I tried to look—just a quick peek—but the moment my eyes met its, the world exploded.
The creature burst from the pipes, its massive body shattering metal like paper. I barely got my arms up in time as broken pipes rained down around me. Then it stood—tall, terrible, and....wrong.
Seven feet of nightmare.
One side of its body was rotting, flesh melting off bone like candle wax, dripping onto the floor with wet plops. The other side barely held together-one arm dangling by strings of muscle, fingers twitching. Its eyes burned red, pupils slit like a snake's. Its mouth stretched too wide, lined with jagged, broken teeth.
And its tail—thick as a tree trunk—still twitched near the shattered pipes.
That was what had been banging.
That was the sound I'd followed.
My legs locked. My breath vanished. Every cell in my body screamed RUN, but I couldn't even blink.
It spoke, its voice like grinding bones
"Finally."
A step closer. The floor groaned under its weight.
"Years of waiting. Years of starving."
Another step. The stench of decay rolled off it in waves.
"And you... you listened."
Its one working hand reached for me, fingers curling like a spider's legs. I squeezed my eyes shut—maybe this is a dream, maybe I'll wake up, maybe-
PAIN.
Its backhand hit me like a truck. I flew, crashing through pipes, my skull cracking against metal. Blood hot and thick dripped down my face.
That's when I knew.
This wasn't a dream.
This wasn't bad luck.
This was death—real, grinning, and standing over me with teeth bared.
And for the first time in my life...
...I wished my curse would save me.
'Idiot. Stupid. Fool. Should have ran when I had the time, why would i even think it was a dream'
The words screamed in my head as I lay there, broken and bleeding. My legs-shattered from the impact-refused to move. Every twitch sent fire through my bones. Tears mixed with blood, dripping onto the cold floor as I dragged myself forward with my one good arm.
The creature's laughter echoed behind me, wet and gurgling.
"What? Can't walk anymore?"
Its footsteps were slow, deliberate. It knew I wasn't going anywhere.
"This is a nice meal," it mused, voice dripping with hunger. "And I might as well savor it."
Then-agony.
Its clawed hand closed around my left leg. A scream tore from my throat as it yanked it off—
SNAP!.
My leg came off like a drumstick from a roast chicken. Blood fountained, painting the floor red. The creature didn't hesitate. It brought my severed limb to its mouth and bit down, teeth crunching through bone like it was nothing.
"Hmm. Delicious."
I could only watch, numb with horror, as it swallowed chunks of me.
It licked its lips, eyes locked onto my remaining leg.
"Just a little more," it purred. "I just need to recover."
I raised my trembling hand, begging, sobbing, but—
SWISH.
Its claws flashed.
My right hand hit the floor with a dull thud.
The creature bent down, picking it up like a prized fruit. It tilted its head back, letting the blood from my severed wrist pour into its mouth, gulping eagerly.
I screamed until my voice cracked.
But it didn't care.
Why would it?
I was just food.
And as I lay there, bleeding out, I realized something worse—
Its rotting flesh... was healing.
The creature leaned over me, its rotting breath hot against my face as it traced a claw along my last remaining hand.
"Please... just make it quick," I begged, my voice raw from screaming.
It chuckled—a wet, gurgling sound. "Where's the fun in that?"
Then—
BANG!.BANG!
A gunshot echoed through the morgue. A hole exploded in the creature's forehead, black blood spraying across my face.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch! It hurts!" the creature whined in a mocking tone before bursting into laughter. "Well, if I was human, that's what I would've said, isn't it?"
Behind it, standing in the doorway, was Dr. Scott—alive, unharmed, and holding two silver pistols.
The old man didn't waste time talking. He opened fire, bullets tearing into the creature's body in rapid succession. Each shot left gaping wounds, black blood splattering the walls.
But the creature just laughed. "Hahaha! It tickles!"
My vision blurred from blood loss as I watched the creature lunge at Dr. Scott. The old man moved faster than should've been possible, dodging the attack with unnatural speed. He pivoted, aimed, and—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three shots to the head.
The demon's skull split open, chunks of bone and brain matter flying—only to stitch itself back together in seconds.
"When the hell did this demon start regenerating?!" Dr. Scott growled in frustration.
Then his eyes landed on me.
"Oh... I see."
His face went pale.
That's when I knew, it was a demon according to Dr. Scott.
The demon launched at Dr. Scott with terrifying speed, its rotting body moving faster than before.
"Now I've got myself a souvenir," it hissed, claws slashing through the air, "and nobody's taking it from me! Hahaha!"
Its talons grazed the old man's cheek, drawing blood. The demon licked the crimson streaks from its claws with a grotesque, too-long tongue. "Next strike takes your head. Get ready."
Dr. Scott didn't flinch. His grip on his pistols tightened, but his eyes flicked to me—to my broken, bleeding body—and something like realization dawned in them.
"Hahaha! Today just keeps getting better!" The creature spread its arms, its half—rotten flesh knitting itself back together even as we watched. "Thirty years of starving in this prison... and now I've finally found something omnipotent!"
It lunged again—
—and my vision shattered into darkness.
I didn't know what death felt like, but if I had to guess? This was it.
Or maybe I was just unconscious. Maybe my body had finally given up after losing too much blood. Maybe—
The nothingness around me shifted.
I wasn't in the morgue anymore. Wasn't anywhere at all. Just... an endless void. No ground beneath me. No sky above. No walls, no doors, no light. Only infinite blackness pressing in from all sides.
And then... the voice.
It wasn't a single voice, but dozens-hundreds—all speaking at once in a terrible, beautiful harmony
The deep growl of a man.
The soft lilt of a woman.
The high pitch of a child.
The snarl of beasts.
The chitter of insects.
All twisted together into something that was neither human nor animal, but something other.
It laughed-a sound that vibrated through the emptiness, through me—and the worst part wasn't the horror of it.
The worst part was that it sounded almost...
...sorry for me.
A fiery red eyes burned brighter in the endless black, carving two glowing slits in the void. Then—a mouth. A terrible, grinning maw lined with jagged teeth forged from shadows, the inside glowing like molten rock.
"Your luck is so bad," the voice chuckled, "that even Death forgot to collect your soul. Oh my."
I tried to speak, to scream—but nothing came out. My body wasn't mine here. My thoughts weren't even fully my own. The presence circled me like a predator, its amusement thick in the air.
"Your soul can't remain in the mortal realm since you're dead," it continued, voice weaving between whispers and growls. "But since Death didn't take you... that's why you're here. This isn't purgatory, it Isn't heaven either. This is the Liminal Shore—a place I made to hold forgotten souls like me. And you, little cursed thing... you're the first. Welcome on board."
The figure loomed closer. I could feel it studying me, not with eyes, but with something deeper—something that peeled back every layer of my being and licked at the raw parts beneath.
And then I knew.
Not in words. Not in thoughts. But in a single, horrifying understanding that seared itself into my soul—This thing wanted out.
It had been trapped here, in this endless dark, for lifetimes. And it needed a vessel. A body. A way back into the world.
The grinning mouth stretched wider, its glowing ember-teeth lighting up the abyss.
"Bingo. You got it."
A shadowy hand emerged from the dark-long, clawed fingers reaching for my chest. The tip of one pressed against where my heart should be, and agony erupted through me, white-hot and endless.
The last words slithered into my mind, sweet as poison
"Say yes."
Then—
Everything faded.