Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

So he turned and ran, flinging open as many doors as he could along the way in a desperate bid to slow the monster down. He had to keep looking over his back to see what was going on because the silence made it impossible to tell if the creature was gaining on him or not.

He could feel the vibrations in the stone floor from each door being smashed apart but little else. Seeing the blind corner up ahead, Jacob had an idea. Back the way they came was a hallway with several traps. Spikes that would erupt from the walls if triggered.

The only problem was, he was running away from them.

An issue he would have to remedy.

Dismissing his shield, knowing it would be useless at the moment anyway, Jacob reached out to grip the wall as he rounded the corner at full speed. Using his arm as a lever to whip him into the narrow hall, he entered the very first door he came upon and shut it quickly.

Heart hammering in his chest, Jacob could feel the lumbering steps of the brute just outside the hall as it made the turn and continued on without sight of its quarry. He hoped it was as dumb as it looked and continued down the hall away from him. Turning around to take in the room he was within, made him instantly regret his decision.

There were four beds, all containing a twisted body wrapped up in barbed wire and stuck through with long iron spikes pinning their limbs to their sides. They lifted their heads, a rusting iron cage fastened over their skull-like heads. Glowing blue fires flickered in their eyes.

Really?

The creatures before him weren’t fast, but they rose from their beds with a languid grace that made his blood run cold. They floated through the air toward him, the burning blue fires in their eyes froze him to the spot for a heartbeat.

It was nearly enough.

He didn’t recognize them immediately and that second of gathering awareness cost him dearly. Vile Insinuators by name, they were foul twisted creatures that invaded people’s minds and destroyed them from within.

Back on Earth, during the silent rise of the Vile Kingdom, the Insinuators were a terrifying anomaly. It took many long years to learn the horrible truth of their origins.

The weak were obliterated instantly, nothing was left of who they were. They were the lucky ones.

Those with enough willpower to resist the initial mental attack – signified by the blue flare of fire in their eyes – but not enough to break free were taken and tormented.

Many died horrible deaths and those few that survived the countless mental and physical tortures at the hands of the Insinuators were molded into monstrosities just like their captors. Then they would go out in search of more victims to start the cycle anew.

They became one of the Vile Kingdom’s most feared weapons. Luckily, the process to create one was so difficult that killing even one Vile Insinuator was devastating.

To find them so readily, and so many in one place was truly disturbing.

Jacob quickly built up a wall of anger and rage to block out the mental intrusion. Each brick, a memory of a different tragedy. The Red Plague. The lies of the Vile Kingdom. Kim’s bloodied teeth grinning up at Jacob as he drowned in her own blood from a wound that should have been Jacob’s.

He pushed off the Insinuator’s attempt to lock his body up and ripped the door open, rushing back into the hall. They reached out twisted, backward-facing limbs to him. More hands and arms than they had any right to have. He felt more than one scrape against his armor without finding purchase.

Hoping that the brute wasn’t lingering outside of the door, Jacob turned back the way he came and ran for all he was worth. The few seconds of idleness had restored more than half of his Stamina.

As he rounded the corner and looked over his shoulder, Jacob knew he wouldn’t have the luxury of any more rest. The brute hadn’t been far past Jacob’s door when he burst out and was fast gaining on him with the four Vile Insinuators close behind, floating in the brute’s wake.

Sprinting flat-out, his Stamina bleeding away, Jacob lured the brute down the nearby trap-filled hall. With less than a tenth of his Stamina remaining, he lunged forward and threw himself into a roll, right over the trigger for the spike trap.

Jacob hit the ground hard. Tucking his shoulder and mindful of his sword, he executed the roll and even managed to twist about to face the charging brute. There was nowhere else to hide.

The fear on his face was genuine. It only made the brute grin and snarl silently with greater glee. Standing there took all of Jacob’s willpower. The combat training in his brain told him to run or at least ready his sword but he kept the tip pointed toward the stones.

What he needed was the brute to think he was too tired – which was true – and too afraid – that was only partly true – to do anything other than stare at his impending death.

He kept his eyes fastened on the lumbering creature, wary that it may be smart enough to watch its step if he stared at the trigger mechanism less than three feet away.

C’mon, c’mon, just a little more big guy. There you go. The look of fear was washed away by a wide-spreading grin as the monster stepped right on the pressure plate.

The creature took half a step more before it was impaled dozens of times, held in place with a look of abject confusion on its grotesque, lipless face. Dark blood oozed out as the spikes retracted and the creature staggered three steps forward, forcing Jacob to backpedal quickly.

He couldn’t go too far though as he glanced over his shoulder and saw the next pressure plate a few inches away. Mindful not