Panic clawed his entire figure.
Then——
Drip
A single drop landed on the word R.
Dark red
Not ink
It smeared the crimson written names, dark red liquid sliding down the binding.
He looked up.
The ceiling... wasn't a ceiling anymore.
Something was there. Watching.
At first glance it looked like a silhouette of a human—but his mind rejected the thought.
It was a mangled and brawny patch of flesh.
It's appearance was akin to a human but the six white irises and a ...tail gripping the chandelier made it look grotesque.
It opened it's wide mouth, revealing the set of razor sharp teeth.
And from it——
Something shot out.
A wet snap!!! As a long blur of line lashed through the air like a whip.
Raviel barely reacted. Instantly he jerked sideways as a gag-reflex.
The tongue missed his throat by a small margin, but slashed across his neck, leaving a burning line of red.
He stumbled back, clutching the wound instantly.
And for the first time since comming to this world Raviel felt.
FEAR.
While the figure studied him.
The creature dropped from the ceiling. It hit the ground with a wet splatter, like a corpse hitting the ground.
Before Raviel could react, the tail whipped through the air——
A blur of bones,
"GAAAAHH!!" Raviel screamed as it whipped on his forearm, instantly the flesh bulged, veins turned black and wriggled.
The pain wasn't normal as it crawled and made its way to the nervous system.
And then just seconds after the strike
Raviel's vision turned into two
He saw double
Two rooms
Two creature's
Four hands as he gripped on his blackened forearm.
The world warped. Before something flickered in front of his vision—his status screen. But it was glitching.
[ACTIVATING: #^#^#^#%@%]
FAILED...
[ACTIVATING: @%#@%%@%]
FAILED...
[ACTIVATING: MINDLOCK]
SUCCESSFUL...
A cold click echoed inside his head. Silence.
Colour bled out of the world, painting it in grey and black.
His trembling breath slowed. His heart calmed down. Emotions—hidden.
But the hallucinations didn't stop. He still saw two of them, crawling and splitting like shadows.
"....Poison" he muttered as he slightly touched the wound.
"Seems to be neuroactive"....
The monster screamed animalistic and swung again. The tail struck his mouth, snapping his jaws sideways. Blood filled up instantly as black veins appeared near his mouth.
But Raviel didn't fall.
He lunged forward towards the creature.
He spat mouthful of blood.
Right into it's eyes.
The creature reeled. As the blood drizzled into its socket.
He didn't hesitate.
He lunged again.
The pointed end of the knife shot forward, planting itself in the clusters of eyes. Each puncture released corrosive black fluid on the floor.
The creature's tongue shot again. Desperate to kill Raviel.
This time Raviel caught it mid-air, his hand threatening to slip on the layer of mucous.
The tongue writhed itself, trying to pull back, but he held on with one arm and knife in another.
He sawed the knife on the muscle.
The dull layer bruised the upper surface but couldn't cut through cleanly.
But Raviel didn't let it go from his grasp. And pulled it....
SNAPP!!!!
The tongue tore itself free, the longer part in Raviel's hands.
Black —–dark blood flooded through the creature's mouth like vomit. It dropped on the floor and wriggled, scratching the wooden furnitures.
Then Raviel remembered the note he found in the first room.
"If it stabs you, stabb."
His eyes flicked to the twitching tail.
His hand moved with precision.
He grabbed the spiked end, the barbed bone still exposed and bubbling with venom.
No hesitation.
No emotion.
He drove it into his own neck.
The pain was immediate.
It took over his body and he fell on his knees, as the black veins slithered and moved.
Spurt~
He vomited the black liquid out of his mouth which dripped on the floor like thick tar.
Suddenly a Notification came.
[MINDLOCK DEACTIVATED]
And a wave of nausea hit Raviel again.