With a sinking heart, Samuel hurriedly surveyed his surroundings. Mere moments prior, the two bickering men were walking ahead of Samuel. Now Samuel was alone in the long stretching corridor.

A cold bead of sweat rolled down Samuel’s cheek as his body began to shake. A powerful feeling of fear surged throughout his body. He went to scream out, yet his body was frozen.

The invisible hand resting on Samuel’s shoulder lifted, releasing its firm grip. However, it immediately slammed down, mirrored on both shoulders. The heavy weight felt like a giant was pushing down on Samuel. He had no choice but to fall to his knees.

The immobile Samuel squealed in pain as he was forced to kneel, his legs aching from awkward motion. Unfortunately, there was little time to struggle as a distant brazier caught his attention.

Each large brazier held powerful green flames, whose emerald light had illuminated Samuel’s path. Yet the fire on a distant brazier was hissing. An invisible force smothered the dancing fire. The conical brazier hanging from the wall started to sway from side to side. Soon the power extinguished the flame, and the area beneath the brazier was plunged into the darkness.

Samuel was incapable of thought as he watched the next brazier begin swaying. It was almost rhythmic, the way the dancing fire and swinging braziers vanished into the darkness. Samuel was unable to look away as he watched the darkness slowly encroach. Then he saw it.

Just before each brazier dwindled, there was a figure in the dimming emerald light. A humanoid figure was sauntering just beyond the edge of darkness. The already terrified Samuel paled. The shadowy figure was tall with a broad stance, much larger than any man Samuel had ever seen.

Despite its large stature, the shadow moved silently towards Samuel, and soon the motionless Samuel was left kneeling beneath the last remaining brazier.

Samuel felt like his eyes would burst from his skull as he tried with all his might to move his body. Finally, the shadow stopped just outside of the light’s radius. Its featureless appearance was strange, wholly comprised of dense black smoke.

Although the shadow had no eyes, Samuel felt like it was watching him. Despite the brazier above Samuel flickering and starting to sway, he didn’t dare let the shade out of his sight. Then, however, like flicking a light switch, the cave went dark before lighting back up. In that instant, the specter vanished.

The new light from the brazier was different. Much like a spotlight, it only lit the area around Samuel’s body. Samuel let out a pained sigh of relief as the pressure on his shoulders disappeared. Finally, his petrified body was able to move. Crouching and slowly rising, he looked around. He was desperate to find the shade, knowing it was somewhere around him.

Samuel flinched as he heard shifting sounds behind him in the darkness. He followed the skittering sounds with his eyes but could not see into the deep darkness beyond the light.

It was then that the shade revealed itself. Like a stereotypical jump scare, the shadowy figure lurched from the shadows at Samuel. Samuel screamed and fell backward. He anxiously squirmed on the ground, kicking himself back away from the shadow.

However, instead of attacking, the shadow stood motionless over Samuel. It wasn’t until Samuel stopped flailing that the shadow acted. Two golden eyes pierced through the shadow and glared at Samuel. Then the silhouette of a fearsome smile with sharp teeth peeked through the shadow.

Samuel peed himself. He was helpless as the shadow took a step closer. It leaned over on its knee, bringing its face close to Samuel’s.

“W̵͖̪͑h̷̛͚a̶̳̭͂ṭ̵̡̒ ̴̤̚b̵̡̒́ư̴̭̅s̵̟̊͠ͅì̵̬̅ņ̶̈́͝e̷͔͛̌s̷̳̎s̸̳̘̊̓ ̶̼̉͜ḋ̷͇͈͊o̶̦̽ȅ̴̮s̸͎͉͑̐ ̶̡̥̇͗a̴͖̻̿̉ ̴͈͗p̸̢̲̈͠ė̵̝͎t̷̖̹̎̈ ̵̭͌͗h̴̛̜͊à̷̟̜v̸͎̍e̶̡͑ ̷̨̔̀ǐ̴̠̼̃n̶̲̟̍̈ ̷̨̰̂m̵̥̔y̴͎̺̆̎ ̷̹͔͌͠s̷̞̩̍͗ä̶̖̮̾n̴̻̲̆c̵̨͘t̶͚̥̆ū̸̳͙͊a̷͎͇͆͠r̶̨͙̅y̷̝͈̽̓?̴̲̮̈”

The screeching sound caused immense pain to Samuel. The grave tone echoed with high-pitched whispers, slowly morphed into a bearable sound as the shade repeated itself.

“What business does a pet have in my sanctuary?” The shade questioned Samuel.

Unable to comprehend the situation, Samuel silently stared with a horrified expression.

“Pffft.” The shade leaned back, still staring down at Samuel. The shadow raised its hands and began grabbing at its head. Its large hand stretched the darkness almost like rubber until it finally split.

The eerie darkness that made up the body of the shade split, and with great effort, the shade peeled the shadow off its body. Underneath the encompassing darkness was bright red skin. With more peeling, a chiseled face was revealed. Bald and with firm contours, the red-faced monster continued to pull itself free from the second skin. The unsettling molting continued until the upper half of a red-skinned man was revealed.

The man stretched out his arms with a great exhale, the shell of darkness falling to his waist like a large belt. He looked more human this way, but the red skin, golden eyes, and wicked teeth kept Samuel silent.

The man’s golden eyes, now fully exposed, flashed brilliantly. Samuel felt a burning sensation in his mind and clutched his head with both hands.

“Hahaha! I see it now. You truly are nothing but a pet.” The man laughed at Samuel before turning his back to Samuel. “I’ll grant you forgiveness for your arrogance this once. I don’t want to incur her wrath. Finish whatever you came here for and leave.”

The man turned his head to look at Samuel as he raised one hand.

“Remember pet if you come back here again, I will destroy you." Then, with disgust, the demon snapped his fingers, sending Samuel away.

Samuel was instantly transported back to reality. He gained consciousness and stumbled to the ground with a similar feeling to before, rolling against the wall. The two men leading the way stopped and rushed over to Samuel.

“Woah, are you okay?” The two men spoke in unison. They could see how distraught Samuel was. His eyes were terrified and wild, his body covered in a cold sweat. Samuel could not speak, his mind still catching up to the situation.

“Look, I understand you’re tired, but we’re so close. Don’t you hear it? There is something up ahead.” The men lifted Samuel to his feet by his shoulders.

“You can rest once you get there. Come on. It’s only a little further.” The men pushed the shuffling Samuel along. They used their comforting words as masks for their impatience.

The two men escorted the reeling Samuel a few dozen feet before Samuel finally regained composure. He stopped walking and checked his body.

Samuel’s hands grabbed different parts of his body, and he visually inspected himself. Thankfully his urinating on himself wasn’t real. However, he was still unable to form the sentences needed to ask the men what they saw. Instead, all that came out was a garbled slur of words. To which the men laughed before pushing Samuel further ahead. The trio approached the growing sounds of chatter.