Lighthouse Horror

From the moment he found out the truth about himself, Elian detested the fact that he was born as a Chaos Spawn.

He loathed his wretched existence.

Why must he endure the curse of being a monster?

Why were the heavens unfair to him?

Why couldn't he have been normal like his siblings?

Had he not been born into the forbidden bloodline of evil Chaos worshippers, he would've led a pretty lavish life as the second Prince of the Stormhorn family.

If not for his cursed bloodline, his father wouldn't have despised him.

His elder sister wouldn't have subjected him to relentless torment.

His mother would have embraced him with love.

Others would have welcomed him as a friend.

And perhaps then… Sarah wouldn't have betrayed his trust.

Each injustice he faced in life only fueled his anger. But he was helpless. And perhaps, the fact that he was helpless angered him more than anything else.

Yet, even if he hated his existence, there was one aspect of his lineage in which he found solace – the allure of night that seemed to call out to him.

During the night, he was at peace.

In fact, it was only within the depths of absolute darkness that he felt truly welcomed.

The darkness was not just his only ally but also his guiding mentor, his tranquil sanctuary. Within its embrace, he was faster, stronger, more perceptive.

In it, he felt safe.

It was not because the warmth of light was harsh, but because the cold of dark was all he had ever known in life.

There was comfort to be found in familiarity.

That was the main reason Elian waited until the sun had completely set before investigating the upper floor of the run-down light tower.

As the moon began its ascent and the sky was painted pitch-black, Elian rose to his feet and took off his cloak as it could hinder his movements indoors.

After that, he grabbed his fixed-blade knife with one hand and his revolver with the other. Then, with casual ease, he began to move across the spacious chamber with the silent grace of a panther, not making a sound.

His figure seamlessly blended with the shadows, as if he was in his natural habitat. Only the eerie glow of his crimson gaze pierced through the darkness, shining like the eyes of a nocturnal predator.

Yes, he had removed his lenses to see more clearly in the dark. Night vision was among one of the few abilities his eyes possessed.

Right outside the room in which he had landed through one of the windows, Elian discovered a narrow staircase leading up and down.

After a bit of thought, instead of climbing the stairs and going straight to the floor above, he decided to first explore this creepy old lighthouse a little.

After all, if the threat upstairs seemed too much for him to handle, he would need an escape route.

…Well, on a second, more rational thought, closing himself in one of the rooms here actually sounded like a better plan than venturing out in the land overrun by undead.

Still, he decided to scout the surroundings a little.

It wouldn't hurt to know his current environment.

The grubby steps of the stone stairway were covered with dirt like the rest of the interior, but they were holding.

After descending to the floor below, Elian found it out to be a kitchen, albeit in ruins. The rusty copper plates were on the floor, the chimney was in rubles, and cooking oil was littered all over the place, leaking from a wooden container that appeared to have been devoured by mites.

"Okay, now I think this lighthouse has definitely been neglected for more than a year."

Taking a deep breath, he walked to the floor below. Which turned out to be a living room of sorts. Old furniture sat covered in dust and webs, while faded paintings hung crookedly on the walls.

In the empty corner of the room lay a rusted telescope mounted on a tripod, its lens clouded with age. Its design was ancient. Elian didn't know why it was here and not in the watch room, nor did he care much.

After going down the floor again, he encountered a large room with nothing but some shattered tables and a bed with splintered wooden legs in the middle. Its mattresses ragged, with cotton puffing out of it here and there. There was also a joint bathroom, but much like everything, it was also in shambles, filled with dirt and filth.

Below that floor was the entrance room, from where one would normally enter the lighthouse instead of breaking in through the window like a petty thief.

"No, no. Breaking in through the window is style. Not just anyone can pull it off."

After half-heartedly reassuring himself, Elian searched around for a bit and found something so amazing that he was left too stunned to even react.

After a few minutes, he broke out of his dumbstruck state and beamed with joy.

There, on the floor of the entrance room was a basement door. When Elian bashed open that door, he found out that below this floor was a huge stone container holding clean water.

It was a water tank!

Just like that, one of Elian's pressing problems had been solved. Actually, it wasn't really that big of a problem.

If nothing else, Elian could always desalinate the sea water and use it to drink. Pretty simple.

But even that was only a temporary solution. Eventually he would have to leave this building and journey away from the ocean. He would have no source of water then.

…Well, that was a headache for future Elian.

"Huuu!"

Exhaling resolutely, Elian prepared himself to finally visit the floor above.

•••

He held his knife in a reverse grip using his left hand with his right hand over it tightly gripping his revolver.

The glyphs inscribed on the black metallic body of his gun were emitting a dull, ghostly violet hue, while his glowing crimson eyes fluttered to scan the path ahead for every minute detail.

He was slowly walking up the stairs with his back pressed against the weathering, cold stone wall so that nothing could sneak up on him from behind.

He doubted anything could actually get behind him, since he just came from there, but he still decided to proceed with utmost caution.

Being a Chaos Spawn, it was very difficult to hurt Elian.

However, it was nowhere near impossible.

So, he had to be on high alert.

Especially now when his heart was pounding in his chest with dread, a sense of apprehension gnawing at him. He knew whatever he was going to find would not be pleasant.

…And he was proven right when he arrived at the top floor and was greeted by a sight straight out of a nightmare.

Much like the other ones, this was also a large room, as big as the entire floor. It was full of tarnished metal drums and weary wooden barrels, all filled with coal and burning oil needed to light up the lantern on top of this lighthouse.

It was a service and store room.

And right at the center of it all, shackled to the ceiling by a thick corroded steel chain was hanging a decomposing human body. Below the hanging dead body was a toppled over stool.

But that wasn't all.

At the far end of the room, there was a zombie tied to a metal drum with another set of corroding steel chains.

Even though the flesh of the zombie was rotting, looking even worse than the hanging dead body with maggots crawling under its festering skin, it was still not dead.

In fact, when it saw Elian, its mouth fell agape in silent scream as it started convulsing in an attempt to run at the only alive person in the room.

Luckily, the metal drum it was tied up with didn't budge even an inch.

Elian instinctively took a step back as his face contorted in a grimace, both by the revolting stench of death and decay filling up the room and by the horrific sight that made him sick to his stomach.

"What the… What is this?!"

That question had a very obvious answer, but Elian didn't know what to make of it.

Thankfully, right in the next moment, his eyes fell on a piece of paper nailed on to the wall next to him.

Was it a letter? It was hard to tell from this distance, but it definitely looked like a letter. With hesitant steps, Elian approached it.

He was right. It was indeed a letter.

"But it's in an alien language. Of course."

Well, obviously. He was on an alien planet.

Fortunately, the System came to his rescue.

Moments after his eyes landed on the paper, a see-through rectangular screen appeared before Elian with shimmering letters flowing on it, translating the contents of the letter.