The laughter that had been bouncing off the dungeon walls slowly died down, but its effect remained dissolved in the air like a poisonous gas. Lane retreated to his usual dark corner, merging into the shadows as if his very existence was a part of that darkness. The same old smile, filled with innocence, had returned to his face, but the temperature of the room felt as if it had dropped by several degrees.
In the dark corners, even the sound of whimpering had ceased; terror had choked the children's throats. Luka's gaze fell upon a little girl huddled in the corner, turned into a stone statue by fear. She was frantically gnawing at the edges of her torn clothes with her teeth. Hearing Lane's roaring laughter and then that whisper, the girl turned her neck. The horror in her wide eyes was not for a human. She was looking at Lane as if he weren't a child, but a demon or a devil incarnate. A boy sitting nearby also began to crawl slowly toward the part of the wall furthest from Lane.
Suddenly, the sound of heavy boots echoed from the distant corridor—'Thud... Thud... Thud'. The sound of iron-soled boots on the stones felt like a countdown to death. The heavy iron door of the dungeon opened with a long, ear-piercing creak.
Three masked guards entered, carrying burning torches. As their steps crossed the threshold of the dungeon, time seemed to slow down to a crawl for Lane. The smoke rising from the torches became still in the air, and the flames looked like frozen photographs.
Lane lowered his neck and hid his head between his legs, but his eyes remained fixed on the three guards. In his eyes, those three guards no longer looked human. To Lane, they appeared as walking piles of flesh—lifeless corpses. Their skin was pale like rotting wood, and a strange, cold stench seemed to emanate from their bodies. The sight was so revolting and terrifying that Lane's body began to tremble involuntarily. He tucked his head deeper into his lap, as if trying to shut those lifeless corpses out of his sight. His shivering and huddling in the corner was no longer just an act.
Luka leaned his back against the cold, rough wall. He rubbed his palms against the ground—the sensation of dirt and moisture was necessary to keep him anchored to reality. His eyelids were half-closed, but behind them, he was weighing Lane's every single move.
'A joke...' Luka repeated the word in his mind. He understood that a person who could change his facial expressions so rapidly was the most dangerous weapon in the world. Luka noticed that Lane was now trembling like a maniac, as if he had seen something no one else could see. Luka decided that he, too, would become a part of this game. He draped a blank expression over his face. If Lane was an actor, Luka would have to be a shrewd player.
"Shut up, you rats!" one guard barked, slamming his heavy staff against the wall. His voice was as dry and lifeless as the torch's fire. The light of the torch stopped on Luka's face.
"This new one... his features are sharp. The Master likes toys like this," the second guard said, grabbing Luka's chin and jerking his face upward. Luka kept his eyes steady, allowing no spark to show in them. He looked at Lane from the corner of his eye. Lane's face was still hidden in his knees, but the tremors in his body showed how difficult it was for him to endure this moment.
The guard grabbed Luka's arm and yanked him to his feet. "Move, your time has come."
Luka did not resist. He knew that the way out of this hell probably lay through this very dark corridor. Luka had only taken his first step toward the exit when he felt a violent jolt from behind.
Lane, who had been trembling until now, suddenly rose with the speed of lightning. He lunged forward and grabbed Luka's hand so hard that the guard's grip slipped from Luka's arm. Lane pulled Luka back toward him with all his strength. Before Luka could understand anything, Lane pressed both his palms over Luka's eyes so tightly that Luka couldn't even flutter his eyelids. Luka was suddenly cast into a deep, terrifying, and absolute darkness.
"No! Don't look at them!" Lane's voice was no longer that of an innocent child. It held a strange authority and a terrifying depth. He leaned in close to Luka's face and whispered, his warm breath brushing against Luka's numbed skin, "They are very dangerous... they are all a delusion, Luka. Stay away from them, they will destroy you."
Luka's heart began to hammer in his chest. A supernatural coldness from Lane's hands seeped through his eyes into his entire body. A heavy silence filled the dungeon, and even the sound of the guards' boots ceased. Luka felt the air in the room grow thick and sticky, as if some invisible power existed there that was a death sentence just to look at.
Lane's grip remained just as firm. He whispered again, his voice carrying a stern warning, "Stand still and just listen to me. If you see this delusion today, you will never be able to leave this darkness. They will pull you into their world."
As soon as Lane finished speaking, he abruptly pulled his hands away from Luka's eyes. Black spots still danced before Luka's vision, but as his sight cleared, he remained standing there by the threshold of the door like a lifeless statue. His feet felt as if they were rooted into the ground. He could neither move forward nor retreat. His entire body had gone numb.
Through blurred eyes, Luka saw Lane moving back toward his dark corner. He sat down once again in that familiar posture—his neck hidden between his knees, perfectly still and quiet. That same old smile, filled with innocence, had returned to his face, as if nothing had happened. The terrifying power and that warning voice Luka had experienced moments ago had vanished without a trace. Lane had once again become that helpless child.
The shadows of the guards' torches danced on the corridor walls like monsters, but Luka couldn't budge an inch. He stood there, staring into the void, waiting for his numbed senses to return, while Lane merged back into the deep darkness once again.