Through hells gate

You cannot outrun the shadow that pursues you, for it is not merely the breath of fear but the relentless grasp of fate. The hunted may strain and struggle, every instinct screaming for survival, but the closer they flee, the tighter the shadow's embrace. In the endless chase, dread finds its home, and the futility of escape becomes a bitter truth.

At first, hope is the prey's companion, a flickering flame in the darkness. With pounding heart and widened eyes, they dart and weave, believing escape within reach. Yet, with each desperate leap, the weight of inevitability grows heavier. The landscape blurs into a terrifying expanse, the mind a tempest of fear and exhaustion.

As the shadow closes, hope wanes, replaced by the icy grip of despair. The hunted's movements slow, breath ragged, and spirit broken. The shadow, patient and relentless, knows time is its ally. In the end, it is not speed or cunning that determines the outcome, but the immutable law that all must succumb to fate. The chase concludes as it must, with the shadow claiming its prize, and the hunted accepting the inescapable truth: there is no escape from destiny.

(Hunted, hunted. Prey) Excerpt from the Lamentations of the Vanquished.

My consciousness flickered to life with a sharp jolt of pain. The shockwave from the explosion had hurled me into the castle, leaving my body a battered wreck. As I forced myself to my feet, nausea clawed at my insides. I turned, bracing against the dizziness, and glimpsed the battlefield through the shattered walls. What lay beyond was a hellscape of crumbling stone and smoldering debris, a scene ripped straight from nightmares. Flames licked at the ruins, casting eerie, flickering shadows over the wreckage—a grim dance of death in the pale dawn.

I stumbled forward, my legs unsteady from the lingering disorientation. I struggled to regain my balance, only to collapse as my foot hit a lifeless body blocked my path. Blinking to clear my vision, I recognized her—my grandmother, Gaia. Her once-vibrant face was now ghost pale, her eyes vacant and staring into nothingness. A gaping wound marred her broken neck, the sight of her sent a fresh wave of nausea through me. My heart clenched in anguish, and I shakily reached out to close her eyes, a single tear slipping down my cheek. But the urgency of the situation soon eclipsed my grief. The distant clamor of approaching soldiers spurred me into action. "No time to mourn," I muttered, forcing myself to push past the overwhelming sorrow and focus on finding Selene.

The once-majestic walls, now shattered and scarred, loomed like broken sentinels over the devastation. Every step felt like trudging through the remains of a fallen giant, where grandeur had given way to ruin. The castle's former glory was now but a ghost, its splendor torn apart by the violence that had swept through it. Gutted archways yawned open like the mouths of the dead, and the stone beneath my feet was uneven, cracked by the force of the explosions, littered with twisted metal, and the remnants of a life now extinguished.

The acrid stench of blood and smoke clawed at my throat. Every breath tasted of ash and iron. The wind that once carried the songs of the court now howled mournfully through the gaps in the stone, echoing through the empty halls like the wails of restless spirits. The castle, once a fortress of strength, was now a tomb of despair. My dizziness worsened with each step, the ground shifting beneath me as if the earth itself mourned the destruction wrought upon it.

I reached Selene's room, my breath coming in ragged gasps as I pounded on the door. The door remained stubbornly locked against my desperate pounding. My voice cracked with urgency. "It's me! Open the door!". There was a moment of tense silence, during which I could almost hear the pounding of my own heart. Then, with a groan of protesting hinges, the door slowly inched open. Selene's eyes, wide with fear, met mine as she stood framed in the doorway. We shared a brief, frantic embrace, our bodies trembling from the shared shock of the moment.

"Jovian, what's happening?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper, shaking with the weight of her fear.

"No time to explain. We need to move," I urged, hastily covering her face with a cloth to conceal her identity. The urgency of the situation left no room for hesitation as we plunged into the labyrinthine corridors of the castle

The hallways, once familiar, were now twisted and alien in their disarray. Every step we took seemed to echo with the chaos of the outside world. We navigated through the darkened passages, our movements cautious and deliberate. Each turn revealed the remnants of the castle's former splendor—torn tapestries, shattered vases, and overturned furniture. The silence of the corridors was punctuated only by the distant, muffled sounds of the continued assault. I glanced at Selene, her eyes wide with fear and resolve I held her hand tighter, and we resumed our hurried flight through the maze of broken walls and half-collapsed ceilings.

"Stay close. We need to get to Father's room," I urged, my eyes scanning for any signs of danger. The chaos outside was overwhelming—the walls seemed to shiver with every explosion and clash.

The castle seemed to shift around us as we moved, its former grandeur reduced to a haunting labyrinth of devastation. The urgency of our situation made every second count as we hurried through the maze of destruction. We finally reached our parents' room, and I began a frantic `search for the hidden passage my Uncle had once told me about. My Uncle's detailed instructions about the secret passage—a concealed door behind a bookshelf in the study. My hands moved quickly, searching through the furniture as I desperately tried to remember my Uncle's instructions.

Then I finally found it. With a sense of grim determination, I pushed aside the nearest bookshelf and felt for the hidden mechanism.

The concealed door groaned open, revealing the darkness of the passage. We slipped through into the shadowy confines of the tunnels, the oppressive darkness swallowing us as we moved. The sounds of the battle outside grew fainter as we descended into the maze-like corridors below.

We entered the maze-like tunnels, moving as quietly as we could manage. The faint light made every shadow seem like a lurking threat, amplifying our sense of dread.

Our attempt at stealth was abruptly shattered when an enemy soldier emerged from the darkness, his presence a stark contrast to our desperate quiet. I lunged forward, instinctively raising my blade, but before I could strike him down, he let out a blood-curdling scream.

"They're here!" he shrieked, his voice echoing violently through the narrow passage. The sound was sharp and unrelenting, a grim announcement that shattered the fragile silence we had fought so hard to maintain.

My shock was palpable. How had they found the passage so quickly? I cursed under my breath, frustration and fear intertwining, realizing that our cover had been compromised far too soon.

"They're getting closer!" Selene's voice trembled with pure panic as the distant clamor of soldiers intensified, reverberating through the dark, labyrinthine tunnels.

"Keep moving. Don't look back!" I shouted, my voice strained with urgency. My heart pounded violently as the sound of approaching footsteps surged behind us, each echo seeming to tighten the noose of our impending doom. The oppressive darkness pressed heavily against us, adding to the suffocating sense of fear and desperation.

The chase through the tunnels was a harrowing blend of terror and chaos. Shadows seemed to close in from every side as I fought off attackers, the narrow confines amplifying the intensity of every clash. My blade swung in frantic arcs, each strike driven by the desperate need to protect Selene. The steel of my sword met flesh more often than air.

In return, the enemy's counterattacks found their mark, and my body became a canvas for their violent strokes, stained with crimson. Yet, despite the pain and exhaustion, I pressed on, my resolve hardened by the necessity of our escape.

At last, we stumbled out of the stifling darkness of the tunnels into the cold, open air of a cave near the woods. Gasping for breath, I barely had time to steady myself before a chilling voice pierced the silence.

"Took you long enough," the voice drawled, cold and menacing.

I turned my neck, my blood running cold as I saw him sitting on a stump of tree—the enemy commander who had so mercilessly defeated me and killed Marcia.