Aleks was still undecided on what he must do at that moment. His curiosity seemed to get the better of him, because he knew something was coming; from the sound of those footsteps, he already knew they weren't normal footsteps and that they sounded different.
The roar that shook everything didn't seem to be the one that made him alert to the situation he was facing right now. Nothing was clear about where he was, nor was he even aware of how he got there.
He'd already seen the warning and information presented to him by this new system – a system whose purpose or function he still didn't know. It still felt unreal and definitely didn't make any sense at all.
The temperature of the place slightly increased, and the air started to press down. Aleks just felt himself reacting to all of this in an unexplainable manner. It was like something was preventing him from making any sudden movements.
The mist thickened as whatever was coming in his direction got closer by each second. The only thing Aleks was able to make out was distorted, calculated breathing – clear signs that this was definitely no human.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Finally, the mysterious thing made an appearance – more like a cameo, to be specific. Not that when it appeared did it actually reveal its form or even show what the hell it was. It just stood still behind the red steam. And that red steam it stood by was like a wall between it and Aleks: a very foggy and non-revealing thick wall. Something was really abnormal with Aleks; maybe it was his uncontrollable teenage curiosity that got the better of him, or it was just pure stupidity.
He walked forward towards the thick wall and stood there, hoping that maybe this thick steam would subside eventually. But the truth was, the way that wall was formed and constructed, there was no way it would clear, even for him.
Still, he could hear the disturbing breathing. This time around, though, it didn't sound like it was coming from multiple people or things; it was just one thing that, from near, sounded like a beast – a beast of unknown origin.
Its breathing changed as both it and Aleks stood face to face with that thickened wall between them. It became more like a growl – a growl that even a person like Aleks was familiar with, as he recalled where he'd heard this kind of growl before. He was stupid enough to lay down his guard.
As he began to chuckle with awkward relief, he'd totally forgotten about the heeded warnings that were presented to him.
For a second, maybe a second and a half, whatever thing was on the other side went quiet. Aleks wasn't sure if this silence was a good thing or a bad thing.
So he leaned a little bit closer to the wall… and suddenly, Aleks's heart rate spiked up for some reason. And just like that:
[Ding]
[Detection: Heart rate rising]
[Alert: Danger ahead]
[Warning: Run]
It wasn't even like the system was warning Aleks from afar; it was floating right there in his eyes and face.
But he chose to ignore it.
And he did the next dumbest thing he probably thought was the smartest: he reached out his hand to the wall and tried to wipe away the mist from the thickened surface.
He rubbed it, but the problem was, no matter how much he tried, nothing happened. The more he rubbed, the more the smoke formed and thickened.
The thing on the other side could feel and sense that there was something out there, on the other side, and it started to take action.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
That was the sound of the unexplainable, thickened smoke-wall being banged and banged. Of course, that took Aleks by surprise. But instead of running for his life like the system had suggested, he just stepped back a foot.
And he still had the audacity to get even a little closer so he could see what the hell that was. The banging didn't seem to ease down; more and more, it was getting louder and stronger.
So it was proof that the thing on the other side was hell-bent on breaking through. Aleks shared an amused laugh, assuming that maybe there was no reason for him to be afraid. If whatever that was thought it would break through a wall of thickened smoke, it was definitely not the brightest.
But he couldn't see what was actually really happening. The colour of the wall was blinding him to the truth. And that truth was: as the banging intensified, the wall wasn't only cracking up, it was weakening. Because those uncountable bangs weren't just bangs.
They were punches. Punches hitting everywhere at once in full speed.
That's when the unforeseen happened.
As the being punched through, one of its hands managed to pierce the wall. The hand went all the way through… and pierced a hole in Aleks's stomach.
Aleks probably assumed that all this was a joke or maybe a dream that he'd wake up from in one piece—if he could just wake up. But the moment his skin and organs were pierced, he simply couldn't believe it.
At first, he gasped from the sting the punch made, and then he shut his eyes for maybe thirty seconds, tops.
'You know, this dream feels so real. I just hope when I get out of here and wake up in my own bed, I'll be okay,' he was comforting himself.
'Now it's time to wake up. Wake up! Wake up!'
It didn't matter how many times he shouted the words wake up! and no matter how many times he opened and shut his eyes—it didn't change the fact that what he was feeling and experiencing was real.
He opened his eyes one more time. 'Now please, wake up!'
He still saw himself, still standing exactly where he was. And when he realized what had happened to him—at first, he didn't see what had really happened—he just felt the sting.
Except this time, he gathered all the courage he had and looked down to actually see what was really preventing him from waking up. It wasn't that he couldn't move. It wasn't sleep paralysis. But something was preventing him.
And what he saw—he couldn't believe. At that very moment, he saw a big monstrous hand inside him, and the worst part was the state of the hand. It was all oily and disgusting, as if it had just come out of somewhere vile.
His eyes opened wide, and he couldn't process the whole situation. His brain had abandoned him, and he couldn't even utter words that made sense at the time.
To make things worse, whatever this thing was—it didn't stop at just piercing his flesh. Now, it was playing around with his organs, as if it were shuffling them, as if it were playing bingo.
And poor Aleks felt every ounce of pain the creature inflicted. He staggered, instinctively trying to create distance between himself and the thing — whatever it was.
He gritted his teeth, his fingers clawing at the arm lodged deep inside him, desperate to rip it out. But the more he pulled, the more it twisted — cruelly, methodically — inside his gut.
"ARGH!" Aleks howled as the creature's hand pushed even deeper, as if reaching for something it had no right to touch.
No matter how he tried to push it away, the thing's arm was too slick, too wet with his blood and its own unnatural slime. His hands slipped over it uselessly.
That's when his body began to falter. Blood poured from his mouth in thick, gurgling coughs. He felt it bubbling at the back of his throat.
He fought to move, to escape, but the creature's grotesque smoothness made it impossible to get a grip. It was like trying to push away a nightmare made of oil and muscle.
"What the hell is this? What's going on? What kind of nightmare is this? And why the hell can't I wake up?" Aleks gasped in his mind, panicked.
The creature chuckled — a low, guttural sound filled with pleasure at his suffering.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of torment, it began to pull its arm free. Slowly. Painfully.
And it didn't come out empty.
From Aleks's abdomen came his intestines, dragging behind the creature's arm like a grotesque rope. They wrapped around its limb, slick and red. It didn't yank them — no, it savored the moment, uncoiling them with deliberate slowness.
Aleks could only watch, helpless. The horror unfolded before his eyes, and no matter how much he wanted to look away — something wouldn't let him.
"What did I do to deserve this?" he whispered, trembling. "I never wronged anyone... I didn't do anything..."
The creature raised its arm, intestines still clinging to it. A crack split the nearby wall. And then, Aleks saw its eyes for the first time — blood red, glowing, alive with amusement.
With a sickening slurp, it brought the organs to its mouth, sucking them in as if they were a slushy.
Aleks's vision flickered. The light in his eyes began to dim.
Then — ding — a message notification blinked into existence before him.
He took a step back, stunned. Speechless.