Stepping into the door felt like he was passing through an endless darkness— except this darkness had countless menacing shadows dancing across its surface.
Of course, it could also be as a result of the vertigo he was currently experiencing, but Dean more or less tended to believe that wasn't the case.
Experience with the shadows had taught him better.
Right now,
"Ukh—!"
It felt as though he was falling into an endless void as opposed to the step he'd taken into the portal. In this state, his surroundings were warped and contorted, as though struggling to manifest.
But eventually, the darkness receded, along with the numbing sensation of falling into an endless void.
"...."
Dean's eyes fluttered open, and as he struggled to breath, chest heaving, an eerie urge to puke slowly began to rise within him.
"Ukh!"
With each passing second, the urge only continued to increase, along with the growing difficulty in breathing.
"Akh—!"
He held onto the wall, clutching tightly as he struggled to breath through the haze clouding hus mind. It was difficult and unbearable, but eventually, he'd succeed.
"Hah."
Letting out a mouthful of air, he shifted his gaze to assess his surroundings.
"...."
An eerie silence surrounded him, broken only by the rhythmic pounding of his heart.
Ba- thump! Ba- thump!
The silence that surrounded him was unlike what he'd expected of the cursed land. For that reason, it felt eerily disturbing, eliciting a wave of unease within him.
Calming his rapidly breathing heart, he forced down the fear swiftly rising within him and stepped forward.
Step! Step!
Dean's steps echoed through the silence, each one intensifying the unease within him.
And as if to make matters worse, the further he walked, the scantier and more desolate the surroundings became.
It was what he'd deem as an anomaly, that is, in contrast to the expected harrowing nature of this cursed land.
For once,
Tap—! Tap—!
There were no dark creatures. No Negéns. No eldritch horrors.
He frowned, brows arched upward. 'That sounded too good to be true.'
And the worst of it all was the problematic nature of this region he'd found himself in. Not in the creatures it could potentially harbour, but in its structure.
It felt as if he was stuck in an endless labyrinth, each connecting with numerous others in ways that defied logic and reasoning.
"Ugh!"
It was annoying to think about.
'Such a region was probably the worst of them all. An achilles' heel of a regressor if he had to say.'
"Huff."
Exhaling sharply, Dean forced himself to calm down and calmly assessed his surroundings. Slowly,
Step—! Step—!
A pattern began to form.
The Dark Maze.
An endless circuit of interconnected routes connected to the Zelkéith, an in-between space, where space and time are warped in the form of a supernatural echo.
"I see." Dean nodded. "I guess that explains a few things."
But if that was the case, and the endless circuits of interconnected routes were made by someone in the distant past. Or perhaps, a group of people. Was it the previous citizens of this cursed land? And if that was indeed the case, like he suspected it be, why?
Dean pondered harder on each question, and slowly, before he knew it, a solemn expression crept onto his features. The scowl on his face deepened at the chilling realization.
He didn't know why he had waved it off previously, but now that he thought about it, he realized that he knew of the dark maze.
"Probably through a forgotten regression," he muttered with a narrowed brow.
But of course, just like any other day, he had no memory of it. And that only further served to intensify the scowl on his face.
'That feeling of incomplete memory. He didn't like it one bit.'
However, on the bright side of things, since he knew of the dark maze, or rather, had knowledge of it, then it made sense that he could slowly piece together the history of this cursed land and perhaps his own memories in the long run.
The thought brought a small smile to his lips, however fleeting it might have been. Though,
Step! Step!
A single question remains. One that was rather unsettling.
Who or what were they hiding from?
As for why he had such thoughts? All the theories he came up with all came back to a certain conclusion: The past citizens of this cursed land were hiding from someone or… something. At least before they met their supposed demise.
However, who or what could it be?
A frown tugged at the corner of his lips. 'Was it the Nyarlarth?
Dean couldn't help but wonder. And somehow, he had a feeling that was indeed the case. However, with no further facts to support this hypothesis of his, it was still rather baseless.
Shaking his head, he was about to take a step forward, when—
Creak.
He suddenly froze mid-step, breath hitching.
Ba- thump! Ba- thump!
A strong metallic scent wafted through the air, sending shivers down his spine.
"Blood?"
A grim expression darkened his features. His muscles tensed as his gaze shifted.
There—
"...."
He saw it.
Apile of corpses.
In that instant, fear crept in, chilling him to the core. However, at the same time that it did, an even more unsettling question found its way into his mind.
Who or what could have killed this many dark creatures?
With a grim expression, Dean crept closer and slowly touched the corpses.
Twitch!
His hands came slick with blood. And...
Ba- thump! Ba- thump!
He realized it was still... fresh!
For a second there, his heart tightened.
Drip! Drip!
Before he knew it, sweat poured down his face, and he was finding it hard to maintain my calm.
'Calm down Dean. Calm down,' he repeated.
Clench!
His hands tightened at his sides, curling into fists. In that instant, he made use of the supernatural detector. But to his relief, it seemed that whatever had caused the horrifying carnage was gone.
Yet he just couldn't shake off this ominous feeling that something was wrong.
A frown tugged at the corner of his lips.
'Even though the supernatural detector couldn't find anything, he still needed to be on guard. Very much so.'
"Huh."
Glancing at the corpses beneath him with a grim expression, he muttered under his breath:
"May your souls rest in peace."
Having done that, Dean made way to leave when,
Whoosh—!
The corpses beneath him stirred. And then,
Flick—!
"....!"
A claw wreathed in stygian darkness slithered out of them, rapidly reaching for his throat.