(This chapter might be pretty gore and has maybe some horror themes! Also there is a scene that might seem a bit weird, but it isn't straight up smut!)

[No one]

Grian stared at the hand Xavier was offering him. Why was he doing that? Did he want him dead..?

"Take my hand, won't you?" Xavier cooed and offered his hand closer. Grian bolted backwards and hit a wall(?) behind him. He had no idea where he was and what was going on. "Xelqua, love, please take my hand," Xavier continued. For a second his tone was the exact same as Grian's mother's. That made him almost fall, but he managed to hold himself back.

"I-I.. Don't.." Grian hesitated. He didn't trust Xavier anymore. (Not like he had a choice anymore. He was bound to trust him, forever)

"Look around Xelqua. What do you see? Does this look like the life you wanted?" Xavier taunted and pointed towards the ground between them. There Grian saw images of his siblings' deaths flash one by one like some sort of photo album.

"N-no.. B-but.." Grian sobbed. When had he started crying? Since when had his eyes been watery?

"Exactly! You don't deserve a life like this! You deserve something way more better!" Xavier's red eyes flashed with something dangerous. Now Grian knew exactly why the Fallens were dangerous and why the deals were extremely illegal.

'The Fallens are Watchers who fall because they are too powerful to live. They are evil beings who should never be trusted. They are power-hungry and will never be satisfied. Deals with them are forbidden because they are so dangerous. The Fallen will only use their masters and escaping from the curse is impossible. Once you make a deal, you are doomed to fall. Fallens should always be taken seriously because they are never just fooling around. They will use your darkest hours for their own advance. They don't give a fuck about you.'

     Grian swallowed his sobs as the darkness grew colder. Was this his end? He still remembered his sibling's warnings. Her voice rang through his head once more. He knew he wouldn't hear that voice ever again - even if he survived, because her vocal cords had gotten destroyed.

"Just take my hand, Xelqua! It won't hurt anymore! You know, the pain is only temporary!" The voice of his own Fallen rang through his head. Now it sounded too familiar - because it wasn't Xavier's anymore. The voice that rang through his head, was his own.

His heart began beating faster. How could he ask Xavier to stop, if he couldn't tell them apart anymore? He couldn't recognize his own voice, he didn't know who he was. He didn't know if he was Grian, Xelqua, Xavier or Xelvier. He was lost inside a huge maze of endless turns and stops. He didn't know where to run and when to stop. Was there even a way out?

His breathing grew faster. He saw his reflection. It looked unfamiliar. He didn't know who he was looking at. He didn't know if it was him or someone or something else. He didn't recognize the face, the body, the eyes, anything.

His ears began ringing. At least it covered up the screams of the dead souls that were stuck in the maze forever. Now he didn't have to hear the sound, he'd be joining soon, anymore. Soon he would be one of the dead souls, screaming for help that couldn't be granted. Screaming forever with no one to hear his pleads.

His body began numbing. His legs didn't carry him any longer. He couldn't ran away from the army of black, ownerless hands that were grabbing towards him. He could only lay there and feel them wander over his body, yanking it deeper and deeper into the ground. At least the screams were now gone.

His skin started hurting. The hands were peeling his skin off. They were scratching him like there was no tomorrow, which was probably true. He didn't even know if it hurt, or just feel weird. Their nails pierced through his skin and dug deeper and deeper without caring if it hurt or not.

His vision began fading. Everything began blurry. The hands disappeared from his vision, but he still felt them tearing his skin away. Suddenly he wasn't sure if he had lost his vision, or if the hands had pulled his eyes out.

His breath began harder. The hands were tightening their grips around his neck. They were choking him. The worst part was the fact that he didn't know if he hated or loved the feeling.

His mouth tasted like blood. He didn't know if it was his own blood. At least he was somehow used to the metallic taste of blood. Then he realized that he couldn't feel his tongue. Great. At least he knew where the blood came from. But his taste was gone. How was he able to still taste the blood? That was the thing that terrified him.

His whole body felt hot. But it wasn't so surprising since he was covered in his own, warm and sticky blood that poured from all the deep scratches the hands were making. At least his blood was still warm, unlike his body.

He started feeling the dirt as the hands were pulling him six feet under. Soon no one would be able to find him anymore. He would be lost in the maze forever, just like the other souls. One day his voice would be screaming and his hands would tear apart someone's body like some bugs did to dead animals they found rotting in the forest.

Soon he would be dead. He would have laughed if he still had control over his body. He wasn't exactly sure if it was even his body anymore. At least he could still feel the hands. Soon the hands would disappear and would be stuck forever.

Then a question popped to his mind at his bones began popping out of their places. Who was he exactly? He didn't know. Was he Grian, Xelqua, Xavier, Xelvier or someone else. Was he even a living soul anymore. At least not for long. Soon he would be a soul, lost in the Fallens' maze forever.

'The maze of the Fallens is a place where no one wants to go. It's a place where the Fallens' hosts go once the Fallens take control over them. The hosts realize they're in the maze once they can't tell the difference between themselves and the Fallens anymore. They start running, but the other hosts' souls won't let them. They can only run so long until they can't anymore. They will start losing their grip on the reality as the souls' screaming fills their ears. Then they lose all their senses as the souls' hands began brutally destroying their body, while they are still alive. They get torn apart and pulled six feet under. No one can hear their cries. The blood curling screams that cut the air as they get buried alive. No one will know where they disappeared to. No one will find them because their bodies are far away from the living souls. The maze is where they wander, trying to find their humanity as they have melted together with their Fallens. Their friends will never know what happened to them and where they are. No matter how much their families mourn, they can never hear it. They can't hear anything, not even their own screams.'

He remembered that. His mother had always warned him about the Fallens, but she was dead now. She wasn't there to warn him anymore. He realized that he had been fucked with, because he had seen everyone he had loved and lost before he had fallen into the maze. He had thought he could get to the Afterlife with them, but that wasn't true. He wasn't going to see a single living soul anymore. Only lost ones that are soon to be destroyed.

He decided to enjoy "human" contact ones more. This was the last time someone would ever touch him - even if they were just tearing him apart. After this he wouldn't feel anyone's touch anymore. He would be all cold and alone, with the souls that were now tearing him apart.

This was the last time he would feel something. He decided to not fear anymore. He wanted to feel loved on his last moments. He didn't care how the hands touched him. He just wanted to feel loved at least once more. The hands were everywhere, he couldn't even tell what they were doing to him. At least he didn't feel bad in any way.

If the situation was different, he would have definitely thought he was high. Maybe he was, he didn't know.

The hands began pulling away. He started whining and pleading them to continue whatever they were doing, but they didn't listen - not like they could hear anything anyways. He was screaming so pitifully. He didn't want to be left alone in the darkness. He didn't want to die alone. He didn't want to be alone. He wanted to feel loved, not afraid.

A hand brushed through his hair once more before they were all gone. He was all alone. No one could hear him cry. No one could help him. He was six feet under and no one would find his body.

Slowly he managed to open his eyes and realized that he was surrounded by thousands of rotted and torn bodies. A smile cracked on his lips. Looked like he wasn't going to die alone after all.

He wasn't breathing. He was all torn apart and bloody. He couldn't hear anything, it was dead silent. He couldn't feel anything. His body was cold and lifeless. His soul was just possessing the body that had once been his. He didn't even know what he meant by "his". Who was "he"? He didn't know. He didn't need to know.

"You did well. Now you may rest!" A familiar voice, his own, rang through the silence.

He smiled and felt pain pierce through his whole body as his soul was separated from it. Now his soul was stuck in the maze and his body was laying lifeless in a "grave" with hundreds of other bodies.

He was dead...

Words: 1736

(Don't worry. The book ain't over yet!)