It was so dark in the room she swore she could feel it in her bones. Her open eyes played tricks on her mind, casting dancing shadows on the walls beside her. A curious mix of fear and anticipation warred within her as she cautiously made her way through the room. Her feet made the smallest shuffle of movement. She waved her arms in front of her every step of the way. It felt foolish, but she’d rather not bump into anything, especially the walls.
There the shadows still danced. She swore she heard their quiet murmurs, felt their whispers of breath on her flesh. It was like they swam just beneath the surface of the walls, hands clawing in a desperate attempt to escape.
A shudder tore through her, hands shaking as she waved her arms before her. She never wavered from her straight path, pleading with any deity listening they let her leave the dark chamber.
Another step and her longest finger brushed lightly against a damp frigid surface. Shocked, she gasped and tried to pull her hand back. Something slithered out and wrapped icy tendrils around her wrist. She screamed, terror making her throat burn and her heart pound. It began pulling her closer. Her captured hand completely flattened against the surface, the wall. She felt the wriggling mass shadows dance beneath her fingers. Their hisses grew in number and volume, a roar of want and need filled her ears. Another shriek joined in their cry as she desperately struggled.
She grabbed her captured forearm with her free hand and tugged, throwing all her weight back. More wet strands slid their way around her arms and up her body. They draped around her shoulders, wrapped around her knees. All the while they pulled and tugged her unwilling body closer. The top of her thighs met the surface of the wall first as she frantically arched the rest of herself away.
Her arms were soon completely engulfed in the frigid dark matter. She could no longer feel them. Her legs and shoulders slowly followed. In one last desperate action, she threw her head back and screamed, a terrible sound born from the dark depths of her soul.
Finally, the shadows held her completely captured in their dank dungeon. She could barely breathe; there was no air in the dark substance. Whatever oxygen she could pant in was immediately spent on screaming.
The shadows were still there, swimming around her, their slimy wisps of being brushing against her skin. Their whispering still filled her mind with sinister thoughts of lust and greed.
She whimpered, pulling her arms close to her body to protect her bare skin from their touch. Gathering her strength and courage she began moving, trying to push through them to make it to the other side. Whatever lay there had to be better than the wriggling mass of monsters surrounding her.
The things grabbed at her, roared and hissed at her, but still she made her way from them. She was blind in the darkness this time without her outstretched arms to guide her.
Without warning the surface beneath her gave way, and down she went, too shocked to make a sound. The ground on which she landed was firm, and shocked she realized there was enough wavering light to see the room she now found herself in.
Bars. She saw black metal bars all around her. Cages filled with shadowed bundles huddled in corners. No doors, no locks. Simply bars that imprisoned.
She stood and spun slowly, trying to find an opening of some kind through which she could escape.
An inhuman moan had her twisting toward a wall of cages. A dark blue man-like being was trying to shove his head through the bars, mouth agape and arms flailing out wildly. Another howl was torn from its throat as it strove harder to reach for her.
She backed away, fear quickening her step until she stumbled back against another set of bars. Long skeletal fingers like vine slowly traveled up and over her shoulders. She wrenched herself away with another wail.
A masked face was pressed against the bars, hands not outstretched but curled casually around their confinement. One dark swirling gold and red eye stared at her from beyond the mask. Its painted grin laughed savagely at her while silence roared in her ears. Purple blood fell from its gaze and pooled upon the floor. Mesmerized she watched it spiral deeper and deeper into the ground. Long, inhuman arms reached and wrapped around her. She was pulled into the swirling flood of blood, that feral striped smile the last thing she recalled.