Echoes of the Damned

Raelyn's shoulders quaked as her sobs filled the suffocating silence of the room. Her vision blurred with tears, and her chest felt as though it were being crushed by an unseen weight.

BANG.

Her breath hitched, the sound reverberating through the air like a judge's gavel. She lifted her head just as the door quivered violently under another deafening blow.

BANG.

Raelyn scrambled backward, her legs weak and trembling as cracks spider-webbed across the door. Each strike seemed to shake the room, the sound reverberating through her bones.

"No... no..." she whispered, her voice trembling as her back hit the cold wall.

The door finally shattered, splinters flying across the room like shrapnel. The man in the top hat stepped through the jagged opening, his form flickering and glitching in and out of reality like a corrupted file. His presence brought a wave of distortion, the air warping unnaturally around him. 

Raelyn's stomach churned as the room around her shifted once again. The sterile walls melted into grotesque, pulsating flesh, their surfaces slick and veined. Eyes began emerging from the walls and floor, their pupils dilating as they focused on her with a disconcerting sentience. The floor squelched beneath her feet, its surface warm and alive.

Then came the mouths.

Jagged, rotting teeth pushed through the fleshy walls, lips cracking and splitting as they formed into warped, twisted grins.

The began to whisper.

"It's your fault."

Raelyn's breath caught in her throat, her hands clamping over her ears, but it did nothing to muffle the rising chorus.

"It's your fault she's dead."

"It's your fault she suffered."

"If you weren't so weak, Luna would still be alive."

The man in the top hat glitched closer, his movements disjointed and unnatural, as if reality itself rejected his presence. His voice, low and venomous, cut through the cacophony.

"Helpless, useless, pathetic. If you had been stronger, maybe she could have escaped. Maybe she'd be alive."

"Stop it!" Raelyn screamed, her voice cracking. She pressed her hands harder against her ears, but the voices only grew louder.

"She'll never see her child again because of you," the man sneered, his featureless face somehow oozing malice. "She'll never see her baby smile because you failed her."

Raelyn staggered backward, shaking her head violently. "No... no, it's not true..."

But doubt wormed its way into her thoughts, the weight of his word crushing her fragile resolve.

"Maybe it is..." she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "Maybe it really is my fault."

The man's form flickered closer, his head tilting unnaturally as a twisted smirk stretched across his featureless face. He began to laugh, the sound distorted and inhuman, a mix of static and nails on a chalkboard.

But just as his hand reached for her, a blinding light erupted into the room, searing and pure.

The man recoiled with an ear-piercing screen, his form dissolving into black smoke. The walls and floor recoiled as well, the mouths snapping shut and the eyes bursting into viscous, black liquid. The fleshy surfaces disintegrated, replaced by glowing pristine white.

Raelyn blinked through her tears, her breath catching as she saw the source of the light.

Standing in the center of the room was an ethereal figure.

A woman with cascading golden hair that shimmered like sunlight stood before her. She wore a flowing white gown, its hem adorned with intricate gold patterns that pulsed faintly with light. Four enormous, feathered wings extended from her back, their brilliance illuminating the entire space. A halo hovered above her head, spinning gently and emitting a soft, golden glow. Her eyes were pools of light, warm yet piercing, radiating an overwhelming sense of power and compassion.

"Do not be afraid, my child," the angel said, her voice melodic and soothing, like a lullaby that filled every corner of the room.

Raelyn stared in awe, her heart pounding. The angel extended a hand toward her, its delicate fingers glowing faintly.

Raelyn hesitated, her breath shaky, before reaching out grasping the angel's hand. The touch was warm and reassuring, like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.

"Who... who are you?" Raelyn whispered, her voice trembling.

"Who I am does not matter," the angel replied gently, helping her to her feet. "I am here to help you."

"Where... where am I? What is this place?"

The angel's expression turned somber. "This is a place you were never meant to be. It was a prototype—a dimension created to punish those who committed unspeakable crimes. It strips them of their power and tortures them, endlessly. But it was deemed too cruel and was shut down. Somehow, the creatures within combined their strength to reactivate it, pulling others into this nightmare to feed on their despair and grow stronger."

Raelyn's eyes widened, her lips trembling.

"You are lucky to have survived this long," the angel said softly.

"Can you... can you get me out of here?" Raelyn asked, hope flickering in her voice for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

The angel's face fell. "I cannot. But there is a way. If we reach the center—the heart of this—there is an emergency hatch that was designed to free trapped within."

Raelyn's heart surged with hope, a rare, fragile feeling.

But before she could respond, a sickening crack shattered the moment.

The angel gasped, her golden eyes widening as a grotesque, clawed hand burst through her chest.

Blood sprayed across the pristine white walls, staining them crimson. The angel's body convulsed as the hand twisted, pulling out her still-beating heart.

Raelyn screamed, watching in horror as the man in the top hat emerged behind the angel, his body glitching violently. His featureless face twisted into a grotesque parody of a smile as he brought the heart to his mouth and bit into it, black ichor and blood oozing down his chin.

"No... no..." Raelyn whispered, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face.

The angel collapsed to the ground, her glowing form dimming rapidly. With her last breath, she whispered, "The center... go to the center..."

The man turned to Raelyn, his distorted laughter filled the room. "Escape? There is no escape."

Raelyn stumbled back, her legs weak as the man advanced on her. Despair clawed at her chest, threatening to consume her.

But then, something inside her snapped.

Without a word, she turned and ran, her feet pounding against the ground as the man's distorted laughter echoed behind her. The sound of his glitching footsteps grew closer, but she didn't look back. She couldn't.

All she could do was run.

They walk among the weary, the lost, the blind,

Monsters that hunt, that stalk, that bind.

In shadows deep, in daylight's gleam,

They wear our faces; they steal our dreams.

A smile too wide, a hand too cold,

Eyes that glisten like tarnished gold.

You'll never see them, never know,

Until their fangs are the last to show.

The walls can hear, the floors can breathe,

The air itself conspires to deceive.

It whispers truths you'll beg to deny,

That angels never truly die.

Wings of light, now tattered, ton,

Their holes twisted, their purpose scorned.

They watch with pity, they watch with hate,

Bound by secrets, shackled by fate.

They were once saviors, the holy kind,

Now they lurk when faith's confined.

Their feathers fall, each one a sin,

A testament to what has always been.

The monsters laugh, the angels weep,

And you, dear reader, dare not sleep.

For while you read, they watch, they grin.

Their game begins when yours must end.

The book you hold, it blinks, it seems,

Its spine shivers with unseen pleas.

Did you hear that scratch? That sigh?

It knows your name. It knows you'll die.