"Cecilia!"
The name ripped from his throat, echoing sharply before fading into nothing.
He shot upright, heart pounding, head spinning as he tried to take in his surroundings — but there was nothing. No shapes. No light.
Only darkness. Complete, suffocating darkness.
He blinked hard, rubbed his eyes, blinked again.
Nothing.
'I can't see…'
Cold stone pressed against his palms, and damp air clung to his skin.
'Where am I?'
The question barely formed when he heard it.
A deep, rumbling growl rising from the blackness that pierced through his ears.
Growl…
Baines froze. His breath hitched in his throat, his eyes widening though they saw nothing, and his body trembled unconsciously.
'From where?'
He turned instinctively — and there, behind him, two regal green eyes glowed in the dark.
His heart sank, and his lungs emptied as he felt the world empty around him.
Only one word echoed through him.
Run.
And he did.
He bolted in the opposite direction, panic flooding his chest, sweat burning across his face as questions spiraled through his mind.
"I can't see anything. I can barely hear anything. What's happening? Where am I?!" he shouted, voice cracking.
That was when his foot snagged on something, and he stumbled.
Splash!
Cold water swallowed him up to his waist.
"No—!" He screamed, scrambling himself upright.
'A pond?'
Growl…
The sound returned — closer.
Baines' heart raced as he turned, trembling — only to find not one pair…
…but four pairs of green eyes staring back at him, steady and unblinking.
"H-help!" Tears mixed with unknown dried blood and pond water on his face as he splashed forward.
The water slowed him, only feeding his terror.
He could think of nothing but trying to escape this nightmare.
And somehow, he made it.
His foot hit solid ground.
Without hesitation, he surged out of the pond and back into the darkness.
In no time, his lungs began to burn.
Huff… Huff…
He had only run a minute when he was already out of breath, but he couldn't stop.
'Are they still following me?'
He didn't dare look back.
The fact that he was running blind made it worse.
'What if I find those eyes where I am going?'
Still, he couldn't stop.
The best he did was to stretch his arms forward, sweeping the air to ensure no obstacles were around him.
But, even that had limits as it soon showed.
Smack!
He slammed face-first into something. Fresh pain exploded through his skull as he staggered backward, blood trickling from his nose.
"Urgh!"
The pain hit deep. Though its cause was mostly panic. It roared louder.
"No!" He couldn't see what he'd hit. He couldn't see anything. But, he instantly knew that whatever it was he hit, it was a dead end.
He couldn't go forward.
Without thinking, he turned left and sprinted—
Twack!
Another impact.
He stumbled again. There was nowhere else to go. He was trapped.
"No… no… no…" he whispered and collapsed, pressing against the rough surface in desperation.
I'm going to die.
The realization struck him cold. The fear of death wrapped around him like chains. It felt like only certainty was death.
He hadn't even noticed that he hadn't heard the growls in a while.
Water dripped against the ground beneath him as he wet himself helplessly.
And then—
[USER HAS INJECTED 'EYE' 0912221 OF BATCH 20111]
[ERROR DETECTED]
[IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE REQUIRED]
[SEARCHING THROUGH AVAILABLE FUNCTIONS…]
A voice — mechanical, emotionless — cut through the darkness.
[ACTIVATING NIGHT VISION]
"Wha—"
He barely finished the word when an immediate change occurred.
His vision flickered. His eyesight sharpened.
Shadows bled into outlines, then into shapes, and the outline of his surroundings finally came to view.
"I… can see," Baines muttered.
The world wasn't exactly bright. It was washed in pale green and faint light that highlighted parts, but it was no longer absolute blackness.
He lifted his head and saw it.
The thing blocking his path wasn't a wall, or stone, or earth.
They were figures. Tall, rough, dark, and shaped like humans.
Statues.
But as he stared—
Grrrr…
One shifted.
Stone grated against stone.
Another turned its head.
Its eyes—blank, carved sockets—began to glow with the same green light as the beasts behind him.
The statues were waking.