Night 66: Hall of Voices

[unpriest]

[From here]

'Don't look back.'

Seishin froze as the door locked behind them, but the whispered warning (or was it a threat?) was unmistakable. He managed to prevent himself from looking over his shoulder to see where it came from - what would happen if he did?

He inhaled, and forced himself to calm down, focusing on the sight before them. Rough, stone walls made up a narrow, winding hallway. Occult symbols carved and drawn in what he could only assume to be blood marked the surface, along with bloodied hand prints and pentagrams and writing in a language he didn't recognize. It was unsettling, all of it, and it did not bode well for whatever that awaited them beyond this ominous corridor. It matched the beach they had just left behind rather well...

Nonetheless, they had little choice but to continue...hadn't they? The door had locked behind them, after all. He offered Silvestri-san a glance that conveyed his wariness, but he otherwise did not speak.

Comments

[avengingfists]

Ilia had thought the sights left behind them were ominous, but the whisper that met her ears as they moved beyond the door was like a dirge. Her hand shot out immediately, grabbing onto Seishin's sleeve despite knowing he wouldn't feel it.

"Dont!" she cautioned needlessly. For a moment, she didn't move. Just stood there, waiting a moment. When no other words came, she relaxed her stance but only just.

"I think..." her words were barely a whisper, "... I think that's our clue. So... no matter what... don't look back, okay?"

And with her flashlight forward, Ilia began to step quietly down the hall. It was only a few steps when voices began to speak again, but she couldn't understand them. It was a different language than any she knew on earth, or any planet of her knowledge. The symbols on the walls were definitely archaic. Perhaps even demonic.

[unpriest]

Seishin nodded at Silvestri-san's comment, having understood as much. He, too, heard the voices as he began walking down the hallway, but he wasn't able to understand any of it. The whispered words were quite unlike any language he had ever heard, possibly like the symbols carved and painted upon the walls. They seemed... demonic.

He frowned, but as unsettling as it all was, they had little choice but to keep walking forward. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but wonder what they were getting themselves into...

[avengingfists]

Ilia was starting to feel a little claustrophobic in the hallway. She and Seishin barely had room to walk side by side, but she didn't dare hurry ahead of slow down. There was something eerily unholy about this place. If they couldn't look back, they would never get a chance to see any silent attacker who might be sneaking up on them. They would have to trust their ears to hear the sound of approaching feet. However, so far, only voices could be hear whispering to them in that dark language.

Ilia reached out with her free hand for a moment to trace along one of the strange symbols on the wall but immediately drew her hand back with a hiss. She shone her flashlight on her fingers for a moment and saw they had been scraped by the harsh stone. She never would have thought a wall would cause blood to rise so quickly from such a light touch. Damn. She hoped it wouldn't get infected before she had a chance to wash her wound.

Still, they traveled further down the dank hallway, and the further they went it seemed to Ilia that the voices started making sense. Or at least, she heard one word that she recognized.... Or name, as it was.

Rose.

Rose... The voices whispered, so soft and sad. Such a shame... The ritual failed.

Rose... Lost to us. Body ripped to pieces....

Ilia's heart gave a heavy thud in her chest before speeding up. Her voice was low and breathless, the most fear she had ever felt in the institute since arrival beginning to flood her. "What is this...?"

[unpriest]

Slowly, as they moved through the narrow hallway, the unintelligible whispers were growing louder and louder. Witch each step, they were starting to make sense, change into words he began to recognize. A name.

Rose.

He almost paused if it weren't for Silvestri-san speeding up. He did not, could not, answer her question, did not know how to reassure her as the same question plagued his mind. What was...going on? Was it a trick? He could not tell.

Yes, it was such a shame she had to die, picked apart little by little. The voices continued, growing even louder as they progressed through the hallway. Screaming as we tore those organs away from her one by one...

"I--." He trailed off. He didn't know what to do or say. He would have felt sick, if he could.

Screaming and bleeding like all the others, but they all died. All rituals failed...Such a shame they had to die...

Such a shame indeed, like the others who are lost...

[avengingfists]

But it may be different this time...

The voices suddenly seemed almost happy. They weren't offering explanations like Ilia wanted them to, but she strained her ears for anything that might help, even though it gave her a sinking feeling in her gut.

This time... Yes... These two will do nicely...

Ilia's heart sped up further, but she kept moving. It was just a scare tactic. That had to be right. Nothing bad could have happened to Rose. Nothing like... what they were saying. And she and Seishin would be fine, too.

"Don't stop, it's a trick..." Her voice was steady but it was low and breathless. They needed to keep going. She could swear her flashlight beam had finally glanced off the stone of a flat surface ahead. Did a door out of this place await them?