The forest was unnaturally still as the five members of Bound Fate approached the Shrouded Hollow Dungeon. Fog curled around their boots like grasping fingers. The trees here were twisted, gnarled things, leaning in as if whispering secrets to one another. Even the birds had gone silent.
"This place gives me the creeps," Rika muttered, adjusting her hood.
"It smells like something died here," Regulus added, frowning. "Recently."
"That's because something probably did," Rei grumbled, his hands shaking slightly on the hilt of his sword. "Or lots of things. Horribly. In the dark. Where we're about to go. For some reason."
Kajala spun on his heel and walked backward, grinning at the group. "Relax! We'll be in and out. Grab the guy, maybe slay a few skeletons, and boom—quest done."
"You say that like skeletons are fun," Rei muttered.
Kajala winked. "I do think skeletons are fun."
The entrance to the dungeon loomed ahead: a massive stone archway, half-swallowed by creeping vines and black moss. The inside was pitch-black beyond the threshold, as if the light refused to enter.
"Alright, let's just get this over with," Eryan said, already drawing her blade. "Stay close. No wandering off."
One by one, they stepped through the threshold.
The moment the last boot crossed the line, a deep, echoing CLANG rang out behind them. They all spun around just in time to see the massive stone door slam shut with a deafening finality. A shimmer of blue light rippled across it like water—then crystallized into a glowing magical seal.
Rika rushed to the door and struck it with the pommel of her dagger. Sparks flew as if she'd struck lightning.
"It's sealed," she said through gritted teeth.
Rei's face turned pale. "Oh no. Oh no no no no no—this is it. This is how I die. This is the part in the story where everyone dies horribly, and the last entry in the journal says 'we shouldn't have gone in.'"
Kajala squinted at the seal. "Cool enchantment. Bet it's dungeon-bound magic. Maybe it only opens after something's completed."
"Or after something kills us all," Rei snapped.
Regulus stepped past them, surveying the hallway ahead. "Let's move. We're not helping anyone by panicking at the entrance."
"Speak for yourself," Rei muttered. "I'm excellent at panicking."
Still, he followed. Slowly. With every step, the air grew colder. Damp stone corridors twisted ahead of them, lit only by ancient torches still inexplicably burning on the walls. Water dripped from above somewhere, and the floor was slick in places with old moss and something darker.
Then they heard it.
A wet, rasping cough. Muffled breathing. Weak, uneven.
They crept toward the sound, weapons drawn. Around the corner, slumped against a cracked wall, was a man. His armor was shredded, and his leg bent at a grotesque angle. But what made them all stop was the sheer amount of blood.
Chunks were missing from his torso and side. Ragged, uneven tears—like something had bitten them off.
Rei's stomach turned. "Oh gods…"
Rika dropped beside the man, pressing two fingers to his neck. "Still alive. Barely."
The man stirred, his eyes fluttering open. They were wild and bloodshot. He stared at Rika, then beyond her, past the others—toward the sealed gate.
"You shouldn't have come," he rasped.
Rika frowned. "We're here to help. Stay still, we'll get you out—"
"No!" he wheezed, grabbing her wrist with a bloody hand. "You don't understand. You're trapped. He's here. He's watching."
The group exchanged looks.
"…Who's watching?" Eryan asked.
The man's face twisted in fear. "The Rotten Knight. I saw him. I heard him. The others—he took them. One by one. Ripped them apart. He's not just some monster. He remembers."
Kajala's grin faded. "…The Rotten Knight's supposed to be a myth."
"No," the man hissed. "He's real. And he hates us."
Rei stepped back, face pale. "No. No, you're not saying—that Rotten Knight?"
The legend was well-known, even if most people dismissed it: a once-human knight cursed by ancient magic, doomed to haunt forgotten dungeons, twisted by rage and rot. They said he killed not just for survival—but out of pure, undying spite.
The man coughed, flecks of blood staining his chin. "He marked me. I can feel it. He's still watching me. He doesn't let you leave."
Suddenly, a torch on the wall beside them flickered violently—then died.
Then another.
And another.
The corridor behind them began to darken, like the dungeon itself was closing in.
"Run," the adventurer whispered, his voice barely audible now. "While you still can…"
They didn't move.
Because the gate was sealed.
Because there was nowhere to run.
"…I knew this would happen," Rei whispered, gripping his sword tightly. "I knew it. I felt it in my bones. We should've stuck with the slime quest."
Kajala stared down the shadowed hallway, his ears twitching. "…We need to move. Whatever this thing is—it knows we're here."
Eryan helped Rika lift the injured man. "We're not leaving him."
The dungeon groaned—no, breathed—around them.
Regulus raised his axe. "Then let it come."
And from the far end of the corridor, just beyond where the last torch had died, something stirred.
Heavy footsteps. Armor dragging. A low, metallic growl that echoed off the walls like grinding bones.
The Rotten Knight had found them.