24 Chapter 24: Churning Shadow

Lumière eyed the chair in the center of the room once more, pulling the Gnosis out of his inner pocket in the meanwhile. He flipped to the page that had begun to glow anew and skimmed its contents. Immediately, black ink began writhing on the surface of the paper, spreading out into legible text.

— [Zone, Alpha-1]

— [Class 8 Danger]

— [Entity Count: Low]

— [Notable Hazards: The zone is known to shift periodically, as well as deteriorate in stability. The creeping shadow is known to cause a loss of rationality, and must be avoided at all costs using any possible source of light. Moreover, if a singular wooden chair is is detected, it must not be glanced at more than once-]

Lumière stopped reading the text, slipping the book that glowed a dim silver into his jacket pocket before stepping forward. As if he had lost all ability to control his body, his legs seemed to move on their own, steadily approaching the chair in the center of the room. His body filled with an unplaceable sense of warmth. To him, the chair seemed almost inviting. Although, as he reached it, he didn't sit down in it. Instead, he placed a foot on its surface, using it as a step to propel himself upwards. When he stood with both feet on the chair, he unconsciously grabbed the noose hanging above it with both hands, slipping his neck into it before kicking the chair away.

When his lucidity returned to him, he was already dangling from the ceiling of the room. Fear filled his mind with racing thoughts, and the skin of his neck began to writhe with burning pain.

'Fuck, what was that? What just happened? Why does it hurt so much? What do I do?'

'What do I do? Is this it? Is this all I can do? Just die?'

If he could have pulled a single breath into his lungs, he was sure it would have been a sharp, fearful breath. But he couldn't. His lungs felt as if they would collapse. His gaze sharpened despite their shaking, and he used one hand to try and lift himself along with the rope. His other hand traveled downwards, toward his leg.

Lumière reached into his boot immediately, retrieving the knife he had tucked into it prior and sliced in an arcing motion up above him. The sharpness of the blade sliced quickly through the rope, and Lumière began to descend to the floor, relief and air flooding his lungs. Although, his eyes widened as lucidity returned to them. The shadows that had pooled at the edge of the room began to tremble, rushing towards him in droves.

As soon as he was about to hit the stone floor, the room shifted around him. The creeping shadow lurched towards him, but as Lumière found himself falling against the floor of a new room, the Gnosis began to glow brightly once more. The shadows hesitated for a single moment, almost fearful. To avoid the light, the shadows immediately scattered, tucking themselves back into the far corners of the room.

When he glanced back up, his heart still pounding intensely, he found himself in the depths of a large open cavern. The only illumination was the dim glow of the Gnosis in his interior pocket.

'Ah, fuck. If I read it, won't it stop illuminating? Then the shadow will start to creep back towards me...'

Lumière sat on the damp cavern floor, sifting through his thoughts. He clicked his tongue, and having come to a realisation, a grin curled up on his countenance.

'I'm not just a liar anymore, am I?'

Lumière reached out his hand and pulled his perfomer's glove over it. As if he were still 'performing', he then snapped his fingers. The sound echoed through the cavern, bit by bit as if repeating itself until the sound disappated in the distance. Then, a spark appeared in his palm. It curled upwards in a spiraling motion, and immediately, a bright silver flame began to burn in his hand, illuminating the space around him. His heart erupted with anxiety at the sight of the coloured flame, memories having been burnt into the forefront of his mind. For the moment, however, he abandoned his feelings and ignored his fear. He had realised it was a matter of survival. The labyrinth he had appeared in was no longer a strange dream.

Having found an alternate source of illumination, Lumière grasped the Gnosis with the other hand, flipping to the newly silver-glowing page. The text began to spread out once more, and Lumière attentively eyed the text.

— [Zone, Alpha-2.3]

— [Class 7 Danger]

— [Entity Count: High]

— [Notable Hazards: Behind you, fool.]

Lumière's heart stopped beating for a moment. All the muscles in his body tensed up. As a chill ran down his spine, he turned his neck slightly and glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye. A tall, lanky creature towered above him. Its skin was pale-white, and warm drool dripped from its agape mouth. It was missing half of its skull, which had been replaced by a plethora of fungi that seemed to thrive off of its mushy grey brain matter.

The creature seemed to have no eyes or ears, and so it didn't react to anything Lumière had done. It just stood in place, its long toes spreading out onto the stone surface of the cavern, as if feeling its way around.

'Fuck. Didn't I initially fall into this zone? Did it feel the vibrations from my fall?'

Lumière forced calm into his heart, taking a deep breath.

'No... stone this thick shouldn't offer much in way of vibration. I should just be cautious to back off slowly.'

Lumière slowly stood up, his eyes frozen on the form of the lanky creature in front of him. His gaze returned back to the Gnosis, and the black inky text began to twist, rewriting itself.

— [Notable Hazards: Stalactites fall from the ceiling periodically. The creeping shadow is known to cause a loss in rationality. Furthermore, when surrounded by vast amounts of darkness, the malice of the shadow is heightened, causing it to grow a hunger for flesh. The cavern is filled with several creatures that have been taken over by the will of the fungi, which poses no threat to human biology. They become intensely violent when disturbed, but they all lack the ability to hear and see, as the fungi initially takes over their inner ear canals and optic nerves.

As the glow of the silver flames fell away from the form of the lanky creature, the shadow around it began to churn. In an instant, the shadows enveloped the creature. Agonious screams rang out through the cavern, blood-curdling and inhuman. It sounded like the cries of several birds had been strained through several coarse cloths. Rather, the screams sounded as if the birds had been crushed in an industrial grinder. It was a terrifying, incomprehensible noise that nearly made Lumière freeze on the spot. Soon after, however, the cries ceased. The creature had been silenced by the shadows. Countless thoughts began to race through Lumière's mind as he continued forward.

'Why did the shadows only attack that thing once the light fell away? Wouldn't that have meant that without the presence of me, the creature was already living in darkness? Why didn't the shadows attack him then?'

'Perhaps the light 'wakes up' the shadows? Maybe in the absence of light for a period of time, they slumber? It's just speculation, but I can assume it's something alike to that.'

He continued walking through the cavern and encountered several more creatures. He was careful to avoid them, but periodically, stalactites would fall from the ceiling. The force that sent them burrowing into the stone caused the creatures right next to them to erupt in a frenzy, bumping into each other and causing a chain reaction. Whenever disturbed, the creatures immediately became irrevocably violent, as if only death would calm them.

As soon as the illumination of Lumière's silver flame fell away from them, their cries began to ring out in unison, like a cacaphony of agony. Only death would silence them. Whenever they would grow silent, a putrid scent would fill Lumière's nose, and an alarming sense of danger filled his body.

'It's that ability to detect the presence of blood... it works, but it's kind of annoying in this context... I already know there's blood present. I don't think it's something I can just 'disable' either.'

Now that Lumière had found his bearing and felt a little more confident in the situation despite his readiness, he began to sift through his endless thoughts.

'That man I saw in the Labyrinth's gathering hall... he seemed incredibly familiar, as if I had already seen him countless times. Had I seen him in that dream? I've already forgotten most of its contents... He seemed to lure me towards him, not unlike that chair in the previous zone. Is it just a common theme in this place- to ignore sights that shouldn't be seen by human eyes?'

Lumière let out an audible 'tsk', unafraid that it would cause the mushroom creatures around him to frenzy. As long as no stalactites fell from the ceiling, they were amiable beasts, not unalike statues in the way they would stand nearly completely still. As long as there was no reason for them to move, they wouldn't.

He eventually came to a large stone building that pierced through the roof of the cavern, as if it had forcefully merged with the stalactite-filled roof. It had several arched windows along its surface, all seemingly boarded over from the inside. In its corner, there was a small door that had been pulled ajar, allowing an inviting warmth to creep out into the cold cavern atmosphere. Lumière let out a calmed sigh, having relaxed his anxious heart. His muscles had tensed up so much previously that they felt as if they had snapped, and so his body felt intensely fatigued. Still, Lumière cautiously trudged towards the open door and stepped inside the building.

Immediately, he felt that it had been a mistake. The floorboard creaked underneath him, sending slight, unnoticeable tremors to erupt throughout the room. Inside the room's interior, a dozen pale-white creatures with unidentifiable fungi growing out of their oozing grey brain matter stood, unmoving. As they felt the vibrations of the floor, however, their heads turned in unison towards the doorway where Lumière stood.

Lumière let out an audible 'tsk', knowing he had messed up. As the creatures rushed towards him, he stepped to the side.

'It's like throwing a dove, isn't it?'

Lumière hurled the bright silver flame in his hand towards the creature that rushed towards the doorway. Making contact with its dry pale skin, the beast caught on fire immediately, the flames spreading to every part of its body. It cried out in agony, and as if following the heat they sensed, the remaining creatures began to flock around the first creature as they rushed out of the building. Lumière, still standing by the side, let out a relaxed sigh as he watched them gather outside the building.

Then, he stepped inside. Verifying that no creatures remained inside the building, a grin crossed his expression.

"Goodnight, dear beasts."

He snapped his gloved fingers once more, and the flame that had been spreading throughout the creatures that seemed to pile on top of each other immediately ceased, cloaking the cavern outside in darkness. With the only illumination coming from the building, Lumière closed the door shut. The creatures, sensing the vibrations of the door, lurched towards the building, but it had been too late. The shadows began to churn.

Lumière turned his attention towards the interior of the building. The stairs to the side had collapsed entirely, leaving the second floor inaccessible. On the other side of the room, a desk meant for an attendant to receive guests had been smashed inwards, leaving it nothing but slivers of wood on the floor. Lumière's gaze skipped past the destroyed ruins of the building's interior and focused on the metal gate which lied opposite the entrance.

'An elevator? The show hall has one of them, but since it only leads down to the basement, I haven't had a chance to operate it... why does the labyrinth have one. Moreover, why is it lying in the middle of such a spacious, dangerous cavern?'

Suddenly, the Gnosis began to glow a faint silver once more, so Lumière pulled it from his pocket and flipped to the new page. The text began to spread out on its surface.

— It's highly advisable that in the labyrinth, you seek an exit. Of course, you can just sit there and die. It's probably the best fate for someone as detestable as you.

Lumière's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, but his gaze was directed back towards the elevator.

'Then is this... an exit?'