The stairs twisted downward for longer than I expected.
Each step creaked beneath my weight, the air growing colder and heavier the deeper we went. It smelled damp here, like stone and old iron. My guide moved without hesitation, his steps sure, as if he had walked this path a thousand times before.
Finally, the stairs opened into a vast underground hall.
Dim lights hung from the high ceiling, flickering weakly, casting weird shadows against the stone walls. There were no windows, no way to tell how far underground we were. The place felt like a tomb — cold, silent, and heavy.
At the very end of the hall stood a thick, dark curtain, draped from ceiling to floor. It swayed slightly, as if something behind it was breathing. Watching.
The man who brought me here stopped a few paces from it and bowed slightly.
I copied him awkwardly, bowing my head though no one had told me to.
A heavy silence filled the air.
Then — a voice, low and powerful, rolled out from behind the curtain.
"So this is the one?"
It wasn't a question that needed an answer. It was more like a statement.
"Yes, my lord," the man beside me replied, his voice respectful but steady. "Among the others, he's far more suitable."
'More suitable for what?' I thought.
Another long pause. I felt the unseen figure's gaze, sharp and cold, piercing right through me even though I couldn't see him.
The curtain moved slightly, as if an invisible hand brushed against it, but it didn't open.
"Step forward," the voice commanded.
Without thinking, my legs moved. I took a step, then another, until I was standing just a few feet from the curtain. Close enough to touch it, if I dared.
"You are broken," the hidden man said after another heavy moment. "But you have chosen to live. That makes you useful."
Something about his words made my chest tighten.
Useful.
That was all I had ever wanted to be... to someone... anyone... if only it meant survival.
"You belong to me now," the voice continued. "Your past no longer matters. Your pain, your weakness — they will be stripped away."
The man who brought me here stepped back, giving me space.
"You will obey my commands without question," the voice said. "You will be shaped into something greater. Or you will be destroyed."
The final word echoed through the hall, leaving no room for misunderstanding.
Destroyed.
It wasn't a threat. It was a promise.
I clenched my fists again and raised my head, though I said nothing.
I had already made my decision before entering that car.
"I see fire in your heart," the hidden lord said after a long, unsettling pause. "Good."
The curtain shifted again, but still, the figure behind it did not reveal himself.
"Take him," the voice said to the man beside me. "Begin the process."
Without a word, the man placed a firm hand on my shoulder, guiding me away from the curtain, deeper into the underground.
As we walked, I didn't dare look back.
I knew that if I survived whatever "the process" was, I wouldn't be the same again.
And strangely...
That thought thrilled me.
After leaving that place, we continued... Going further into the underground, to a different place — it looked just like a room but I could see different sizes of chains on the floor.
"My name is Ellly," the man said halting a few steps away from me. He didn't turn around but I could feel that there was something different about him now. A part of him I never knew yet. "There is room for a change of mind but I won't advice you to do that because it'll only mean death."
Another word full of promise instead of threats.
I remained my ground still. I was far too gone in my decision for a better life. I have always wanted this... Back in my former life and this one — To escape from my ill fate and embrace a better life even though it means sacrificing the little things I thought I had.
"You are one of a kind," the man said and turned around.
For the first time in hours, he smiled.
"We'll begin the process now but before that, I'll tell you what's involved," he said.
The smile on his face lingered a second too long.
Then, something shifted.
It started subtly — a flicker behind his red eyes, like a hidden fire catching wind. His skin, so flawless and pale before, now seemed to ripple, as though something beneath it stirred restlessly.
I took a small step back before I could stop myself.
Elly's hands, adorned with rings, tightened into fists, and for a moment, his veins darkened, black lines spiderwebbing under his skin. His elegant suit, detailed with roses and chains, seemed to meld into him, the shadows in the room crawling up his body like loyal pets.
He let out a soft, almost pained sigh.
When he raised his head again, he wasn't the same.
His features had sharpened — still beautiful, still eerily perfect — but colder, more inhuman. His ears had elongated slightly to points, and faint dark markings traced patterns from his neck up to his jawline, as if inked by unseen hands.
"You noticed, didn't you?" Elly said, his voice still smooth, but layered now with something deeper. An undertone, like a second voice whispering from somewhere far beneath the surface.
I couldn't answer. My throat had gone dry.
"You assumed I was human," he continued, smiling wider, almost tenderly, as if the idea amused him. "That was your first mistake."
He stepped closer, his presence heavier now, the air around him colder. I could feel it — the wrongness, the difference, like a predator finally shedding its disguise.
"We are not human," Elly said simply. "Not anymore. Perhaps not ever."
He tilted his head, studying me like a curious animal. "You won't remain human either... not if you want to survive the process."
Another step closer. The chains on the floor rattled softly, as if reacting to his presence.
"You'll shed your humanity like an old skin," Elly said. "Piece by piece... scream by scream... until you forget what it felt like to be weak."
He raised a hand, and for a moment, I thought he might strike me.
Instead, he gently placed two fingers against my forehead.
I felt a cold shive run down my spine. The touch burned — not with pain, but with something deeper, something that reached inside me and pulled.
"You will become like us," he whispered. "Or you will die trying."
The last word fell into the silence like a stone dropped into a deep, dark well.
And somehow, even as fear gripped my heart, I realized something.
I wanted this.
I wanted it more than anything.
I just hadn't known what the cost would be.
Yet.
I would, gladly accept it like my life depends on it.
Actually, it does.