The Darkness Within

"Every living thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and then dies by chance."

- Jean-Paul Satre

The rays of the sun warmed my face gently, and as i slowly opened my eyes, the sun shined right into my eyes, making me groan in response.

A loud, high-pitched sound rang in my ears, as I decided to try and stand up. But as I was almost fully up on my legs, my legs began hurting unbelievably hard. I fell to the floor again, as I gritted my teeth in an attempt to dull the pain, which didn't work.

The noise, after what was probably only a few seconds, but felt like an eternity as it finally began to fade. Once again, I decided to try and stand up. But, even though my legs began to hurt again, I did my best to ignore to pain as my legs found support in the concrete floor.

Where am i? I thought. And quickly, other questions formed in my head as well. Who am i? Why am I here?

I tried to remember, I went through my brain in an attempt to find answers, but… I found none. Then, my head was hit with agonizing pain, and I fell to my knees once again.

I clutched my hands to my head, and I grunted from the immense pain. It felt like my skull was tightening around my brain.

But the pain faded into the background as I felt something sticking out from my hair. It was on both sides, and they felt firm and thin. Horns?

The pain alleviated again, and I managed to get up on my feet and looked around, hoping that I would find anything that could clue me in on where I was.

The room I was in was big. Really big. It was made almost entirely out of concrete, with some relatively large holes here and there. Shards of glass littered the floor, along with a sight that made me sick.

Dead bodies, all dripping blood, all in their own tiny puddle of crimson liquid.

I felt my head clutch again, but this time, I heard something. Something… or someone… inside my head.

First, I heard glass breaking, shattering into a million pieces. Then, I heard screaming. Screams of utter terror, and even a woman, who prayed for help.

Then, the screaming stopped, as I heard the sound of flesh and bone being pierced and torn, then pierced and torn again, until everything went silent.

And then I heard laughter. But not laughter of joy. This was a laughter that could terrify anyone right to the core. Laughter so demonic, you would think it was the devil himself.

I… I killed these people. I thought, as realization finally hit me. I had done this act of brutality, I had made children orphans, I had killed without pity, mercy or remorse.

I had done this.

What was I, some sort of demon or freak?

I decided that the best course of action would be to try and find out where the hell I was. So I limped across the room towards the flung-open door in the other end of the room.

My legs felt like they could snap at any moment, so I walked slowly and surely across the room. A document, marked "CLASSIFIED" piqued my interest, so I picked it up and read it. Hopefully, it would shed some light.

The text was confusing. It had obviously once in a very explanatory document, full of important, vital information for or about something. Now the document was covered in stains of blood, and rips had been made; forever masking what had once been written.

What had once stood upon the document had been torn to pieces, leaving only a few choice words that I could try and piece together. The words spoke of a project, Project Akron, of negative energy, and of a strange machine called the Dracomorphic Engine.

I picked the document up and tossed it away in frustration, sending the ruined paper flying through the air and it slowly fell down onto the concrete floor while I marched out of the room through the doorway.

When I got through the doorway, I found myself in a long, narrow corridor. On the left side, was several windows, all of which were letting in sunlight. On the right side, was a long line of doors, all marked with numbers. 101, 102, 103, and so on. All of them seemed to be lacking in doors, having been torn open from the inside, and now every single cell was wide open.

But one cell caught my eye as I limped down the corridor. Cell 134, and it's door hadn't been wrenched open; it stood just barely open, letting someone just peek inside. What's more, the door was intact, rather than torn off or shattered.

Inside was a small concrete room, with something which could barely be called a bed, a mirror and a sink, and a small barred window.

Strange. A window this small wouldn't need bars. Only a child could possibly fit through.

Wait.

I walked over to the window, and examined it. The concrete was old, with small cracks here and there. But the bars were shiny and new. So someone must have fitted them in later.

Suddenly, my head began pounding again, and back on the knees I went.

Now, I began hearing voices. Unlike last time, the voices were much clearer now.

"Please…" A soft, young voice began.

"He's more powerful than the others." The voice of an old man then said.

"Go up to Tier 7."

"Please… I don't want to hurt them."

"If you want food, then you fight."

"I don't want to be evil."

"Finish him off. He lost, and losing means death."

"Why does it feel so good to kill?"

"Jay… please don't kill me."

"LET ME OUT!"

My breathing was ragged as I scrambled over to the sink. I was about to fall as my hands caught the sides of the sink and held me up. This violent surge of memories had weakened me, and I quickly let the water run. I let some fill up in my hands, and then I splashed it into my face to strengthen myself as I looked myself in the mirror.

What I saw horrified me.

My ruffled hair that ran down and sort-of covered my one eye was red. Crimson red like the blood I had seen before. And my previous assumption was right; I had horns. Horns that stuck out of my hair. They were thin, sleek, firm and pointy.

And my eyes. The one that was sort-of covered by my hair was a vibrant blue, like the sea, but my other eye was a demonic red.

My skin was a pale white color, like it hadn't seen much sunlight for several years.

I stared long at the face that horrified me so much. My own face. A demon's face. I was about to limp away again, when I noticed a fluid coming down from my eyes. It was red. I was bleeding.

I quickly looked around the room for something to use to cover up the blood, and I found a roll of white bandage, which I quickly wrapped around my head.

Soon, my eyes were fully covered by the bandage, and I had shuffled it slightly, so my hair now covered the bandages that ran around my skull.

All of this I confirmed by looking in the mirror.

Wait.

My eyes were covered.

And I could still see.