DragonSpark – Speakeasy 162 – Terror in the Dark

Until the day I die, I’ll never forget those glassy, unblinking eyes. Before me was the body of a running man, his motion frozen in time. He was now a fragile, lifeless statue, his once opaque body now translucent. Terror was the only thing expressed by the man’s facial features. A SoulEater was near.
I contoured the crystal statue and walked further into the cave’s open chamber. A stream of light poured in from a narrow crack in the ceiling, maybe 60 feet above me, probably more. This lone, distant source of light gave the chamber an eerie mood. The air within was cold, still. I felt a tingle of fear in my spine. “The artefact had to be here of all places”, I thought as I tugged my cloak around me, “A SoulEater’s den.”
On the opposite side of the chamber, a massive, ancient structure had been built along the inner wall of the cave. Most of the chamber’s floor was occupied by a lake, traversed by a lone path, splitting the body of water in two. To either side of the path, the water was pierced by high stony spikes, as if two giant hedgehogs were slumbering beneath the surface.
I lit a ball of fire on the tip of my index and made my way across. Halfway through, I felt a subtle shift in the air immediately behind me. I turned around, and found myself face to face with the empty cavern. Tense moments followed. All of those who had seen a SoulEater and had lived to tell the tale had died shortly after, in a state of lunacy.
All of my senses were alert, scouting the darkness in front of me for movement, for a presence. My hood was restricting my peripheral vision but taking it off would break my concentration. After a couple seconds, the tension started to fade. The movement I had sensed was probably just a stray air current. I breathed a sigh of what seemed like relief and turned around….
​….And found myself staring into four green, glowing eyes.
I recoiled back, kicking the creature away from me. It shrieked in response, in a way I would have never imagined a living thing capable, its body thrashing about on the floor. I could not make out the shape of it clearly. It seemed humanoid, yet its neck seemed too flexible, its arms too long, the legs supporting its frame articulated in a strange way. Within seconds it was standing again, ready to attack.
I thrust balls of energy in the thing’s direction. It dogged by jumping high in the cavern. As it landed, it slashed at my cloak, trying to grab it. It took the cumbersome thing off and threw it in the creature’s direction.
The heavy fabric exploded in mid-air. I shielded my eyes. The distinguishable sound of glass shattering echoed through the room. I lowered my arms only to see the creature still before me, the thing that had been my cloak lay on the floor in one thousand different, crystal-like pieces.
The fight had been a short one, yet I was out of breath. The very air in this chamber seemed to be sapping my strength. The creature then pounced in my direction. Time slowed down. It was in the air. Its trajectory could not be changed. It couldn’t dodge. I put my hands before me and used the last of my strengths to fire an intense missile of magic at the beast, transpiercing it.
It fell to my feet, dead. I knelt on the stone floor, exhausted. As I gazed at the thing’s dimming blue eyes, I felt relief wash over my body.
Wait a second…..Blue?
I jerked myself back onto my feet. Before me was the first creature, its green eyes peering into my soul. A bestial roar resonated in my ears. It came from my left. I turned to face the sound to find that on top of every spike in the water stood a SoulEater, their glowing eyes varying in color, like brushstrokes on a terrifying canvas. Another inhuman sound radiated behind me. I turned around only to witness a similar sight. Maybe 40 SoulEaters were gazing at me with their terrifying eyes.
I delved into my body for my magic but found only petrifying fear. I darted towards the ruins at the end of the path, my legs powered by terror.
Roars echoed in the chamber as the beast shot towards their desperate prey.