Reece was in the most beautiful world in existence. He was standing at the bank of a river, his eyes adjusting to the brightness of the warm sun. He glanced softly at the woman in front of him and he felt himself smile. He didn't know her name, but he didn't need to, their situation was perfect— she was perfect.

  She swirled in the sunlight, dancing to a faint hum that he believed he could hear. He wondered why she was naked but he didn't ask any questions, her movements were alluring and it made him want to spend the rest of his life here. Although he knew that was impossible of course, they would have to leave the beach and go home one day.

  He paused, why should they leave if he liked it here? He stepped closer to the woman and she placed a finger on his chest and traced her sternum seductively. Her eyes were brown, light brown like the desert sand, her hair was red and her body was just right.

  He reached forward to touch her and she smiled, closing her eyes to feel his touch, however her face twisted into horror because Reece didn't caress her face, he reached for her neck and squeezed it.

  The illusion broke and Reece was back in the underground cellar, surrounded by nine cloaked individuals and a naked lady whose neck was now struggling between his vice grip. He glared at her with a distasteful look.

  “What gave you the idea that trying to manipulate the desires of an empath would work?” he asked with a straight face, only a cough came from her mouth as she struggled to escape from him.

  Simultaneously, the emotional threads around him drilled into his two companions, severing her influence over them and jolting the two awake. When the woman used her abilities on Reece, he was only shaken for about a split second, after that, he realized whatever he was seeing was a figment of his own imagination. He allowed it to drag longer to put her at ease because he felt he could use her to haggle his way out.

  Being able to stay alert even in his dreams was one of his basic training. Due to the nature of his abilities, he needed to keep a prime mental state every time. Even now, he hadn’t fully grasped his mental condition, largely because of the gaps in his memory. At times he woke up paralyzed; at others, he struggled to tear himself out of a dream and wake.

  Although he didn't understand why the woman he saw in this illusion was different. He’d never laid eyes on such a person before, so how the hell was that his desire.

  The nine figures in red had turned as one, all facing them, advancing toward the trio in perfect synchrony. “Take one more step and I’ll snap her neck!” Reece yelled but they didn't listen.

  He looked at the woman and realized that her initial expression had changed from a grimace to a dark sinister smile. “Oh, Gold, that was your plan, to use me as a hostage?” she grabbed his arm and then twisted it, pushing him away.

  She freed herself without much effort and Reece deduced that her physical capabilities were rather high. The nine cloaked individuals halted barely a meter away and drew back their cloaks in unison.

  They were all female, but there was something wrong with them. Apart from the obvious frail and pale condition of their skin, there were no irises in their eyes. They were unnerving to look at, they moved the same way, even to the slightest body movement.

  “What do you want from me?” Reece asked, his face as expressive as a weathered rock.

  The lady placed a hand on her mouth in a supposedly seductive movement that now annoyed Reece. “I believe you already know,” she smiled.

  “Reece, what's going on?” Shalliah asked. She and Jalin had taken a while before coming to their senses.

  “Apparently this entire mission was somehow planned to get me into this particular place at this particular moment!” he explained.

  “How is that even possible?” she demanded.

  “At this point in time, I don't know and I don't care. We need to survive first,” he replied.

  “I am afraid that isn't an option!” the woman declared and her nine cloaked individuals directed their focus uniformly at them and started to advance.

  Reece took a step back but Jalin took a step forward. He unsheathed his sword and stood in front of the two thaumaturges, pulled himself into one of the cultural stances of Egrimorth and readied himself to engage the enemies.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The nine cloaked individuals moved uniformly, one of them pulled out a butcher's knife and brought it down with a tremendous force that almost sounded like an explosion. Jalin could only bulge his eyes in surprise waiting to be diced in two. Reece however pulled him back in the last minute. The blow from the knife slammed into the ground where the soldier had been standing and it cracked the concrete floor.

  “What in Alaroc’s name is that?” Jalin muttered as they all staggered backwards, the nine women following them, their movements becoming increasingly unnatural.

  Reece’s senses had been working over time and at last, he realized what was happening. Apart from the grotesquerie on the wall, the naked woman's presence was the only other living thing in the room. The rest of the cloaked individuals were lifeless and they seemed to be acting automatically.

  Shalliah seemed to have also sensed the same thing because she turned to Reece. “Nothing in here is alive, aside from her!”

  Reece didn't have time to respond because now they had been backed to the wall and they couldn't keep their distance from the lifeless mob in front of them.

  He sighed, realizing he would have to do anything to survive at this point. “Shalliah, Jalin, cover your ears!” he commanded before pulling out a small locket from his pocket.

  The item was a silvery and ordinary looking locket attached to a small chain. He took a deep breath before he muttered under his breath. “Obiliwiski.” Just as he said those words, he opened the locket and for a moment nothing happened. One of their assailants dashed towards them in frenzy, breaking from the perfect uniformity of their actions.

  However they suddenly halted as a heavy pressure descended into the room. The bodies of the naked woman's army fell to the ground as a piercing shriek reverberated around the room. Reece closed his locket and smiled. The naked woman was now on the floor, holding her head in pain, he turned back and realized even Jalin and Shaliah had been affected but it was minimal.

  Reece had used the only talisman he’d been given by his other-father. An artifact where he supposedly imprisoned a spirit of madness called Obiliwiski. Anyone who isn't holding the locket in their palm will hear a soul shattering shriek that would incapacitate them, if left open for long, actual madness will descend on every living thing in the area.

  “Try opening that door,” Reece ordered and walked towards the wailing woman. She was crouched, blood dripping from her ears as she yelled. “I can help you get better, all you need to do is answer my question and the pain will stop.”

  “You don't know!” her wail turned into a hysterical laughter. “You have only sped up your doom Gold!” she coughed up blood, getting hit by the full wave of that shriek was a death sentence, even Reece was surprised at its effectiveness.

  “Who are you and what do you want from me?” he yelled.

  The woman crouched on the floor, convulsing from the anguish. Reece could feel her struggling to keep her emotional state functional. Naturally, she would have been able to attain stability but Reece has been tweaking her emotions, forcing bits and pieces of his own into hers and throwing her off guard every time she’s about to balance it.

  “You bastard,” she let out a bloody grin. “I will tell you who we are alright. Let it be ingrained in your mind, because when we pull your gods from their divine throne, I would want you to remember this day.” she groaned, vomiting more blood. “We are the Evil Cult.” she simply said, before collapsing to the ground.

  Reece frowned but didn't have time to process the information because the woman's blood had begun to coalesce on the floor and soon, it floated upwards darting towards the mass of flesh attached to the wall. Before the blood could touch it, multiple tentacles darted from the wall and absorbed the blood.

  The horrific thing gurgled and shook for a while, a bubbling sound escaped from it. It shook vigorously and multiple tentacles darted from it, grabbing the naked woman on the floor and dragging it towards itself. Reece watched as multiple organs began to digest the woman from outside before finally swallowing her whole.

  “Oh,” was the only word that could escape his mouth as he turned around and dashed towards the door where Jalin and Shalliah were.

  “It doesn't open at all!” she said.

  “We need to open it right now!” Reece yelled, pulling against the door frantically. The two others turned around, curious as to why he was acting in such an urgent manner. They looked just in time to see multiple flesh writhing tentacles, dripping pus and black blood grab the body of one of the cloaked individuals.

  “By the spirits!” Jalin gasped, as he began to bang against the door. “ Help!!” he yelled.

  They however didn't get any help until the flesh monster was done with all the bodies and it was only them left. They stood silent and for about a minute nothing really happened. “Maybe it doesn't feed on living beings?” Shalliah blurted and as if waiting for that question three tentacles lunged forward grabbing Reece right in the chest.

  Jalin however reacted swiftly, he swung his sword once and severed the writhing flesh without second thought. The decaying flesh dropped to the ground and wriggled for a while before dying and melting into a goo of blackness. The other length recoiled and a hiss could be heard echoing through the room.

  The wriggling of the grotesquerie stopped for a while and everyone halted, then multiple tentacles sprang out in full force. Reece however had anticipated this so he pushed his companions out of the way evading the assault.

  The tentacles twisted and then lunged for them in their new position. A loud and sharp grating sound however caused the tentacles to recoil.

  Reece turned towards the door and watched the metal split in two from a precise cut. A large force then pushed it open.

  Standing at the door frame with an obsidian blade in his hand, covered in blood was the old Marshal, Marius Telemachus. The elderly man seemed to have been going through even more horrors than they’d faced here.

  He glanced at the writhing flesh monster and shook his head. “I am way too old and way too tired for all this,” he muttered as multiple tentacles came for him. Without any sense of panic he swung his sword upward, severing the tentacles in one clean strike. A peculiar smoke rose from his sword and the area in which the tentacles had been cut.

  Reece recognized the weapon in his hand immediately. Most folk call them silencers but the official name was Still Blade. They are made from an ore that had the special ability of affecting the symphony.

  “Are you kids alright?” he asked.

  They all nodded in unison. He turned his gaze back to the pulsing carrion mass and grimaced. “What in the abyss is going on here?” he sighed.

  The flesh mass seemed to have stopped sending tentacles after being damaged by the black blade. It continued its regular writhing but now the embryonic sac in the middle had grown thinner and the multiple baby hands had started pushing strongly against it.

  Marius averted his gaze and walked briskly to the wall at the end of the room, taking a traditional sword stance before slicing the concrete brick with the still blade. The wall offered no resistance as a doorway was cut into it with four clean strikes. “We can't go back the way we came, so we will follow this direction. Our main objective is to live to see tomorrow!”

  Al Sahim and Captain Dale walked into the room afterwards. The Credent was supporting the soldier's weight helping him walk properly. Reece stifled a gasp as he saw that Dale's leg had no feet anymore. “What happened out there?” Shalliah demanded.

  “There is no time to talk, we have to move.” Marius ordered.

  “Won't you destroy that thing with your sword?” Reece demanded as he got to his feet.

  “Whatever that is, tampering with it isn't something we want to do!” he explained and then walked out of the room, the others hurriedly following behind him.