Nightmare Game
Copyright© 2025 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 134
Mason and Victor looked up.
From the shadows stepped a figure.
A boy, perhaps seven or eight, with short light-blue hair, draped in an oversized robe adorned with metallic fish-like ornaments, evoking some exotic tribal flair.
His eyes stayed shut, yet his steps were remarkably steady, as if vision posed no barrier.
A little boy?
In that instant, alarm bells screamed for both; Mason bolted first, Victor close behind, into another corridor.
How could a child exist in this Prison?
Out of place meant danger; the black’s gruesome end lingered fresh—this boy likely its cause.
Unknown origins, death rules; best bet: distance, stat.
Drawing from yesterday’s fifth-level Fire of Judgment logic, he’d prioritize blacks; their job: find escape before that.
But events defied Mason’s expectations.
As they fled, the boy’s voice drifted after, eerie and soft.
“Why run?”
“I’m what everyone wished for, aren’t I?”
“Just one step from freedom—why give up?”
“Don’t rush, don’t rush; this is your fate. Running solves nothing.”
“I’ll catch up soon.”
The tone was childlike, puzzled, tinged with sorrow, laced with resolve.
Tick-tock—
With the boy’s advance, the chime echoed anew in their ears.
Mason and Victor’s faces darkened; the boy’s prime target had shifted to them.
Worse, no matter their desperate sprint, footsteps dogged close.
The boy looked mere child; in reality, adults like them should’ve outpaced him easy.
Mason and Victor felt the pursuit closing, the sporadic ticks like death knells.
And then, horror escalated, scalps tingling.
Ahead forked several paths; no clue which led to life.
Boy relentless behind, dead ends possibly ahead—no pause to ponder.
Mason’s mouth went dry, mind fogging, nausea rising.
Choices always knotted him; life-or-death ones crushed.
But no choice: headlong gamble.
“This way.”
He picked a corridor at random, pulling Victor deeper.
“Why...”
The boy’s voice grew sadder, like an abandoned kid.
“Why leave me behind?”
Mason and Victor panted, drained in body and spirit.
Ahead sprawled more forks.
Mason froze; he hadn’t expected such labyrinthine twists, like plunging into a massive maze.
No count of branches, no hint of the right one.
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