Huff... huff... huff...
I gasped for air, my lungs tight and burning.
I had been running nonstop for what felt like an hour. An endless maze of twists and turns, corners without end.
Ahhh, here we go again.
Then I heard it.
A voice.
Getting closer. Closer.
I kept running, left, right, anywhere my feet moving without direction or sense. Panic drove me forward.
Until...
A dead end.
How many times have I dreamed this dream?
I slammed my fist against the wall. Nothing. Not a single crack.
"YOU CANNOT RUN."
The voice thundered, not through the air, but inside my mind, like a scream from within.
I turned around.
And saw it.
A towering humanoid figure loomed before me. Its body was lined with jagged, razor-sharp edges. Dark wings unfurled from its back, flapping slowly and sending a heavy gust through the narrow space. A grim, suffocating aura radiated from it, and in the darkness, its glowing red eyes pierced through me like blades.
