16 The Evil Within

There were small ticks of water droplets forming a ripple of circles on a pool below. The sounds of fallen dew were sharp and piercingly clear amidst the silent ambient. It was a steady rhythm, propagating the passing of time in this eerie and dimly lit room, where the dust in the air seemed to be frozen in place, glittering faint flickers of light.

The walls of the interior were rotted in corroding blight. The metallic fixtures were decayed in red rust like stains of blood. Within this room, a lone boy laid defenselessly on the ground amongst the ashen remains of unknown carcasses. He appeared to be still asleep, until a loud clamor of steel grinding against each other was heard from a distance outside of the room.

Leo slowly opened his eyes and saw a puddle of water on the ground. The condensation from the leaking pipe above was the source of the fluid. It was cold in the room, like when he visited the basement of a certain hospital.

"Where in the flying fuck..." Leo cursed out in profanity, a rare occasion.

The boy got up on his feet and surveyed the surroundings, all he had on him were clothes he wore during his sleep. Despite being resistant to the temperature, he felt slight chills running through his back from the unknown creep of air that blew onto his body. Was he in a dream? But the texture and all other sensations appeared to be real; rather, they all felt too real and all too keen, as if his senses had been honed.

"This place looks like that room in the hospital basement, except its very rundown." Leo concluded from his brief observation.

It will be of vital importance for the boy to remain calm and collected in this situation. There was no immediate threat, and hence, no reason to panic. He closed his eyes to empty his chaotic thoughts, there were only putrid smells in the air and eerie silence other than the dripping sounds next to him.

"Well, nothing is going to happen if I just stay here." As he muttered, he casted a spell to conjure a small white sphere of flame within his palm and illuminated a portion of his surroundings.

There was only one exit in this room, a steel framed door that appeared to be sealed with paper talismans. After laying down traps and marks with his runes, the boy observed the perimeter one last time before he opened the door. It revealed a path to a long and dark corridor, where the way forward was shrouded in pitch black. What could be hiding within these steep shadows?

The corroded environment of the hallway was similar to the room; the distant void seemed to consume the light emitted from his fire. It was difficult to see even a few meters in front of him; several steps into the darkness and he heard the door behind him closed on its own.

Along the path he saw remnants of worn furniture and other broken debris. He explored all the shady rooms next to the corridor and found absolutely nothing. Until, the boy was lured in by the dripping sounds of water from a faucet and stumbled into a restroom; there, he found an unusual mirror fixed against the wall.

When Leo stared into his own reflection, he noticed a small black spot emerging from the center. Through an ill omen, like a spider spreading its legs, numerous black tentacles began to fester within the glass and covered his reflection with lines of crack through the surface. Very wittingly, Leo slowly backed out of the restroom and the festering appendages retracted back into the black spot.

"Phew...that was close." Yet, there were no signs of fear seen on his expression and the boy nonchalantly pressed onwards into the corridor.

This time around, Leo ignored all sounds and visual cues that attempted to draw him astray. Soon, the boy reached the last door within this long pathway. It was also a door covered in talisman; he could sense a sinister aura seeping out of the slits. Ominous feeling was looming over him as he placed his hand over the knob. Bracing his body and channeling his power, Leo quickly slammed the door open and barged in.

Anticlimactically, he stood still at the entry for several seconds. The ashen remains in the broken chambers, the puddle of water below the dripping pipe, and the runic traps he left behind in contingency. Somehow, the boy returned to the room where he started from.

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Leo turned around and opened the door again, it was still a corridor shrouded in darkness. However, his keen eyes noticed a small change in hue. The shadow seemed to have dissipated a little, allowing his flame to permeate a slightly deeper into the light consuming shades.

"There must be something I missed back here, it seems like I can't ignore them this time around." The brave soul ventured into the dark corridor once more.

After walking for several minutes, the boy heard the dripping sounds again. This time, they emanated from the front deeper into the hall. He raised the light source in his palm and saw a corpse with a rope hanging its neck from the ceiling. It was the dried corpse of a man; he had a large carved open wound near the location of his heart, ceaselessly dripping blood down to the ground.

The boy thought the man looked familiar, perhaps he saw this face somewhere during an afternoon news on TV. Just as he pondered, the wounds on the corpse began to widen with more blood pouring out. Soon, its whole body disintegrated into a miasma of meat and blood, forming an unusual pattern on the ground.

A sting of danger alerted his senses. But rather retreating back, Leo quickly stepped forward and pressed the floor with the fire in his hand. The white flame scorched the ground and vaporized the blood.

"That was some voodoo magic alright...never thought I would ever see this kind of hex." The boy muttered in cold sweat.

And through the flames, Leo lighted up the way forward and revealed a similar door at the end of this corridor.

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Leo stood silently within the room while facing the only exit. He was absorbed in thoughts. This was the fifth time he traveled through the door and ended up back in the same room. He suppressed his frustration and meditated with closed eyes. Like last time, all he could sense was only the eerie silence... and the dripping sounds of water.

Finally, the boy turned around and stared sharply into a certain direction...

From the surface of the water puddle, a withered human limb protruded out. It began to wiggle, with more limbs crawling out from the ground. Slowly revealing its form, the creature had many arms grafted onto its centipede body. Then, a human skull head emerged from the pool at last.

But did you think Leo was just going to watch and let that creature take its sweet time coming out? Well, Leo decisively charged forward and brutally smashed the skull with his hand the moment he saw the creature's potential weak spot. The unknown entity was banished back into the void as it let out a terrifying shriek.

"That thing sure runs fast." There was a dark shard in his hand; he was only able to acquire a fragment of the crystal core.

Then, the illusion was dispelled; the door leading to the dark corridor faded away and a new entrance appeared behind the crumbling shelves. Without any other choice, the boy crossed the foggy gate and entered into a spacious room with its interior illuminated by hundreds of candles.

Black inks scribing unknown letters were marked on the floors and the walls, converging towards the center. And fixed at the center of the room, was a large sphere of pulsating flesh. Similar to a tree, it had stem-like vessels extending beneath the ground and breaching into the walls.

From its opening, Leo could see a woman with long black hair resting inside in the fetus position. While stark naked, she had a figure that was too big compared to normal humans; with bust and hips blessed in supreme size and shape. Behind her back, were two black wings of feathers. Within the pool of blood inside the sphere, she looked like a fallen angel tainted by sin.

Leo was enchanted by the sight and fearlessly drew closer. The boy could feel the figure inside was calling for him. He gently touched the girl's head and her eyelids twitched. However, before the girl could open her eyes, a bright light covered his sight and everything turned white. Before he knew, Leo found himself back on his bed, with the sunshine beaming towards his face from the window.

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The boy laid silently still on bed for a good minute, then suddenly lifted up his blanket. There was a wild succubus trying to tame herself against Leo's massive meat pole.

"Good morning, Leo. How was your sleep?" Lilith seductively greeted the boy while swirling her finger around his gland.

"..."

"It felt like I had a very long dream..."

Amongst all the things he initially wanted to say, Leo answered the question directly.

"Oh? What was it about? Your thing suddenly got even bigger in mouth moments ago. Were you dreaming about me?" The succubus sweetly blushed.

"Er...honestly, I don't remember. I felt like I had a strange meal, but couldn't recall anything. Say... how long were you on my bed?" He felt something really important was slipping away from his mind.

"Since last night, I wasn't able to go back home because you fucked me silly, remember? I couldn't even move my legs until midnight." Lilith pouted as she voiced her complaint; disregarding the fact that it was her who begged Leo to keep going.

"Ahem! Language girl. And was I sleeping on my bed all the time?"

"Yeah? I don't think you ever moved. You have a good sleeping habit, besides this naughty succubi slayer." Lilith flicked her finger against the towering rod.

"I see... thanks. Let's get ready, or we will be late for school."

Ending the conversation, the boy cringed at the lame nickname given to his mighty rod.