Rita was in front, followed closely by Karma.
They walked in silence. The dim light behind them quickly vanished, swallowed by darkness. The stairs were slippery, water seemed to leak from somewhere but they couldn't tell where, they had almost fallen more than once.
The air was heavy, and a musty smelled overwhelmed their senses.
It was endless. They had been walking for almost an hour and there was still nothing in sight. Despite the lack of comfort, they finally had enough and decided to sit down for a while.
"Why does it always need to have a catch? Couldn't they just make normally sized flight of stairs??"
Karma said looking down at the countless steps ahead of them.
Rita looked back at Karma and jokingly shot back:
"Well, you can still just jump down, you'll get there faster."
"Oh, fuck you."
Despite his rudeness, he wasn't as annoyed as he would have been a few hours ago. After the events that unfolded in the painting's room, Karma was a bit less harsher in tone towards Rita, and she had a more playful attitude when talking to him, their fights felt less like actual fights and more like playful banters.
After a few more hours, they finally reached the end of the flight of stairs, Karma immediately fell on the ground, over exaggerating their long descent.
"FINALLY…!"
"What are you doing..? Stand up…"
Rita started to look around alone as Karma was still recuperating.
The room wasn't necessarily big, nor was it very classy, it felt almost empty.
And then she saw it, in the middle of the room, a humanoid creature, with skin as red as blood, eyes with no iris or pupil, its teeth were white and sharp, ready to tear through flesh.
But it didn't move.
It was sitting down, in front of it was a table with an unfinished game of chess on top of it.
Rita immediately jumped back and took her weapon, fear coursing through her.
Seeing her reaction Karma stood up, and immediately jumped back as he finally saw the thing in front of them.
"W- what the fuck is this..?!"
"I-I don't know.. it's not moving..!"
They lingered there, studying it as it stared back at them.
Its eyes may not have had iris or pupils, but they could feel its cold gaze nonetheless.
After a while, they came to the conclusion that it was not going to attack them just yet. Still keeping their distance, they examined it—and the room—more thoroughly.
There wasn't much to see—no words carved into the stone, no paintings that hid their way toward the next room.
Eventually, they looked back at the game of chess.
"Do… do you think we have to play with that thing..?"
Karma asked Rita, reluctantly looking at the demonic creature for any signs of what to do next.
"Well.. I don't think we missed anything…"
"Just so you know.. I don't know how to play chess."
Rita looked at Karma as he said those words, more surprised than mad.
"You don't know how to play chess??"
"Wh- i just- i never really needed to learn how to play??"
Rita looked at him, rolled her eyes, and only then did she fully grasp what this meant:
She was the only one who could play against the thing, and she didn't know the consequences of losing.
Reluctantly, she stepped closer, her weapon in hand, and slowly sat in front of it.
As she did that, a horrendous smile began to spread across its face. Rita froze, Karma then got closer to help her if anything got out of hand and summoned his stone tablet.
Then, the creature moved, Rita almost jumped out her chair, but all it did was move a pawn forward.
It was her turn. Rita's eyes darted from Karma to the man in red, then to the board. She measured, calculated, hesitated. Finally, a move. From that instant, the battle unfolded—pieces seized, sacrifices made, each turn sharpening the tension between them.
————————
Time passed, and in the eventually, Rita lost.
Rita looked at the board, fear crept within her and Karma.
They both looked at the Red skinned creature at the same time.
Its smile was gone. It looked… almost satisfied. Then, it moved, Rita fell to the ground, expecting the worse.
Karma quickly rushed to help her up, but the man like beast did not attack them.
It simply walked towards a wall in room, and put its clawed hand on it.
As it did, the wall disappeared in the blink of an eye, as if it was never there, revealing another dark corridor.
It then stood in front of of the entrance, and looked towards Rita, as if waiting for her.
"Should we..?"
Karma asked, frantically looking at the thing and then back at her.
Eventually, Rita moved. She walked forward, he legs trembling.
"We.. don't really have a choice you know?"
As she walked toward it, the man-like creature began moving down the dark corridor, a burst of flame erupting from its hand and lighting the way ahead.
Karma hesitated, unsure if he should follow.
Then, realizing he didn't want to be alone, he sprinted toward the entrance, which slammed shut just seconds after he managed to slip inside. He glanced back at the wall behind him, heart pounding, before hurrying to catch up with Rita and the demonic creature.
A few hours passed. Karma and Rita continued following the man, keeping their distance, of course.
Eventually, they reached another room. The walls were covered in murals, and at the far end, a throne loomed.
The man in red walked steadily toward it. Once he reached the throne, three bowls filled with fruit appeared before him. He placed them carefully in front of the throne, then sank to his knees.
"What is it doing??"
Karma asked, confused by the behavior of the demon.
"I think it's… making an offering?"
"For who?!"
Karma was clearly worried than such a terrifying thing could be kneeling down for anything else.
"I- I don't know, but I think it's inviting us to kneel with it..? I mean it made three bowls appear.."
"That! That's something else I don't get, how the hell is it doing all this magic stuff?? First the wall, then that fire and now the walls???"
Karma was almost screaming as frustration overcame him.
"What the hell do you want me to tell you?? I'm as clueless as you, you know?!"
After finally calming down, and looking one more time around, they walked toward the throne.
Karma looked at the scene in front of him and asked:
"So do we just… kneel next to it??"
"I mean, probably?"
And so they did. They stayed like this for around 5 minutes, before the creature finally moved again.
It stood back up, and started walking away.
It went back towards the wall where the corridor was, and went through it, not letting Rita or Karma following. Just as it did, the whole room started shaking.
"Wha-"
"Shit!"
Karma swore under his breath as the ruins collapsed around them. In that instant, a hidden entrance flung open, and they sprinted toward it—moments before the room vanished beneath a tide of sand.
"What.. the actual hell is up with all of those hidden rooms… couldn't they just build a normal castle?!"
Karma complained as he catches his breath.
Rita on the other hand, didn't say anything.
She stood up, and started walking.
".. Rita..?"
Karma called out to her, but she just kept walking.
Karma looked forward and saw a floating orb of light in the middle of the room.
"R-Rita we shouldn't just touch this thing-"
But it was too late. Rita had already reached the orb and grabbed it with both of her hands. It was warm to the touch and even whiter than snow.
She was frozen for over an hour.
Karma kept trying to get a reaction out of her but she just stood there, unmoving like a statue. At first he had thought the worse but she was still breathing, despite her lack of movement.
Eventually, she moved again, took a few steps back and gasped for air.
"Rita!"
Karma launched towards her, as she stared back at him, almost saying something before falling unconscious.