Liana backed away until her back struck the rough, cold stone wall. The pool of blood steaming across the marble floor released a thin mist, spreading a coppery scent that stung her nose more sharply by the second. The atmosphere around the dead-end corridor seemed to press in tighter, leaving almost no space between her and danger.
The tall shadowy figure before her slowly stepped out of the gloom. The remaining wall torches reflected off the gold-striped cloak he wore. The young man tilted his head, regarding Liana with a cold, intensely curious gaze.
“Little lost servant,” the young man whispered. His voice echoed softly against the stone walls. “You do know that wandering around this area at night is basically offering up your neck for free, right?”
Liana swallowed her bitter saliva. Every muscle in her body tensed as the young man took another step forward.
“I... I was just looking for the kitchen,” Liana replied in a trembling voice, doing her best to hide the fear shaking in her chest. “I didn’t know this area was forbidden.”
The young man gave a low laugh, a short sound that did nothing to ease her heart. “The kitchen? You passed it three building levels ago. This place isn’t for solitary humans looking for something to eat.”
Without waiting for another reply from the young man, Liana spun around and pushed off the floor with all her strength. She leaped over the blood spilled across the marble and sprinted left, using the last of her remaining energy.
Fear gave her an instinctive burst of strength. Liana plunged into the corridor’s deepening darkness, ignoring the torturous dryness in her throat. She kept driving her legs forward, intending to find the main staircase or any large door that could take her out of this horrifying underground section.
But tonight, Nocturne Academy felt like a living creature deliberately toying with her. The thick, carved wooden door she had passed through only minutes ago had vanished without a trace, replaced by a plain stone wall covered in dry moss. The path that should have run straight kept twisting instead, carrying her deeper into the heart of the building complex.
“Why did the door disappear?” Liana screamed inwardly.
She stopped for a moment at a four-way intersection, bracing herself against her knees as she gasped for breath. Cold sweat dampened her temples and neck. Every time she tried to remember the building’s layout from the school flyer she had once seen, the memory scattered beneath the panic ruling her mind.
Amid the ragged roar of her breathing, her sense of smell caught another scent slipping through the smell of wet stone. A sharp masculine cologne mingled with the scent of earth after rain. It felt incredibly close, clinging thickly to the cold air drifting around her.
Liana quickly straightened. She looked in every direction, trying to find the source of the scent before its owner appeared before her eyes.
At the end of the corridor to her right, she saw a faint sliver of light seeping beneath a gigantic wooden door. The door looked ancient, fitted with rusted iron hinges and an intricately carved silver handle.
“Please, is anyone in there?” Liana called softly as she hurried toward it.
She reached the door within seconds and immediately gripped its silver handle, cold as ice. Liana forced the handle downward, but the mechanism inside didn’t budge at all. The door was firmly locked from within.
“Open up! Whoever’s in there, please open the door!” Liana pounded on the thick wooden surface with her palm again and again.
The sound of her knocking rang loudly through the silence of the night. Liana pressed her ear against the wood, hoping to hear footsteps or a key turning on the other side.
Instead of an opening latch, what she heard beyond the door was a low, breathless laugh. It was terribly quiet yet heavy, echoing inside the enclosed room beyond the thick wood with a deeply frightening tone.
Liana abruptly pulled her ear away from the door. Her awareness exploded all at once; whoever was behind that door was not someone who could save her.
The girl slowly stepped backward, intending to find another place to hide along the corridor wall. But the air around her suddenly began to rush harder, carrying the masculine cologne mingled with wet earth and enclosing her entire sense of smell.
Before Liana could turn the door handle again or step away from the spot, a cold hand seized her shoulder from behind.