CHAPTER 22
[BEYOND THE COLOSSAL DOORS]
LUPUS'S PERSPECTIVE
Suddenly, the scene shifted to Lupus.
He found himself on the other side of the colossal doors, breathing heavily. One arm clutched his chest as he struggled to catch his breath.
Like someone who had just survived a traumatic experience.
In truth… he had.
He leaned forward, eyes wide with shock. For a moment he simply stared ahead, gasping for air, before relief slowly began to settle in.
"(Breathes heavily)… I'm… I'm alive!?" he said in disbelief.
"That was so close… I thought I was done for…"
He paused again, trying to steady his breathing.
"How did I ever get dragged into something like this…?"
Another breath.
"…That was probably the scariest thing I've ever had to deal with. Whatever happens, I hope I never see that thing again."
Lupus slowly turned around to look at the colossal doors he had somehow passed through.
The massive double doors towered over everything around them. Their sheer size dwarfed the entire chamber.
Even standing before them now, Lupus knew one thing for certain.
There was absolutely no way he could have opened such a structure himself.
Not even if he tried with everything he had.
Just as he began to think back on what had happened...
BANG!
A violent strike slammed against the doors from the other side.
Lupus jumped in shock.
BANG!
Another strike followed.
The massive structure trembled under the force of the impact.
Something was trying to break through.
The strikes continued, one after another, the enormous doors absorbing the weight of each blow.
On the other side of the colossal doors was the Creature of Nightmares, relentlessly hammering against them.
And from beyond the door, Lupus heard a chilling chorus of voices repeating the same words over and over.
"Kill the calamity."
"Kill the calamity."
"Kill the calamity."
Lupus slowly stepped backward, fear spreading across his face.
Each strike sent deep reverberations through the doors, echoing across the chamber.
Yet the structure held firm.
It didn't move.
Not even an inch.
It was almost as if the colossal doors had been built specifically to prevent the Creature of Nightmares from ever leaving the Corridor of Offerings.
But that raised an even more troubling question.
How had Lupus ended up on the other side of them?
The answer lay in Orion's perspective.
ORION'S EARLIER PERSPECTIVE
Moments before the scene shifted to Lupus—
Before anyone had crossed to the other side of the colossal doors...
Orion had been moments away from death.
The Creature of Nightmares had already seized his legs.
The fog of darkness had surged ahead of him and reached the doors first.
Yet Orion still stretched one arm forward, desperately trying to reach them.
The darkness itself had never been the real threat.
The true danger was the creature hiding within it.
Still…
There was hope.
After the darkness touched the colossal doors, Orion's fingers were the next to reach them.
Deep down, he believed there was no surviving this.
What could his fingers possibly do to a structure so enormous?
Nothing.
He knew that.
Even if he struck the door with all his strength, it wouldn't budge even slightly.
So perhaps this was simply where it ended.
Yet something inside him refused to give up.
A strange instinct whispered in his mind.
Just touch the door.
That's all you need to do.
Touch it… and you might live.
That instinct was the only reason he had fought so desperately to reach it.
And finally...
He did.
The moment his fingers touched the door, something impossible happened.
His arm slipped straight through the surface.
As though the colossal door had suddenly become intangible.
Moments earlier he had whispered:
"I'm… not… gonna make it…"
Then everything went dark.
Orion lost consciousness.
Yet his body continued moving forward, slipping through the colossal doors.
But the Creature of Nightmares noticed.
And it refused to let him go.
The abomination tightened its grip around Orion's legs and pulled violently, its countless voices screaming together.
"Kill the calamity!"
"Kill the calamity!"
"Kill the calamity!"
A brutal tug-of-war began.
The creature pulled from one side.
The colossal doors pulled from the other.
But the doors possessed far greater force.
Slowly...
The creature's grip began to fail.
Orion's body slipped free.
Until finally he was dragged completely through the doors.
And the perspective returned to Lupus.
BACK TO LUPUS'S PERSPECTIVE
Lupus stood frozen before the colossal doors.
His body remained tense, ready to run at the slightest sign that the creature might somehow break through.
Several tense moments passed.
Only then did he realize something.
In all the chaos, he hadn't even taken the time to look around.
He didn't know where he was.
What kind of chamber was this?
How large was it?
He had been so focused on the possibility of that monster breaking through that he hadn't even examined his surroundings.
The thought bothered him.
If that creature somehow got through the doors…
Would he even have anywhere to run?
Slowly, Lupus turned away from the doors.
He needed to know what was behind him.
Maybe another corridor like the one he had just escaped from.
Or perhaps a massive hall with enough space to run.
Those were the possibilities racing through his mind.
But what he saw made him pause.
Behind him stretched a narrow tunnel-like corridor, extending quietly into the distance.
Unlike the Corridor of Offerings, there were no torches along the walls.
No flames.
No light.
Only darkness.
At the very end of the corridor, however, a faint light could be seen.
The path leading to it was completely swallowed by shadow.
Lupus frowned.
The architecture made no sense.
The colossal doors behind him were massive; so enormous that their scale felt endless.
Yet directly behind something so monumental…
Was a narrow corridor barely wide enough for a few people to walk through.
The repeated banging against the doors eventually stopped.
Silence filled the chamber.
Now Lupus had only one path forward.
The narrow corridor.
Despite the darkness, it felt far less ominous than the Corridor of Offerings.
Still, he hesitated.
At the end of the corridor, the faint light continued to glow.
He couldn't stand here forever worrying about what might be waiting for him.
Slowly, Lupus raised his guard and heightened his awareness.
Unlike Orion, Lupus wasn't particularly skilled at expanding a wide perception radius to detect threats.
But he would still try.
After a moment, he began walking.
Step by step, Lupus moved down the narrow corridor toward the distant light.
His movements were slow and deliberate.
His eyes scanned the darkness while his ears remained alert for the slightest sound.
His nerves were already stretched thin.
At this point, even the smallest movement would startle him.
And unfortunately....
There was a sound.
But not just any sound.
A deep humming echoed through the corridor.
It sounded like several men humming together in perfect unison, forming a strange and unsettling melody.
The sound appeared suddenly, filling the corridor with powerful reverberations that seemed to vibrate deep within Lupus's chest.
The effect was immediate.
Lupus nearly jumped out of his skin.
"What now!?" he muttered.
His eyes darted around the corridor, searching desperately for movement.
At the same time, he tried to locate the source of the humming.
He lowered his stance, preparing himself in case he needed to fight....or run.
But nothing appeared.
No movement.
No visible danger.
At least… not yet.
Then suddenly...
Lupus felt dizzy.
The sensation crept in slowly at first.
A strange lightness in his head.
His balance faltered.
His legs began to weaken.
The humming continued.
And now he realized something.
The sound was coming from the direction of the light.
Lupus looked toward it.
But as he stared, his vision began to blur.
Each time he blinked, the world became more distorted.
"W-what's… happening…?"
His voice trembled.
Then something even stranger occurred.
He realized he was moving.
But that couldn't be possible.
He hadn't taken a single step.
Yet the sensation of motion was undeniable.
For a moment he wondered if the walls themselves were moving, creating the illusion that he was.
He couldn't be sure.
His vision was too blurred to focus properly.
But one thing slowly became clear.
He was being pulled toward the light.
At first the motion was subtle.
Almost imperceptible.
Then suddenly...
The movement accelerated.
The distance between him and the light began closing rapidly.
Or perhaps…
The light itself was rushing toward him.
Lupus couldn't tell.
His vision narrowed.
Tunnel vision set in.
The humming grew louder.
And louder.
And louder.
There was nothing he could do.
He couldn't stop it.
The sensation was like being pulled into a void.
Except this time...
The void was made of light.
It felt as though Lupus was being hurled through the narrow corridor at incredible speed, racing toward the light at the end.
Yet the distance between them had never seemed that far to begin with.
He tried to resist the pull.
But it was useless.
No matter how much he struggled, the force dragging him forward would not relent.
All he could do was watch helplessly as the light drew closer… and closer… until finally...
It swallowed him whole.
For a brief moment, Lupus wondered what kind of horror awaited him inside the light.
But compared to the darkness and the creature lurking within the Corridor of Offerings, he would gladly face whatever the light had to offer.
Anything was better than that nightmare.
The moment the light claimed him, his entire world turned white.
Blinding white.
The surrounding space vanished, replaced by an endless sea of brightness.
The intensity forced Lupus to shut his eyes tightly as the sensation continued.
Seconds passed.
Then more seconds.
Until finally...
The motion stopped.
His body was no longer being pulled.
Everything had settled.
Slowly, cautiously, Lupus opened his eyes.
"What… just happened!?"
His voice echoed with confusion as he quickly looked around.
"Wait… where…"
He paused, scanning his surroundings.
"…Where am I?"
Then he looked up.
And his eyes widened in disbelief.
"…Am I… outside?"
Above him stretched a vast night sky.
A full moon shone brightly, casting its pale glow across the heavens. Countless stars glittered across the darkness like scattered jewels.
It was unmistakable.
The night sky.
There was no question about it.
But if he could see the moon and stars so clearly…
So closely…
Didn't that mean....
A terrible thought crept into his mind.
Slowly, hesitantly, Lupus lowered his gaze.
He prayed it wouldn't be what he was thinking.
But the moment he looked down, his worst suspicion was confirmed.
He was suspended in midair.
Thousands of feet above the ground.
Below him stretched vast beds of clouds drifting across the darkness.
His heart began to race wildly.
A single terrifying question echoed inside his mind.
What happens if I fall…?
Would I… die?
Before he could process the thought any further...
A sudden flash of light erupted in the far distance.
The night sky lit up.
Moments later, a colossal mushroom cloud began rising into the heavens.
Even from thousands of feet in the air and miles away, Lupus felt the shockwave ripple through the atmosphere.
The power of the explosion reached him like a distant thunder.
It looked unmistakable.
A nuclear detonation.
But this was not merely an explosion.
It was a reminder.
A truth buried in the past.
And a warning of what was to come.
History had already walked this path once before.
And soon...
It would walk it again.