"How many times did I passed this post?" Adaloun asked himself as he wandered through the dark mansion. As far as he could recall, he went out of that forsaken room a while back and up until now, he hasn't seen a door out of the castle. "How long had I been walking around this thing?"

He waved the glowing gladius in front of him. Even then, its light was only limited to where he stood. The thick blanket of nothingness was his friend. He lurked into it, walking on minimal light to avoid detection. But even then, it seemed like the darkness didn't wanted to be friends with anyone; him included.

The darkness turned the corridors into a winding maze full of dead ends and looping paths that made it difficult for him to trace back his steps. Earlier, he was able to sneak inside a room. The pitch-black castle made it difficult for him to know where he was. All he knew was, there was a door that he went in.

He sneakily tiptoed into the room which was currently occupied by someone. He slowed down his breath to be as stealth as he could be. A slow movement and calculated breath was complicated especially when hi heart pounded like a drum but somehow, he managed to be completely undetected.

Adaloun may not have the same powers and abilities he had during his other 364 incarnations, but that doesn't mean he's a former shell of the hero he once was. After making sure that the person inside the room was fast asleep, he snuck out along with his boots which surprisingly was his fit.

Of course, it would have been convenient if he had a stealth skill, but that's just asking for too much. Oyue gave him more than what he asked for and until now, he still doesn't trust that goddess—not one bit.

Aside from her contrasting personality and possibly her manipulative behavior, Oyue was beyond any deity he had interacted from before. For him, she was a dichotomy of both mortal and divine. A deity that had a personality of a flesh-born being but with the grace and dignity of the otherworldly. No matter how much she smiled or how much she introduces herself as an ally, Adaloun couldn't help but be wary of her actions.

The gods will always be gods. That's what he knew about them. That's what he understood about them. That's what he experienced with them. Their benevolence was only for show so that men would worship them and in return, they get their fix of energy from the mortals.

Oyue and the deities of this world are not far from the deities he knew. He could feel it! There's a weird aura of familiarity he felt every time he spoke with the Moon Goddess.

The cold wind blew as he passed along an open window along the corridor. Adaloun shivered as he tried to warm himself with the ill-fated clothes he wore. Good thing the boots kept his feet warm, at the very least, his feet wouldn't go numb and clumsy.

He decided to take a turn to the right after seeing the corridor parted into two sides. He had walked for what he felt was an eternity of darkness. Every turn just wound him up with another way looping to an oddly similar looking post he passed earlier.

The castle was oddly quiet, now that he thought about it. Aside from the castle's lack of light, Adaloun hasn't seen another living soul walking around the premises. As a knight during one of his previous incarnations, roaming around the castle and guarding the noble family was one of the tasks he had participated in.

Strangely enough, the castle had none. Could it be that he's currently staying in an abandoned castle? That was highly unlikely. He felt no dirt on his feet as he walked along the corridor. He didn't feel any speck of dust in the air, a normal occurrence in unkept or abandoned castles.

It was eerily strange. The castle seemed to be clean but there were no maidservants loitering around carrying their lords and ladies' order nor any knights roaming around for their watch. There were no maidservants and knights secretly meeting up somewhere to warm their cold lonesome evenings.

The castle felt deserted, but somehow, he could feel a distant warmth of life hidden within its walls. Even the memories of the castle fell into the shadows of its sorrowful blight.

Thinking about it made Adaloun's skin crawl. His means of escape just turned into something maddening. The silence, the darkness, and the nothingness of his surroundings slowly warped the very fabric of his own reality.

Just like the Obscurii that he fought days past, the terrible feeling of dread started to crawl into the surface. He felt something watching him close—too close for comfort. He made another turn to the right after passing by a similar corner he thought he passed before.

At this point, Adaloun already don't care where he's headed. The tiring loop of endless darkness had already altered his perception of time and space. At the moment, the only thing keeping him sane was his endless and tiresome walk towards his freedom that was slipping away from him as the night grew deeper.

There were slivers of light peeking out from the open windows. The moon finally decided to show up and provide him with a little visibility on the maze he's been trying to escape from for the longest time. A small glimmer of hope broke the maddening despair that he was about to succumb into.

Adaloun tried his best to contain his own impatience as he treaded gently and steadily, avoiding anything that might cause a ruckus. In the end, he managed to find what looked like a spiral stairwell at the corner of the hall.

At last, his freedom was at hand! Of course, he still had to get out of courtyard that might be filled with knights but just the feeling of finally being able to get out from the looping maze of the gloomy castle was enough for him to celebrate.

Slowly but surely, he descended into the stairwell making sure to not make any sound. Not a thud, not a creak, nor his breath would ruin his plan of escape. As he went further down the stairs, he noticed something different. The stairs should have been a quick trip going down the main hall, but it felt like the more he went down, the more it extended its length making it impossible for him to reach the bottom.

The closer he was to the bottom, the more difficult it was for him to reach it. He looked back up above and saw the dark empty hallway slowly devouring the small glimmer of light that the moon shone earlier. As the moon outside slowly hid into the clouds, the light reaching the castle faded back into the gloom.

Adaloun had to decide whether to continue with descending into the seemingly endless array of steps or he could go back up and find another way around. The longer he stayed in the castle the more it's becoming maddening.

The castle seemed to be under some sort of spell if not a curse. Or it could be his mind was playing tricks on him due to the concurrent darkness. Either way, it was something he had to get out from. The more he thought about it, this type of darkness closely resembled that same fog the Obsucrii loved to spread around when they arrived at the surface.

Although likely possible, that was just a wild speculation. Not one of the Obscurii escaped when he annihilated him on the surface. Sure, they might be still lurking in the burrows somewhere, but he made sure it was sealed before he passed out.

Somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling of dread the more he thought about it. He took a deep breath and moved along. The last thing you want was to feed them your energy and emotions. On his case, the last thing he wanted was to be stuck roaming the castle for good.

He made another quick turn from the winding maze and was greeted by a silhouette of a child staring directly at him. Its eyes glowed brightly and its body was nothing more than shadow. Seeing this, Adaloun became wary of what's lying ahead of him.

The ghastly apparition faded as quickly as it showed up to him. It didn't say anything to him. It stood there looking at him with his ethereal eyes while pointing something for him. Adaloun interpreted it as if the apparition was pointing something to him—a direction perhaps.

Adaloun intended not to follow where the ghost was pointing. He wanted to ignore it. In fact, he's not even sure if the ghost was real! It might be possible that too much exposure to the darkness made his mind play tricks on him. He turned around and sought for another direction but just as he began to make his way back, he heard something. This time he knew it was indeed real and fleshed out.

It was a scream. An agonizing scream from the direction where the apparition pointed to him. It took him a second to react. He wanted to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. He heard the scream once more.

"Please, uncle, no more! Argghhhhh!" To his horror, Adaloun heard a young child's voice, pleading for someone to stop.

"YOU FOOL! IT WAS YOU WHO MADE HIM ESCAPE!" A familiar voice burst after the child pleaded. He knew who it was! He thought he could've stayed out cold for a little longer, but it wasn't the case.

Suddenly, the sound of a cracking whip echoed through the halls and the screams became more of a whimper. From what he's hearing, the girl was close to passing out.

Without any hesitation, he ran towards the direction where the ghost had pointed. He might be trying to escape this horrible castle. But he wouldn't mind claiming a life or two, especially when it's from an abusive madman of an uncle.