The light from the glowing symbols on the walls began to dim, but the oppressive energy that filled the chamber lingered like a heavy fog. The air seemed charged with an unseen force, and every breath Erik took felt like it came with a cost. His heart pounded erratically in his chest, each beat reverberating through his body, echoing the gnawing hunger that had taken root inside him. The hunger was no longer an abstract sensation it was an entity, a force that was gnawing at the edges of his mind, threatening to consume him entirely.

  "What is this?" Kaelith asked, her voice barely more than a whisper, as if speaking too loudly would shatter the fragile space between them. She took a cautious step forward, her eyes never leaving Erik, but her body language betrayed her uncertainty. "What are you becoming?"

  Erik didn’t know how to answer her. The words felt foreign, even to him. It was as if he were no longer the same person. He could feel himself slipping, as though his very identity was being torn apart, the edges of his being fraying into something unrecognizable. The hunger inside him had grown stronger, and the more he tried to hold onto his own mind, the harder it became. He could feel it, like tendrils reaching into his thoughts, twisting them into something dark, something that had always been buried within him.

  "I don’t know," he muttered, his voice barely audible. His breath came in shallow gasps, and his hands trembled as he reached up to touch his face, as if hoping to find something familiar, something that would anchor him. "But I think... I think it’s a part of me now."

  As he spoke, the ground beneath him trembled again, this time with more violence. The entire chamber groaned as though the walls themselves were protesting the disturbance, and a low hum filled the air, vibrating through the stone beneath their feet. The air thickened, buzzing with a strange, almost electric energy, and Erik felt it press down on him like a weight.

  “Look!” Edrin shouted suddenly, his voice laced with urgency. He pointed toward the far wall, his face pale as the symbols that had once appeared orderly began to shift. They moved, twisting and rearranging themselves into a new pattern one more complex, more chaotic than before. The symbols now pulsed, rippling outwards in waves, each shift sending a ripple through the very fabric of the room.

  "What’s happening?" Davin’s voice trembled, his usual calm replaced by an edge of panic. He looked from Erik to the shifting symbols and back again, as if trying to make sense of the madness that was unfolding before them. His brow furrowed as fear began to creep into his features.

  "It’s reacting to Erik," Kaelith muttered under her breath, her eyes never leaving the wall, but her attention divided between the shifting patterns and the man in front of her. She took a careful step back, her daggers still poised at the ready, the deadly gleam in her eyes a sign of the defensive stance she had taken, but there was something else there now. Something softer, more hesitant. "This whole place... it’s tied to him now."

  Erik felt the truth of her words hit him with an almost physical force. The chamber, the symbols, the energy that had once seemed like a separate entity—it was all connected to him now. It was inside him, and it was threatening to consume him whole. The hunger inside him grew stronger with every passing second, gnawing at him, pushing against the walls of his body. His own thoughts seemed to twist and warp, obscured by the overpowering need that surged through him, filling every inch of his being.

  "Erik," Kaelith’s voice cut through the chaos, softer now, almost gentle, but still filled with that quiet urgency. "You need to fight it. Whatever this is, whatever you’ve unleashed, you need to control it before it controls you."

  Erik could feel her eyes on him, but it was impossible to focus on her. The hunger was too strong, the pull of it too overwhelming. He wanted to fight. He needed to fight. But the more he tried, the more the hunger tightened its grip, dragging him deeper into its grasp.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  The new pattern on the wall flared brightly, a sickly glow that seemed to reflect the chaotic energy coursing through him. His body jerked involuntarily, as though it had a mind of its own. The hunger inside him roared to life, and Erik could feel himself slipping, like a man drowning in a storm of thoughts and sensations. His chest tightened, and his vision blurred as he struggled to hold on, to stay grounded, to not let it all slip away.

  “Erik!” Davin’s voice came again, frantic, but Erik couldn’t focus. The world around him seemed to stretch and distort as the hunger surged inside him, like an unstoppable tide. His hands clenched into fists, but it did nothing to ease the pressure building inside him. Every instinct screamed for release, for something to give, but he couldn’t find it. He couldn’t escape.

  And then, out of the corner of his eye, something moved.

  A shadow.

  A figure.

  It loomed in the darkness, its presence sending a chill through Erik’s already numbed body. The shadow grew larger, its form becoming more solid, more distinct with each passing moment. Erik recognized it immediately the figure from the visions. The one who had spoken the warning. The one who had warned him of the reckoning he could not avoid.

  But this time, Erik didn’t have the strength to run. His legs felt like they were made of stone, his body frozen in place as the figure stepped into full view. It was tall, its form wrapped in a dark cloak that seemed to absorb the light around it. The face, if it could even be called that, was obscured by shadows, but Erik could feel its eyes upon him, cold and calculating, piercing into his very soul.

  "You are the one," the voice came, but this time it wasn’t the faint whisper in his mind it was real, booming, filling the space around them. "You are the one who opened the door. You are the one who set this in motion."

  Erik’s breath hitched, his throat tightening as the hunger inside him roared louder, its presence growing with the figure’s words. The hunger wasn’t just a force now it was a beast, a ravenous entity that had been awakened by the door. It fed on his fear, his confusion, and now it was starving.

  “You opened the door," the figure repeated, its voice growing darker. "You awakened what should never have been stirred. The door was never meant to be opened. It was meant to stay sealed, locked away from the world."

  Erik’s mind reeled. He couldn’t comprehend what the figure was saying. The words didn’t make sense. He hadn’t wanted this. He hadn’t wanted any of it. All he had wanted was answers, a way to understand what was happening to him. But now, the truth was staring him in the face, and it was worse than anything he could have imagined.

  "What… what is this?" Erik managed to croak, his voice barely a whisper as he fought to hold onto himself. "What have I done?"

  The figure stepped closer, its shadow stretching across the floor, enveloping Erik. The hunger responded, a wave of dark energy washing over him, threatening to pull him under.

  "You have unleashed the curse of the door," the figure said, its tone cold and final. "The curse that binds your soul to this place, to this power. You are now its vessel, its conduit. You are no longer just Erik. You are the key. And the door will never release you."

  The words hit Erik like a physical blow, knocking the breath from his lungs. He staggered back, his mind spinning, his body trembling. The figure’s words were like chains, wrapping around him, binding him to a fate he could never escape.

  "No," Erik gasped, the words a plea, a desperate cry. "I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for any of it."

  The figure’s shadowy form seemed to expand, filling the chamber. "It doesn’t matter what you asked for," it said, its voice growing colder. "The door chose you, and now you must face the consequences."

  The hunger roared inside Erik, a beast awakening inside him, thrashing at the walls of his mind. He couldn’t hold on much longer. He could feel it something inside him was cracking, splintering under the weight of the power that was coursing through him. The symbols on the walls, the energy, the figure it was all part of this curse, this fate that had been sealed the moment he had opened the door.

  “Erik!” Kaelith’s voice cut through the madness. She stepped forward, her expression filled with concern, but there was something else there too fear, perhaps, but also something more. A recognition that whatever this was, they would need to face it together. "Fight it, Erik. Don’t let it take you."

  But Erik wasn’t sure he could. The hunger was too strong. The curse of the door was too powerful.

  And in that moment, he knew one painful truth: There was no turning back now. The door had cursed him.

  And he was trapped inside it.