Chapter 24 — Flight into the Labyrinth
The air still tasted of iron.
It clung to Arjun's throat as he ran.
The shadows behind them moved like living things — whispering, shifting, curling in shapes too dreadful to name.
Riya stumbled beside him, her breathing ragged.
Her eyes darted around the corridor.
> "We have to keep moving. We can't stop," she gasped.
Ananya's voice echoed somewhere far behind them, distorted and layered, as if speaking through the walls themselves.
> "Arjun… Riya… this is where it ends."
Arjun tightened his grip on his rifle.
The fort had already taken Ananya.
Now it wanted them.
They fled deeper into the twisting corridors of Bhangarh Fort.
The walls shifted. Stone became flesh.
The air vibrated with chanting that wasn't coming from anywhere and everywhere at once.
Every turn was the same.
A corridor leading to another corridor.
They ran through darkness that seemed to grow thicker with each step.
It was as if the fort had become an endless labyrinth, and they were trapped inside its living heart.
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Shadows That Hunt
From the corners of their vision, Arjun saw them.
Shadows, moving against the light.
Figures shaped like people — Sid, Kabir, Riya, even Ananya.
Their faces twisted in agony.
They didn't walk. They glided toward them, silent and relentless.
Riya grabbed Arjun's arm.
> "They're not following us… they're chasing us. And they will never stop."
The corridor widened, but the air grew colder.
Their torchlight bent unnaturally, flickering under unseen breath.
Arjun's footsteps echoed louder than they should have.
It was not sound. It was the fort mocking them.
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A Glimpse of Memory
They entered a hall covered in ancient runes.
The runes glowed faint gold.
Shadows clung to them like living vines.
Arjun froze.
Visions flashed before his eyes — moments from the past few days:
Riya's scream in Chapter 5.
Sid's death in Chapter 10.
Kabir's final battle in Chapter 12.
Ananya's possession from Chapter 18.
It was a montage of blood and despair.
> "We're… trapped in their story," Arjun murmured.
Riya nodded without answering.
She whispered:
> "The fort doesn't just want to kill us… it wants to rewrite us."
---
Deeper Into the Fort
They kept running.
The corridors bent unnaturally.
Steps became endless.
Each turn was a circle, each hallway mirrored another.
Time lost meaning.
They came to a place where the walls themselves seemed to breathe.
The runes were no longer static. They moved — forming shapes, faces, whispers of the dead.
The fort was speaking to them, calling them deeper.
Arjun's mind screamed to stop.
But Riya kept pulling him forward.
> "There's a way out… I know it. We just have to reach it."
But Arjun was not so sure.
Every instinct told him the fort was no longer just a place.
It was a living thing.
And it was hungry.
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End of Chapter 24