I Pray My Soul To Keep

by WhatAboutBrennenburg

It is rumored that soldiers that left their posts and escaped into the forests would be dragged away, never to be seen again. Monsters lurk in imagination of those who spread these tales, but maybe they aren't so imaginary after all. The kidnapped know this better than anybody could ever dream to, and better than anybody would want to.

1. Chapter 1

Now you sleep.

But you hadn't slept. You hadn't slept since those words, murmured soft, a whisper of ill omens and malicious wishes swept past your ears, a dull hum that echoed inside your head, for eternity...

Now you sleep.

Not that they mattered much, not in that moment. No. Nothing mattered. Nothing, except for the throbs of pulsating pain that shot through your entirety, again, and again – your mind gasping for air above the swirl of hurt... That merciless statement had only entered through the cracks and crevices, through the breaths of moments, lodged behind everything else. In that moment, it couldn't matter.

Hush, hush-

You lumbered along the hallways, balance fleeting as you followed the rows of crawling bricks, rushing into the darkness that stained the stale air. Like that, you wandered for what felt like centuries, and centuries upon that. Days turn into endless forevers when nights are spent awake. The world was shrouded behind hazy film, a fog that hovered before your face. Only torches made the ancient labyrinth visible beneath a sheen of orange that faltered and flickered in the shadows – but torches were scarcely lit, and you were left to stumble in the numbness that crept along your flesh. Metal can't feel and decay is nothing more, and clinking claws of dagger blades or the fear enduing reaction you compel could never make up for it.

Now you sleep.

But you couldn't sleep! You couldn't sleep, and only the shadows would ever know. Only the darkness that filed behind that man's crimes could ever know. But he couldn't hide behind the blanket of night forever. Light would shine on his sins soon enough - soon enough – and when it did, he'd have to remember, and you, you would be standing right there to remind him. Remind him of everything.