Not too far away from here, and inside a dimly lit corridor, a single man walked in a slow, and yet steady pace. He straightened his back, while preparing himself for what yet to come.
The corridor felt like it was going downwards on a fixed and dangerous angle. And yet this dude didn't feel any change at all, not even feeling like he was descending on such a sharp angle.
If someone looked at him from far, he'd see him walking down a very slope edge, one that looked like he was walking over an almost perfect vertical wall.
And just in less than half an hour, he finally stopped. The path ended abruptly in front of a closed gate. It looked ancient, like it was built thousands of years ago.
The path landed directly on the top of this gate, as if the gate was the bottom of a well or something. This dude tidied up his uniform, cleared his throat, took a deep breath despite the air here being too thin.
And then he extended his hand, holding a token in it, before the gate suddenly trembled. Like he fell into the surface of a lake, the gate absorbed this dude, letting him vanish into it, like he was never there.
But that wasn't what happened. This dude was one of the few, selected few, who knew there was a hidden secret in the fort.
If William was here, he'd instantly recognise this dude as Mark, the same manager he just threatened before leaving.
Mark already visited the owners of the hotel, and they refused to help or share any responsibility with him. And then he got summoned here, to where these mysterious and ancient beings were.
They were the ones who issued the order to watch and gather any intell possible about William in the first place.
Mark passed through the gate and appeared standing in the middle of a huge stone hall. The place was lit by giant torches at the walls. But thanks to the grand design of this place, the dancing blue and green lights danced and barely were able to push away any of the darkness here.
Mark stood in the centre, appearing just on top of a star diagram on the ground. He moved his eyes over and could see faint shadows of big seats with giant stone statues sitting on top of them.
These weren't statues… Not normal ones at least. These were the real owners of this hotel, the ancient ones as he got to know their names.
"Honourable ancient ones… I'm here to deliver my report…"
"No need," Just before he'd start telling what happened with William, one statue spoke up. That led to the torches at its side flickering and flare up for a single moment, showing a scary stone face of a man with sharp saw-like teeth.
Mark came here many times already, and yet each time he felt like he never got used to any of that. Every time one of those ancient ones spoke, such a weird phenomenon would happen. The torches would react, intensify in their burning, while releasing a weird touch of light over the face of the speaking statues.
And each time he saw this scene, he couldn't help but feel his heart clench as if his life being sucked dry from his body. He never imagined before there were such scary humans out there in the world. And when he learnt about their presence, he couldn't help but question if they were really humans or monsters.
"We already heard and saw what this kid said and did…" another statue spoke, releasing another thunderous boom with the weird change in the torches around it.
"I did what you asked me to do…" Mark was preparing himself for the long torture and punishment from these scary folks. But unlike what he expected, another one stopped him as he said:
"No need. That kid sought his own death."
"We watched him walking towards that blasphemous old dude's place."
"He is going to die there, so no need to speak about him anymore."
"What a waste! I wanted to know how he did all these weird things."
"His death isn't settled in stone yet. Who knows, he might come out unscathed and be lucky to evade all the traps that jerk placed there."
"It's not likely to happen. But if that did happen, then we should offer him a great honour."
"Let him come and meet us?"
"I believe this is the only way to make such a troublesome kid kneel and know his place, offer us everything he knows without playing any tricks."
"Well said."
Mark heard all these discussions as if thunder was echoing in his ears all the time. And with the successive flashes of light over the statue faces, he exerted total control and summoned all his courage to not pie himself on the spot.
"Listen, if the kid survived that place, come and bring him with you. Leave the matter of dealing with him to us."
"Really?!!" Even if he was scared, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic to escape punishment or even reprimanding, "sorry… I… I will do as you said."
"Scram!" Mark knew that in the middle of being joyful, he mistook his place and spoke in a way that he shouldn't. But luckily for him, the statues didn't even place him in the eye.
He always felt like he was an ant in front of gods whenever he was here. And in the next instant, a gush of power came, enveloped and carried him away in a flash.
The next moment he found himself standing on the beginning of the descending path. He closed the top of this hole using the thick cover, took a long glance at this place before sighing.
"They mentioned he went to the place of the old blasphemous dude… What's that place? And who is that dude?" As he went back to his office, he started to think more about this.
He called for someone to come and look for where William went after leaving the hotel. And soon enough, news would reach his ears, like all the ears of everyone who mattered in this fort.
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