CHAPTER 33: The Nightmarish Beast

Alex tilted his head back to look at the door behind him.

"What is that?"

The door looked quite heavy, and seemed to be an old style that was made of a type of wood - maybe oak.

Alex's theory of the door being old was vindicated by the easily noticeable moss that lightly covered the door.

All this was enough to make the scene bizarre. However there were two things that made it unforgettable, the first being that there was a thick red liquid that oozed down from the cracks at the top of the door.

But the second most unforgettable thing was definitely the most frightening for Alex, he could sense a presence coming from the door, almost like it was alive.

The more Alex looked at the door, the more uneasy he became, after a few seconds he couldn't stand it again and hurriedly looked away.

*PANT, PANT*

Alex breathed in deeply to calm his racing heart.

After a couple of minutes he took one more breath and managed to calm himself.

'What is that door?' Thought Alex as he stared up at the darkness up in the air. 'Could I be right? Could it actually be alive?'

Suddenly, as those thoughts were running through Alex's mind, he heard a deep grating voice boom around the black sand filled space.

"Welcome."

'Is this..?' Thought Alex in shock, as he tilted his head to look at the door. 'It sounds just like the thoughts I was hearing in my head.'

Everything started falling in place as soon as he made this realization.

'So that door was the source of all those thoughts directing me where to go.'

'It was speaking directly into my head before, but it's different now, I'm actually hearing the voice, not in my mind, but with my ears.' Alex forced his body to turn over so that he lay on his abdomen.

Now that he could see better, Alex stared at the door and noticed that some changes were taking place.

'The flow of the ooze has increased,' observed Alex, 'and the moss is moving up and down.'

After a few seconds of thought, Alex got a chilling realization. 'Could that be the door breathing?'

Alas, Alex didn't get more time to contemplate on the door, for in the next moment that same door spoke once again.

"Welcome...Alex, I've...waiting...for...you."

The voice reverberated around the space, sending shivers down Alex's spine.

Alex clenched his hands to stop them from shaking, then spoke to the door with a shaky sounding voice.

"Are you what has been directing me here?"

It was quiet for a moment before the grating voice answered.

"Yes, was...I."

Alex opened his mouth to ask another question, but the voice cut him off.

"Do..want...leave?"

The creature's speech was hard to understand so it took Alex a moment to understand, but he answered eagerly once he did.

"Yes, let me out of here!" Shouted Alex desperately.

"Then...must...fight."

Alex's heart sunk and he replied hesitantly.

"There is no way I can fight," he then glanced at his flat lying body, "I can't even get up."

The voice stayed silent for a while before it suddenly boomed out again.

"No...must...fight...deal...fight."

Alex could practically see the voice shaking its head as it said that.

"Fight...must...fight."

Alex listened to the voice in confusion. 'Does it sound more desperate?' He had a feeling that theory was correct.

'But what could it be so desperate about?'

"Deal...fight...deal...fight."

The voice's pitch and speed increased, now sounding almost hysterical.

"Deal...fight...deal...fight...deal...fight!"

'What's this 'deal' it keeps on mentioning?' thought Alex worriedly. 'The way it's talking it doesn't sound like it's talking about how it wanted me to fight.'

"Pain...no...pain!"

Alex started getting a bad feeling and began struggling on the cool sand. 'I need to go, I have a feeling I don't want to be here when the voice stops.'

Almost like it heard him, in the next moment, the voice abruptly stopped, then for the first time, it spoke without pausing.

"If Alex no want fight," the voice's tone became cold. "Alex must die!"

Alex felt a chill run down his spine and renewed his efforts to get off the black sand.

*ROAR*

Alex stopped moving as a blood chilling roar reverberated around the space.

"Ahhhh!" Shouted Alex in pain as the noise pounded into him.

If he could, Alex would have covered his ears to block out the roar, but he couldn't raise his hands no matter how much he tried.

Suddenly, the roaring abruptly stopped, then after a few moments Alex slowly turned his head toward the door.

*RUMBLE, BANG, RATTLE*

'The door's shaking,' thought Alex frightfully, he then continued struggling on the ground.

'Nope, I have to get up.'

*BANG*

As Alex looked on in terror, the door swung open with a final, resounding bang, revealing a black, slimy ooze that filled the entire doorway.

There seemed to be a force preventing it from leaving through the door, as all the black ooze did was occupy the doorway without crossing the door's boundaries. But Alex knew that this could change at any moment.

Suddenly he felt a sense of disaster, and Alex instinctively knew he was close to death.

'Something's coming,' Alex felt the atmosphere change, the air grew thicker, and his breathing became harsher.

As Alex watched, the ooze shuddered for a moment before suddenly it began to pour into the sand filled space Alex was in.

As Alex stared on in horror, the ooze completely left the doorway and pooled right in front of the door.

*BANG*

The door then slammed shut, but not before Alex saw more of the ooze reappearing in the doorway.

*POP, GURGLE*

Alex's frightened gaze then turned to the pool of black ooze, he then witnessed it shrinking and expanding, like it was trying to form something.

The deep grating voice of the door then resounded around the sandy space.

"Test Zone, Freedom Night..."

Alex's face paled as he heard these words.

"No," said Alex panickedly as he shook his head in denial. "It can't know about that, there's no way it can!"

The voice then said one final word, a word Alex had been dreading, but also expecting to hear.

"Beast!"

Suddenly, the black ooze stopped shaking. Then, right in front of Alex's shocked face, it began to rise into the air, crafting the body of a creature as it went.

'No, no, no!' Thought Alex as he felt a feeling of pure terror, much stronger and vivid than anything he'd experienced since he first entered The Senseless Coast.

The ooze first crafted two pairs of one meter long feet, each with four razor-sharp claws. It then moved upward. In mere seconds, four three-meter-long muscular front and hind legs emerged.

*GRRRR*

A terrifying, snarling beast now stood before Alex. Its inky black color and patchy fur covered a massive six-meter-long body. Its well-sculpted legs contrasted with a lean, almost bony upper body that could be described as sickly.

*SNAP, SNAP*

The creature's spiky, two-meter-long tail lashed behind its enormous form.

Its head presented a nightmarish half-wolf visage melded with the sinister features one might associate with a conniving demon.

*DRIP, DRIP*

The creature's saliva dripped from between two rows of sharp, menacing teeth. Its white eyes gleamed with malevolence, locking onto Alex with unwavering intensity.

Without realizing it, Alex's teeth began chattering, and a knot of terror tightened Alex's chest as he gazed upon the nightmarish creature.

'It was seven years ago that I encountered this beast,' thought Alex as he tried to force air into his constricted lungs. 'Can the voice peer that far back in my memories?'

A memory then came back to Alex as he lay on the ground.

Two pleasure filled eyes staring at him while droll dripped down from the beast's huge jaw.

Through the haze of pain that clouded his vision, Alex could make out the creature's inky black fur. And as he watched on, the beast lowered its head and opened its jaw. All Alex could see was the two rows of gleaming razor sharp teeth headed for him, until suddenly, the beast's face disappeared from his line of sight, but before Alex brain could comprehend what was going on, he felt a searing, white-hot pain at the side of his body, and moments later he let out a blood-curdling scream.

*PAIN*

Alex suddenly felt an agonizing pain at his ribs, which caused him to inhale sharply and grit his teeth.

That pain was just what Alex needed to snap him out of his memory induced stupor and make his survival instincts kick in.

'No, it's not going to be like last time,' thought Alex determinedly. 'I'm much stronger now, strong enough to kill it.'

Despite the lingering psychogenic pain in his ribs, Alex now felt the determination to survive, which caused his brain to work overtime in search of a way to endure.