The air felt heavier now, as if the weight of the silence was bearing down on them. Every creak of the rusted metal, every shift in the wind, seemed amplified in the stillness. Kez's skin crawled, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as he glanced around, trying to shake off the lingering presence of the figure.
Allexis's grip on her weapon tightened further, her knuckles white, but there was a hard edge to her gaze. She didn't flinch. She wasn't going to let fear show, even if it was crawling under her skin, too.
"We need to climb," Kez said, his voice low and strained, breaking the silence.
Allexis glanced up at the crane towering above them, the skeletal structure looming like a ghost of its former purpose. The sheer height of it was intimidating. The rusted ladders and metal steps barely held together, but it was their only way up.
"Climb?" she asked, her voice sharp. "After what we just saw?"
"We don't have a choice," Kez replied, his eyes narrowing as he looked up. "It's the only way we're going to figure out how to get out of this place."
He began to move toward the base of the crane, fingers tracing the cold, rusty metal as he began to climb. His foot slid against the rust, and he had to steady himself, the sick feeling from before still gnawing at the back of his mind. He was scared—hell, they both were—but there was no other option.
On top of that, the metal was extremely slippery. One wrong step and…
Allexis hesitated, eyeing the crane with a deep sense of unease. She didn't want to climb. She didn't want to be that close to whatever it was up there. But the port was still dead silent, the only sound their breathing, the clinking of metal on metal. They couldn't stay on the ground much longer.
"Fine," she muttered, more to herself than to him. "But you better not let me fall."
Kez blinked, caught off guard by her sudden determination. "You want to climb that thing?"
Allexis met his gaze with a steady look, her jaw set. "Yeah. But not just climb it—rope climb. You know, if one of us slips, the other can catch them. Better than standing here, waiting for that thing to show up out of nowhere."
She glanced up at the crane, her fingers tightening around the rope she'd found nearby. "I don't like not knowing when something's going to hit. This way, at least we can move, and if it comes after us, we'll have a chance."
Kez hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He could see the logic, and though he wasn't entirely convinced it was the safest plan, it was better than standing around exposed.
"Alright. But please, don't slip. I doubt I can handle your weight."
Allexis shot him a venomous look, her grip firm on the rope as she prepared to ascend first. "If you can't handle me, maybe you should get some muscles, or you know, stop being so… useless."
Kez tied the other end of the rope in multiple knots around his body and muttered, "That was unnecessarily rude."
With a sharp, irritated breath, Allexis began to climb after him. Her hands were shaking slightly, but she refused to acknowledge it. The fear that had been simmering just beneath the surface was hard to ignore now, as every inch of the crane seemed to groan under their weight.
The higher they climbed, the less they could see below them. The port stretched out into an endless void of dark shadows, and the eerie moonlight cast strange, distorted shapes across the landscape. It was like climbing out of one nightmare into another.
Allexis's gaze flicked constantly to the dark silhouette at the top, where she knew the figure still lingered. It was like a presence, watching, waiting. Her pulse quickened as she reached for the next rung.
Every creak of metal made her stomach drop, and the higher she went, the more disoriented she felt. The world below seemed to shrink, and the air grew thinner, the breeze more biting.
At one point, she glanced down to see Kez struggling to keep up. Weakling, she thought, then refocused on her ascent.
All she could see now were shadows, swaying like dark dancers in the wind. For a brief moment, she thought they moved, but it was just a trick of the light… or maybe something else. She wasn't sure anymore.
When they finally reached the top, breathless and exhausted, the view was both beautiful and unsettling. The port below them looked like a labyrinth of rust and decay, stretching out under the moonlight. The ocean beyond was calm, almost unnaturally so, its surface reflecting the cold light like glass.
The huge crane's skeletal arm reached into the sky, pointing toward something far beyond their sight. But there, on the very edge of the crane's arm, was a door. A rusted metal hatch, barely noticeable in the shadows. It was old, weathered, and forgotten—just like everything else in the port.
Kez stepped toward it cautiously, his eyes scanning the area. The feeling of being watched was even stronger now, the hairs on his arms standing on end.
"This is it," he said, voice tense but steady. "This is how we get out of here."
Allexis didn't say anything at first. She just stared at the hatch, her body rigid, her mind still racing from the sight of that figure. But she knew he was right. There was no other way.
Slowly, reluctantly, she followed him as he reached out and pulled the hatch open, the metal groaning in protest, and then—A sound.
A whisper, far too close.
"Not yet…"
It wasn't the wind. It wasn't the rusted crane. It was real.
Her heart slammed into her chest.
They weren't alone.
***
Kez froze, his hand still gripping the hatch as the whisper echoed through the air, cutting through the heavy silence. His body tensed, every muscle screaming to run, but he couldn't move. Not yet. Not with that voice so close.
He glanced over at Allexis, his expression tight with fear, but her eyes were wide with something else—suspicion, uncertainty, and maybe even a touch of dread.
"Did you hear that?" she whispered, voice barely more than a breath.
Kez nodded slowly, his pulse racing in his throat. "Yeah."
The wind picked up suddenly, whipping around them, as if it, too, was reacting to whatever unseen presence was lurking. The shadows around them seemed to stretch unnaturally, warping in ways that shouldn't have been possible.Kez shifted his gaze back to the hatch, his hand trembling slightly as he held it open. It wasn't just the fear of the creature that made him hesitate; something about this hatch, this entrance, felt wrong. The way it groaned under his touch, the way it resisted even though it had been long forgotten—it was as if the port itself had decided it didn't want them to leave.
"Maybe... maybe we shouldn't open it," Allexis said, her voice carrying a weight of doubt now. "What if that thing's still out there? What if this is what it wants? Us trapped in here, away from the world."
Kez glanced over his shoulder toward the open expanse of the port, the dark cranes looming like giants. The figure, whatever it was, wasn't there anymore. But the unease gnawed at him, an invisible presence that lingered in the air.
He tightened his grip on the hatch. "We can't stay here. We'll be sitting ducks."
But even as the words left his mouth, he wondered if he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. There was something pulling him toward the hatch, something beyond the logic of survival, something that made him feel like this might be their only way out.The silence stretched between them, heavy and thick. They stood there, on the edge of the crane, the port sprawling out below them like a massive, decaying wound in the earth, and neither of them knew what waited for them behind that door.
Then, as if the universe had made the decision for them, the whisper came again, but this time, it was more than just a word. It was a voice—sharp, chilling, unmistakable.
"Come…"
It was soft, but it carried an undeniable command.
Kez's heart stuttered in his chest, and before he could stop himself, he pulled the hatch open all the way, stepping back as a rush of cold air spilled out from within.
The darkness inside was absolute, a void that seemed to swallow the light from the moon. But there, just out of reach, was a faint glow—pale, sickly, almost like the reflection of something alive. Something waiting.Allexis looked at Kez, her face pale, but her resolve had returned. "What the hell are we getting ourselves into?"
Kez didn't have an answer. He didn't even have a plan anymore. All he knew was that if they stayed out here, they'd be sitting targets. And if they entered that darkness... well, they had a chance.
"We're getting out," Kez said, more firmly than he felt. He turned back to the hatch and, with a deep breath, stepped inside. Allexis hesitated for a split second longer, then followed. The door shut behind them with a heavy, final thud, and the darkness embraced them.
The air inside was stale, thick with the scent of rust and old machinery, but there was something else—something older. The faint light flickered above them, casting strange, distorted shadows against the walls.
"Stay close," Kez muttered, his voice low, the tension crawling up his spine.
Allexis didn't need to be told twice. The door had closed, and now they were trapped in whatever this place was—whether it was a part of the port, a remnant of something far worse, or a place designed to hold them forever, he couldn't be sure.
But one thing was for certain. They had crossed the threshold and now, there was no going back.
The distant, eerie whispers grew louder, closer, as they moved deeper into the belly of the crane. Every step they took deeper into the darkness seemed to amplify the quiet hum in the air, like a faint pulse vibrating just beneath the surface. The walls of the shaft were cold to the touch, the metal damp, as if the very structure of the crane was alive and breathing.
Kez's footsteps echoed softly in the void, every sound unnervingly clear in the oppressive silence. The flickering light above them buzzed and sputtered, casting erratic shadows that seemed to dance in the corners of his vision.
The closer they got to the source of the light, the more the space began to open up. They were no longer in the narrow, claustrophobic shaft of the crane—it felt as though they were entering a large, cavernous room.
The floor beneath their feet shifted from metal to something else—wood, maybe, or something organic. It creaked underfoot, and Kez paused for a moment, his mind racing. Was it a trap? A trick of the port's twisted architecture?
Allexis didn't stop. Her boots clicked lightly on the surface as she pressed forward, the tension in her body making it clear she wasn't about to turn back. Her grip tightened on her weapon, but her eyes darted constantly, scanning every corner, every darkened crevice for movement.
"Keep moving," she said, her voice sharp. "Whatever it is, we're not standing around waiting for it to catch us."
Allexis took the lead, though the words tasted bitter on his tongue. They hadn't seen it again, the thing that had been watching them. But they both felt it—the presence, lurking, waiting. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled with every passing second.
The faint light ahead of them grew stronger, and as they neared it, Kez saw it: a single, glowing orb suspended in the air, surrounded by a faint mist that shimmered like static. The light didn't illuminate the space around it, but seemed to pool in the center of the room, casting everything else in deeper shadow.
And then, standing in the center of that eerie glow, was a figure.
Not the creature from the crane, but something different—still humanoid, but distorted in a way that made Kez's stomach churn. Its limbs were elongated, its body too thin, with arms that hung unnaturally low. It was draped in tattered robes, like the figure from before, but the robes seemed to pulse, as though alive, shifting and writhing around its form. The face—if it could be called a face—was blank, a smooth expanse of skin, empty except for two dark pits where its eyes should have been.
It didn't move, but the presence of it... the weight of its gaze, if it could even be called that, pressed down on Kez and Allexis like an oppressive force, squeezing the air from their lungs.
"What the hell is that?" Allexis whispered, her voice shaky despite her earlier resolve.
Kez didn't answer. He couldn't. He was frozen, his heart hammering in his chest, every instinct telling him to turn and run.
But they were too far in now. There was nowhere to go but forward.
The figure in the center of the room remained still, but the air grew thicker, the very space around them warping, distorting, as if reality itself was bending in the presence of this thing.
And then, a voice, not from the figure, but from everywhere, filled the room—low and resonant, like it was coming from the walls themselves.
"You shouldn't have come here."
Kez forgot to breathe for a second. He wanted to speak, to demand answers, but his throat was tight, words locked inside.
The figure tilted its head ever so slightly, as though considering them. And then it spoke again, its voice echoing in the stillness, like the sound of wind howling through an empty cavern.
"You are trapped. Trapped in the web. The path is closed to you. Only those who serve may leave."
Allexis took a step forward, defiant despite the fear clouding her mind. "Serve? What do you want from us?"
And as Kez looked over his shoulder, the figure was no longer alone. The shadows had moved.
They had a shape now.