Chimera

As I walked through the desk-filled, darkened hall, I found myself incapable of concentrating on anything other than my immediate surroundings. The resonating echo of my footsteps was obscured to my senses by the awe the sheer size of the hall and what detail of its ornaments I could perceive in the deep, nebulous darkness inspired within me. My pace, I felt, slow and steady as it was, could not have been halted by anything other than whatever lurked among the myriad of desks surrounding me. I had nearly reached the hall’s far end, when a diminutive sliding sound caused me to stop and turn my head towards the desks on my left side. I stood there immobile for a couple of moments before I decided to keep walking, consciously remaining as silent as possible, before I heard another sign of movement, this time much more clearly. I ran towards the closest door I could see, hoping to escape whatever had made the noise, and upon reaching it, I crossed and sealed it as well as I could.

Through it lay a balcony of sorts, lending me a magnificent view of the immediate outdoors. Looking back at the place I had just exited, it appeared to be a castle, with its imposing stone walls. I turned away from it again and saw that further outwards, there were a series of platforms linked by stairwells which led to a higher area. As I approached them, I noticed that these platforms seemed to have no physical support whatsoever, and unless this was somehow provided by the small sets of stairs themselves, one might have said they were floating. Still, as I tread upon them, their balance did not seem to upset for a moment.

From the higher level, I looked into the distance; a landscape of mountains and unusually low clouds was illuminated by a massive, partially eclipsed moon, whose light tinted all it reached with a pale shade of violet. It was not until this moment that I became truly concerned about how I had reached this place, whatever it might have been, but I did not let that thought distract me for more than a second, as I turned and noticed another door leading within the structure.

The inside of this new floor was even darker than the other, as minuscule slits of moonlight peering in through gaps in the stonework were the only source of illumination. I seemed to be in a hallway, a long, narrow passage with doors to one side. Seeing how there was nowhere else to go, I decided to inspect whatever lay beyond those doors. The first one I opened held nothing more than a cleaning cupboard, and my interest in it quickly weaned. The next, surprisingly enough, led into a small balustrade which allowed for a higher view of the massive hall I was walking through earlier. Walking out onto it, my initial feelings of wonder had been replaced by fear and disgust for whatever it was that I had heard. I could not release my gaze from the hall, as I subconsciously attempted to hunt down its position with my eyes. Suddenly, I was surprised by another sliding sound, this time even louder, and quickly retreated back into the hallway, shutting the door behind me.

My sense of curiosity had been almost completely eradicated by that experience, but a sense of compulsiveness led me to open the third and final door. This was the darkest area yet, so much that the miserable amount of light pouring into it from the hallway was noticeable. I cautiously walked inside, shyly feeling my way into and around it, finding that it was relatively small. Inside, there were what I felt as a bed and some empty closets, one of which held a row of drawers. The bed itself felt comfortable enough, even if I had absolutely no intention of resting unto it. But before I could venture far enough as to become completely certain about the full content of the room, I sensed something like a shivering of the heart, a sudden feeling of despair, just before I could see the light from the hallway quickly vanish.

When I looked back towards the door, my dark-accustomed eyes could vaguely tell me it had been boarded shut. Given how there had been no sign of life or activity whatsoever in the brief time I had been looking around the room, I could not explain this to myself. I tried opening it plainly, then by force, only to meet with failure both times. I took a deep breath as I took a couple of steps back, stopping to think what all this meant. As I thought, I remembered; I had actually been to this place before. But when I had visited, the hall I had seen was crawling with people and lit by the blaze of torches. The way it contrasted with what I had been plunged into filled me with disconcert. I could not bear to fathom that anything natural in this world could undergo such a transformation, no matter the circumstances.

As I thought and wondered, I found myself slowly moving towards and finally sitting on the bed. I almost thought of trying the door again, but I was struck by a sort of devitalisation; a silent theft of my ability to move. It was so subtle and yet so strong, that I actually found myself lying down on the mattress. As the sensation continued to overtake me, I nearly closed my eyes, but my more cautious and sensible self forced them to jolt open once again. And then I saw- I noticed that I had either gained some type of superior vision or a light had spread itself throughout the room through means unknown, because of the clarity- that I was not alone in the room. The walls and ceiling surounding me had been strewn with a number of strange creatures, slowly creeping around. If I were to describe them by comparison, they looked rather like turtles, but with unusually large shells, out of which there protruded several horribly jagged spikes.

Even before that nightmarish spectacle, I still could not bring myself to move a muscle. I could only watch as the creatures continued to wander about the walls. They never came near me, but I was steadily growing agitated. I could not bear to remain in that position for much longer, and before long I impulsively closed my eyes. They remained shut for several seconds, and when I reopened them, I found that the room had returned to its extremely darkened state. I could not see any sign of the creatures, either- only then did it occur to me that they had not made any sound at all. I could also notice, with consistent subtlety, that I was regaining the will and capability for movement.

As soon as I could, I got up and moved away from the bed, and went to try the door once again. It was not any better; in fact, it felt somewhat heavier. Once again I fell back, this time deciding to pace around while I thought. Was there anything else I knew about this place? I couldn’t quite remember what its purpose was, but from what I had seen in the grand hall, I surmised that it must be something linked with academic activity. That thought aroused something in the back of my mind, leading me to understand that although that last deduction was true, the activities in question were extremely nonstandard. This place, I reminisced, was definitely unique, dwelling in a practice that was not only rare, but extremely looked down upon.

Just then, my train of thought was interrupted by a terrible sliding sound I knew all too well. With abrupt strength, the feeling of physical weakness returned to come over me in a moment, making me lose my balance and fall near the closet. I managed to pull myself together and sit up, but before I could think of doing anything else, something took hold of me. It felt like a hand- an incredibly thin, vaguely damp hand, and it was pulling me back, I sensed, into the closet, from where it had emerged. In my weakened state, I could merely try to remain stiff, but as soon as I regained some vigour, I gripped at it and tried to pull it away. It took some effort, but when I finally threw it into the ground, it appeared to be incapacitated.

I tried to move away, and I quickly noticed something more- there was a bright light coming from under the door! As I moved closer, I heard footsteps as well, and became convinced there was someone approaching. I tried to knock on the door, but whatever had been used to board it up seemed to be muffling my hand’s impact. I would’ve tried to shout, but I was suddenly grabbed once again by the horrendous hand. Looking back, the faint glow that had come into the room revealed its appearance as skeletal and covered in a disgusting green slime. Wrestling with it once again, I felt that it was slightly malleable. As much as I felt repulse towards that unearthly being, I knew that such a thing was not at all out of place- very conceivable, in fact- where I was.

I could not find the strength to subdue the thing for a second time. The struggle continued as I felt myself growing even weaker, tiring rapidly. I desperately tried to reach for the door, only to find that I seemed to have even less force at my disposal for that action. And then I tried to stand up- it happened swiftly and easily, and the very moment I overcame my surprise, I stomped on the hand, completely crippling it. I stepped towards the door and opened it immediately, coming face to face with a sea of light. Approaching it, I felt all my fear dwindling away.

As I made my exit, undeterred, I knew I’d see this place again. In this realm it’s nigh impossible to escape anything you ever get involved with. Whether it made itself known to me as fleeting shadow in the distance, or it was necessary to venture within entirely once again, I was absolutely certain that this visit to the accursed land where all terrors known to man take form would not, could not be my last. All memory of this began to dissolve as soon as I opened my eyes.