I hid among the shadows for a moment, waiting for the creature to stop looking in my direction. When I felt I had an opportunity, I left my hiding place and ran toward the entrance of the building.
I had to get out of there.I had to get as far away as possible.
But when I reached the door, I stopped abruptly.
There was a figure standing at the entrance.
A man without eyes, dressed in a worker's uniform, as if he had once been part of the abandoned construction. His posture was rigid, unmoving… as if he weren't truly human.
And behind him…
There was another.
A tall man wrapped in a long robe that hid almost his entire body. Only a dark smile could be seen beneath the shadow of his hood.
But what truly caught my attention was the sack hanging over his shoulder.
A large sack.
Made of what looked like… stitched pieces of skin.
When I saw it, I covered my mouth with my hand to avoid making a sound. Something strange stirred in my chest. For a moment, fear tried to return.
But immediately I felt as if an invisible hand pressed against my heart.
The seal of the god of Fear.
The sensation disappeared.
And then I understood.
That man seemed familiar.
When I was a child, my grandmother used to tell me stories so I wouldn't open the door to strangers.
Stories about the Sack Man.
A tall man, with an aged face and a dark robe, who took disobedient children away inside a sack.
I had always thought it was just an urban legend.
But now he was there.
Standing.
Watching.
And how could something like that exist?
I shook my head. This was not the time to think.
I had to get out.
I activated my spell again and turned into a shadow.
That spell allowed me to hide for about thirty seconds before my body forced me back into reality. It also meant I could only move through dark areas.
And I could only use it ten times.
More than that… and I would faint.
I jumped between the shadows of the pillars, the abandoned trash, and the gaps in the building until I reached a staircase that led to the upper floors.
Maybe there would be an emergency exit.
I ran up.
The only sound was my breathing… and, far away, the echo of Iztli's fight.
Fighting those creatures was not an option.
My fire and light spell would consume almost all my energy.If I used it, I would be defenseless.
I had to run.
"Hehehe… where are you?"
The childish voice echoed across the floor.
"We just want to play…"
"One… two… three… ready or not, here we come…"
Children's voices spread through the building like an echo.
They were getting closer.
I entered a room and slowly closed the door.
My heart beat fast.
Every time fear tried to rise, I felt the invisible pressure forcing it down again.
Then I heard something.
Their voices.
"Maybe you're wondering what we are," said a soft voice.
"We are chaneques," another answered, deeper but equally childish.
"We lived happily in a region. We played with the water."
"Yes, yes, just like big sister says."
There was a pause.
The voice of the one who seemed to be the leader changed.
It was no longer playful.
"But then a machine came."
"It was big… and yellow."
"We thought it wanted to play with us."
"At first it was fun…"
"We did many things."
The voice turned bitter.
"But then… they took our home away."
"And we wandered, lost…"
"Until our master found us."
"And we became a family again."
Several voices spoke at the same time.
"So if our master wants something… we get it."
At that moment I heard the door open.
I activated the spell again.
Becoming a shadow felt like entering another dimension.
Everything turned gray, ancient, almost dead.I could see what was happening… but I couldn't touch anything.
As if I were a ghost.
From there I could see them clearly.
The chaneques.
Their bodies were small, with skin dark as night. Their faces looked like miniature old men, though their movements were quick and playful.
Most of them were about half a meter tall.
But one of them…
Was bigger.
Almost a meter.
The leader.
I wondered how no one had seen them on the street.
I left the room and moved down the hallway until I found another staircase.
I climbed up to the fourth floor.
There I found an emergency door.
But there was a problem.
The exit was completely illuminated by a red EXIT sign.
There were no shadows nearby.
And I had already used the spell six times.
I was sweating.
Tired.
And I couldn't approach using the shadows.
The exit was about ten meters away.
I would have to run.
I took a deep breath.
I stepped out of the shadow and ran.
Everything was going well.
Until the seventh step.
I tripped.
I fell face-first onto the ground.
When I looked at my feet, one of the chaneques was holding my ankle, laughing.
"I found you."
Its mouth opened horribly.
"She's here!"
"One, two, three for all my friends!"
More appeared.
Many more.
They were small, so I kicked it and managed to free myself.
But they came out of the shadows.
Dozens.
Thirty…
Forty…
They jumped toward me, trying to bite me or grab me.
I pushed them away, kicked them, shoved them aside as best I could.
They weren't strong.
The problem…
Was that there were too many.
I felt their bites piercing through my clothes.
I activated the shield spell.
A blue light surrounded me like a protective egg.
I ran.
The chaneques threw themselves against the shield, crashing into it.
The shield held… but every impact weakened it.
It felt like I had been running for minutes.
Though it had only been seconds.
Four meters left.
Then I heard something crack.
My shield.
Fear returned all at once.
But I didn't stop.
They grabbed my legs.
My hands.
My clothes.
But I kept moving.
I reached the door.
I grabbed the handle.
I opened it.
Outside there was light.
The sun.
I knew they wouldn't be able to follow me there in a group.
The laws of the spiritual world wouldn't allow it in front of humans.
But the chaneques pulled me backward.
Dozens of hands.
Their laughter filled the hallway.
"No…"
"Just a little more!"
I screamed.
"IZTLI!"
The ground exploded.
An enormous shadow emerged from below.
A gigantic figure grabbed me and tore me away from the chaneques' hands.
As everything turned black before my eyes…
The last thing I saw were a pair of eyes.
Green.
Dark.
Burning like flames from the underworld.
And then…
Everything became silence.