Liam's eyes slowly opened, but the world around him was nothing like he expected.
His surroundings were dark—utterly dark—except for the faint glow of light spilling through a high window. The dim light seemed to barely touch the cold, rough walls that surrounded him. It was like the darkness itself was alive, swallowing everything in its path, leaving only silence behind.
He pushed himself up from the ground, his body aching as if he had been lying there for hours—or maybe longer. His mind raced, trying to make sense of where he was.
Nothing felt familiar.
His fingers brushed his forehead as he staggered to his feet, disoriented. He tried to shake off the heavy fog clouding his thoughts and quickly began to call out, his voice hoarse and raw from whatever ordeal he had just been through.
"Noah! Ergin! Where are you guys?!" His voice echoed in the empty space, but there was no reply, only the suffocating silence that seemed to swallow his words.
Liam squinted into the murky blackness, trying to make out any shapes, any signs of life. He walked forward, his footsteps uncertain and shaky, until he was suddenly stopped by something—an invisible barrier, something solid he couldn't push past. His hand reached out instinctively, fingers brushing against a cold, metal surface. He felt a shiver run through him as he realized what it was.
A cell. He was trapped.
"Noah! Ergin! Hello?! Is anybody there?!" He shouted again, desperation creeping into his voice. His hands pounded against the barrier in frustration. "Help me! Fuck, I'm stuck here!"
But his cries fell on deaf ears. A long pause followed, and just as Liam was about to try again, a voice—soft, but firm—rang out from the other side.
"You're not stuck. And no one's gonna help you." The voice was calm, almost casual, but the words struck Liam like a punch to the gut. It sent a chill crawling up his spine, his heart pounding in his chest.
Liam froze, his blood turning cold. His breathing quickened, and he instinctively took a few steps back, his heart racing. Was this some kind of trap?
"No—no way. Don't tell me I'm stuck in some horror place with a damn ghost!" Liam said, trying to shake off the creeping fear that clung to his body.
"I'm not a ghost, you idiot." The voice replied, dripping with sarcasm. It was a sharp contrast to the fear pulsing in Liam's veins. He pressed himself further against the wall, his pulse thudding in his ears. He couldn't see the person behind the voice, couldn't figure out who was speaking. It was like a presence without a body.
Liam's mind was reeling. This wasn't some haunted place, or at least, it couldn't be. He wasn't alone. He wasn't the only one trapped here. But who or what was on the other side?
His gaze flickered towards the dim window, barely visible in the gloom. Every muscle in his body tensed, every instinct screaming for him to get out.
But where? He was trapped, isolated. His fingers pressed against the cold, unyielding bars of the cell as he tried to find a way out, but the walls didn't move.
Liam's pulse hammered in his ears, his mind racing. The voice on the other side of the cell had sounded almost amused at first, but now it was chilling, cold, and full of something he couldn't quite place. He pressed his ear against the cold metal of the bars, straining to hear every word, every syllable that came next.
"Who are you?!" Liam demanded, his voice a mix of confusion and rising panic. "Where am I? What is this place?"
The room fell silent. For a moment, Liam thought the voice had disappeared entirely, leaving him alone with his growing fear.
Then, unexpectedly, a low, almost cruel chuckle broke the silence. The sound sliced through the darkness, and Liam's stomach dropped as if something inside him had just shattered.
"I am Esther." The voice was calm, like she had nothing to fear, nothing to lose. It sounded almost detached, as if she had long since given up hope of escaping this nightmare.
Liam's mind spun. Esther? The name rang out like a forgotten memory, but it didn't quite connect. Who was she? Why did she sound so calm, so indifferent, while he was freaking out in a cold, dark cell?
"And this place?" Esther continued, her voice taking on a darker edge. "I have no idea. Except it torments us every day until we die."
The words hit Liam like a physical blow. His chest tightened, his breath catching in his throat. Torment? Die? What was she talking about?
His grip on the bars tightened instinctively as his fear grew, spreading through him like wildfire. The reality of his situation was starting to sink in, and it wasn't one he could escape from easily.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Liam's voice cracked under the weight of the question. His stomach churned, the cold sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. "I don't understand... How did I get here?"
Esther's response was slow, as if she were carefully choosing her words. She didn't sound surprised at all, as if she had been expecting him to ask these questions, or maybe she had heard it all before from someone else.
"You have been captured here. Where no one knows this place exists. You must be new." Her voice was steady, matter-of-fact, almost like she was talking about the weather. "So maybe you would be a slave here or something else. No idea."
Liam's heart skipped a beat at her words. A slave? What was she saying? This couldn't be real. But the fear in her voice, the strange weight behind her words—it felt far too real. He couldn't have imagined this.
"Excuse me? What?" Liam's voice was rising now, disbelief flooding through him. "Wait… wait… did you say your name was Esther?"
He couldn't help but feel an odd sense of urgency in his voice. There was something about this Esther that was both disturbing and somehow oddly familiar. What did she mean by "slave"?
The silence stretched for a moment, and just when Liam thought she might not answer, Esther spoke again, her tone as flat and unyielding as before.
"Yes." She said simply, as though that single word explained everything.
Liam's mind spun. Esther… was she really the one who was going to explain what was happening here? Why did he feel like her name was a warning, a signal that this place was far worse than he had imagined?
He swallowed hard, trying to keep his composure. "Esther... What's going on? What do you mean by 'slave'?"
Esther let out a dry laugh, but it was far from comforting. It sent a shiver down Liam's spine. "You'll see soon enough. It's just how things are here. There's no escaping it, no getting out of it. You'll learn the rules… if you survive long enough."
Liam took a step back, his breath shallow, trying to make sense of her words. Survival? What kind of place was this? And what had he gotten himself into?
As the oppressive silence stretched on, Liam couldn't shake the feeling that something far more sinister was lurking in the dark corners of this place, waiting to pounce.
And Esther… she was part of it. Whether she was a victim or something else, Liam didn't know, but one thing was clear: he wasn't going to find any answers by standing here alone.
"Is there anyone else here?" he finally asked, his voice trembling slightly. "Other than you, I mean?"
There was a long pause before Esther responded, and when she did, her voice was tinged with bitterness. "There's always someone. But they don't last long. Most of them... well, they don't make it out." She let the words hang in the air, heavy with a truth Liam was terrified to fully understand.
Liam ran a hand through his hair, trying to gather his thoughts. "I don't understand. Why are we here? What is this place?"
Esther's voice softened, but it was still laced with a kind of resignation. "It doesn't matter why. What matters is surviving long enough to see what happens next. And trust me—this is just the beginning."
Liam's chest tightened with the weight of Esther's words, each one digging deeper into his gut like a cold, jagged shard. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was suffocating, both physically and mentally, trapped in some cruel nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. The silence in the cell pressed in on him, oppressive and unrelenting. Every inch of the dark walls seemed to close in as he grappled with the reality that was beginning to unravel before him.
Esther, whoever she was, seemed to know far more about this place than he did. Her calm, almost resigned demeanor only made the situation worse.
The chilling sense of familiarity, something deep within his mind stirring was impossible to ignore.
And no matter how hard he tried to reason with himself, there was one undeniable truth: he was trapped, locked in a place that should have been nothing more than the fantasy world of his own creation.