Into The Abyss
964 Words
The air was thick.
Not with smoke or mist—but with anticipation.
Alina barely had time to collect her thoughts before the man—who still hadn’t told her his name—turned to face the archway. He didn’t look back at her, just nodded toward it, the shadows in the distance stretching like fingers trying to pull them in.
“You’ll need this,” he said, his voice low and serious, breaking the tense silence that had followed their kiss.
Alina didn’t move immediately. There was something about him—something about the way he held himself, like he already knew what was going to happen. She hated that feeling. The feeling of being a step behind, of losing control over her own fate.
But she had no choice.
She had no choice but to follow.
The moment she crossed the threshold, the temperature dropped. The air around them turned heavy, thick with dark energy that seemed to pull at her, urging her deeper into the unknown.
The world around them twisted.
It wasn’t a place of earthly nature anymore. There were no trees, no grass—just black stone and jagged rocks stretching into an endless abyss. A place where the sky was permanently dark. A place that felt wrong.
As they walked further, the shadows seemed to move around them, slithering like serpents. Alina felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The deeper they went, the more oppressive the air became.
She couldn’t see much ahead of her. The darkness swallowed everything. Yet, somehow, she felt like there was something watching.
Something waiting.
She was growing used to the stranger’s presence. His movements were effortless, his footsteps silent. Alina had to fight the urge to reach out, to pull him closer. Something inside her told her that if she didn’t, she would be consumed by whatever was lurking in the shadows.
“You haven’t told me your name yet,” she said, keeping her voice steady, even though her heartbeat was erratic.
The man didn’t respond right away. His eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, but they never strayed from the path ahead.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he spoke. “Names have power, Alina. You’d be wise to remember that.”
A shiver ran down her spine. He was right—there was something dangerous about naming things in this place.
“But you can call me whatever you want for now,” he added, his voice dripping with amusement. “You may need a name to scream when things get messy.”
The dry humor didn’t mask the darkness in his words.
Alina felt a strange warmth crawl up her neck. His tone, that smirk in his voice—it stirred something in her, an ache deep in her gut that she couldn’t quite explain. The same ache she had felt when their lips had met, that burning tension that had exploded between them.
A dangerous attraction that she couldn’t ignore anymore.
But before she could respond, the ground beneath her feet shifted.
It wasn’t just the terrain. The very earth seemed to ripple, as though the land was alive.
And then—the sound.
A low growl, a rumble that seemed to come from the earth itself.
The stranger paused, his eyes narrowing.
“Get ready.”
Alina didn’t have time to ask what he meant. The growl turned into a full-blown roar as massive, twisted beasts emerged from the shadows—wolves, but not like anything she had ever seen before.
These were monsters.
Their fur was black as night, their eyes glowing with an otherworldly light, and their teeth gleamed like silver blades. They were huge—easily four times the size of any wolf she had encountered.
Alina’s heart raced.
The stranger didn’t flinch. He just stepped forward, his hands raised.
And then—he spoke a word.
Alina couldn’t understand the language, but when he did—the wolves stopped.
For a moment, the world was completely still.
The wolves didn’t move.
They watched.
The stranger’s lips curled into a smirk. “Impressive, aren’t they?”
Alina barely had time to respond when one of the creatures lunged forward with a speed that took her breath away. Her heart skipped a beat.
But before she could even react, the man moved.
He didn’t just move. He blurred.
He was on the wolf in a heartbeat, slamming it into the ground with a force that would have crushed any normal creature.
And then, with a twist of his wrist—the wolf was still.
The other wolves, still frozen in place, let out a series of low growls but did not move again.
Alina stood there, stunned. She had never seen anything like this.
“What are you?” she whispered.
He turned back to her, his expression unreadable.
“Something you’re better off not knowing.”
His eyes flickered with something dark. Something ancient.
And in that moment, Alina knew that whatever this man was—whatever this world was—she was already too far into it.
Too far to back out now.
She stepped forward, even as the weight of their dangerous surroundings pressed down on her. “Fine.”
She looked him in the eye.
“I’ll play. For now.”
He smiled, but there was nothing warm about it.
“It’s not about playing, Alina,” he said softly. “It’s about survival.”
And before she could respond, the wolves—silent now—disappeared back into the shadows, leaving only their eerie, glowing eyes behind.
The air grew colder.
And the abyss ahead of them seemed to stretch even farther into the darkness.
But this time, Alina didn’t hesitate.
She followed.
- Writer
