Kapitel 9: Act of desperation

The air in the prison felt colder, heavier, almost stifling. Jamie took a steady breath, focusing on the system's words still echoing in his mind: Mission failed. One seal on the apparition Ebonshade has been released.

One seal released. The message itself was cold and cryptic, but Jamie was already piecing together its implications. What does it mean for Ebonshade to have a seal released? Is it more free? More powerful? he wondered. Either way, he realized it wasn't just going to stay in the shadows—it was going to make use of them. And if he didn't do something, Ebonshade would have the entire prison to hunt him in.

Jamie closed his eyes briefly, calming himself…. Then, the laugh came.

It's here… Jaime thought before bolting without a thought.

The prison hallways seemed to twist around Jamie as he ran, the shadows thickening with each step. His breathing was ragged, heart pounding wildly in his chest, and every flicker of movement in the darkness behind him made him flinch. Somewhere, not far back, he could hear it—a faint, taunting laugh that seemed to slither through the air, edging closer.

He scrambled into a narrow corridor, pressing himself flat against the wall, his fingers gripping the rough stone until his knuckles turned white. "Get a grip," he whispered, the words barely audible. But as soon as they left his lips, he heard another mocking laugh echo down the corridor, louder this time, almost amused.

He bolted forward again, his steps echoing through the empty halls. His mind was spinning, unable to form a coherent thought, unable to keep track of where he'd been or where he was going. All he knew was that Ebonshade was close, closer than ever, and that the apparition was enjoying every second of his panic.

At the next turn, Jamie grabbed hold of a loose metal bar jutting from a broken doorway and hurled it back into the shadows. The clang of metal against stone reverberated, the sound bouncing down the hallway. He was moving again in an instant, ignoring the faint sound of something gliding just behind him. His pulse hammered in his ears, drowning out everything else.

He rounded another corner and skidded to a halt in front of a rusted metal door. His hands shook as he grabbed the handle, yanking it open. Inside, the dim light from a single, cracked bulb cast long shadows across the room, making the walls seem to close in around him. Jamie hesitated, glancing around with wild eyes. There was no safe place—only more shadows, and that faint, mocking laugh that seemed to linger just at the edge of his hearing.

"Get away from me!" His voice broke as he backed into the room, knocking over an old stool. The stool clattered to the ground, the sound sharp and hollow, but Jamie didn't look down. He was already scanning the walls, searching for anything he could use to put more distance between him and Ebonshade.

He grabbed a piece of broken mirror lying on the floor and held it up in front of him like a shield, his hand shaking so badly that the shard glinted erratically in the dim light. For a moment, he thought he saw a movement reflected in the glass—a twisted smile hovering just behind his shoulder. He let out a choked gasp and dropped the shard, stumbling backward until his back hit the wall.

Ebonshade's laughter echoed again, closer this time. Jamie's head whipped around, his eyes darting to the shadows as he frantically backed away, his hands fumbling against the wall, searching for anything solid to ground himself. His breath came in short, panicked bursts, and his mind was a haze of confusion and fear, the edges of his vision blurring as he tried to keep himself from falling apart entirely.

He lurched back out into the hallway, his feet scuffing against the floor, leaving a chaotic trail of overturned objects in his wake. A shard of glass from the broken mirror. An old metal cup, knocked from a shelf and left spinning on the floor. Each object was abandoned, left behind as he tried to put as much space as possible between himself and that terrible, all-consuming presence that seemed to follow him through every shadow.

Jamie tripped over a loose floorboard and caught himself on a rusted pipe jutting out from the wall, his fingers gripping it so tightly that his knuckles ached. He could feel Ebonshade's presence pressing closer, as though the shadows themselves were reaching for him, wrapping around his legs, pulling him down. Desperation clawed at his mind, and he tore himself away from the wall, stumbling forward without looking back.

At last, he reached the far end of the hallway, where a narrow shaft of light cut through the darkness from a flickering bulb overhead. He collapsed against the wall, breathing heavily, his mind spinning as he glanced back down the hallway, half-expecting to see Ebonshade's twisted grin waiting for him there.

Instead, he saw Alex standing in the doorway, his face a mixture of shock and confusion as he looked at Jamie's disheveled form and the chaotic mess left in his wake.

"Jamie?" Alex's voice was hesitant, his eyes darting to the scattered shards of glass, the overturned stool, the bits of broken metal. "What… what are you doing?"

Jamie stared at him, wide-eyed, his expression one of pure, frantic desperation. He could barely catch his breath, his mind still reeling from the sense of Ebonshade's presence loitering just behind him. He opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out—only a quiet, gasping sound as he tried to steady himself.

Alex took a cautious step forward, glancing around the hallway as though trying to understand what he was seeing. "Are you… alright?"

Jamie managed a shaky nod, his gaze still darting nervously to the shadows, half-expecting Ebonshade to appear at any moment. He forced himself to breathe, his hands still trembling as he pushed himself up from the wall.

"Yeah," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "Just… needed some air."