The hallway stretched before him like a blade unsheathed in slow motion—gleaming, merciless, and waiting to strike. Its edges weren’t made of steel but of silence sharpened into menace, humming beneath the surface like restrained violence. It was the kind of quiet that didn’t offer peace—it stole it, dragging its claws along the nerves of anyone foolish enough to walk it alone.
The black marble floor gleamed underfoot, reflecting the faint, flickering light of golden sconces that lined the corridor like ceremonial torches for a funeral procession. Each glint fractured his silhouette into jagged fragments, as if even his shadow didn’t dare remain whole in his presence. The walls, cold and darker than night, seemed to pull inward, claustrophobic with tension—thick with the weight of somethi
