Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The descent was never supposed to be physical.

The cult's old texts spoke of "sinking inward", of "spiraling down through the mind's eye". But Evelyn Blackmoor had no time for metaphors. The only way to reach the Eye was to climb down the well in the city's oldest district—long dry, walled off for centuries, hidden behind false walls and forgotten hymns.

The stone steps spiraled tight, slick with condensation and lined with moss that bled when touched.

The lower she went, the more reality bent.

The flame of her lantern twisted unnaturally—casting shadows that moved independently, danced, and whispered to her in broken Latin. The air was warm, as if breathless, and full of a low, rhythmic pulsing—like a heartbeat, but distant, ancient, and wrong.

When she reached the bottom, Evelyn found a vast chamber carved from obsidian. The walls were not hewn, but grown—shaped from some organic, pulsating mineral that responded to her presence. With each step, eyes bloomed on the surface like boils, blinking wetly and following her.

She whispered a warning to herself.

"Curiosity is the gate. Obsession, the key."

But she was already turning the lock.

At the center of the chamber stood a monolith, cracked open like a broken egg. Inside was the Abyss.

It didn't look like emptiness.

It was alive.

A shifting, velvet mass of colorless shadow, deeper than light could comprehend. And it watched her—with thousands of eyes, each one reflecting a different version of herself. A child. A corpse. A madwoman. A monster. A god.

"We see you," it spoke, though no mouth moved.

Evelyn dropped to her knees, lantern flickering. Her mind flooded with images: churches upside down, children with teeth instead of eyes, entire cities crumbling under celestial pressure.

"You came seeking answers. You came to question fate."

"But fate has been watching you."

She clutched her locket—her brother's picture inside. The one who vanished near the chapel ruins. The one who spoke in tongues before disappearing. She had come to learn the truth.

"He was chosen," the Abyss answered, reading her thoughts. "Just as you are now."

The eyes multiplied, surrounding her, crawling up the stone, down from the ceiling, staring through flesh, through time. Her thoughts were no longer her own. Her memories were tasted and judged. Regrets pried open like rotting fruit.

Evelyn screamed.

And in that scream, she saw—

The city above was a dream layered on top of bones. The people were echoes. The stars were cages. And beneath it all… this abyss, this sentient void, had been watching since the first breath was drawn.

"You are seen," the Abyss whispered.

"You will never be alone again."

When she awoke, she was back at the well, coughing up black water.

But her eyes were no longer hers.

They blinked in different rhythms.

They reflected things not yet born.

And when she looked into a mirror, she saw not her reflection…

…but the Abyss staring back.