Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

Chapter 385: The Final Call [2]

I didn’t move my head at all.

I… couldn’t move my head at all.

Feeling the warm breath against my neck, it was like being dragged into the deepest part of the ocean, lungs tight, air slipping away, every sound swallowed by the pressure around me.

I felt completely suffocated.

’W-who? Who… is standing behind me?’

Whatever it was, I could feel a sinister energy coming from it.

It was far more sinister than anything I had ever encountered, and every second that passed felt as though it dragged on for hours.

Before I knew it, my clothes were entirely soaked in my sweat.

To make matters even worse, I could hardly feel my summons at all. Mirelle, Mr. Jingles, the Realmwalker, and even the Conductor.

I couldn’t feel anything.

’W-what… H-how?’

I was in a state of complete shock.

A sense of helplessness I had never felt before washed over me as the warm breath brushed against the back of my neck once more, causing me to freeze.

But then—

“…..”

As though it had never been there in the first place, the breath vanished, and the heavy tension that lingered in the room faded completely.

Despite this, I kept my eyes locked ahead.

I didn’t dare turn my head.

Tik Tok—!

The tick of the clock continued to echo across the room, every ’tick’ matching the rhythm of my heart as I tried to calm it down.

However, despite a good time passing, my heart never calmed down.

It only increased.

My chest trembled, and so did my lips.

Soon, however, I started to feel my connection with the others resurface, and that was when I finally mustered up the courage to look around, turning my head slowly and feeling each movement incredibly stiff.

“…..!”

My stomach churned the moment I turned around and caught sight of what was on the blank wall behind me.

Marked in fresh ’red’ paint, I saw a sigil.

It was one that I had seen in the past, or at least parts of it.

A circle framed the entire thing, rough and uneven, with two lines cutting through the center; one vertical, one bent slightly to the left.

Small hooks branched off the lower edge, curling inward like they were reaching for something. Near the top, a pair of thin arcs crossed over one another, almost forming eyes, though not quite.

It was hard to describe, but the moment I caught sight of the Sigil, it was as if something in my mind clicked.

Something… within me started to churn.

“…..!?”

I felt a sudden throb coming from my mind.

“Argh!”

Pain, unlike anything I had ever felt before, invaded every corner of my mind, causing my vision to go white for a split second.

“Argghh!!”

Despite my best attempts at trying to hold my voice, I found myself unable to.

The pain was intense.

…It took over every corner of my mind, and left me completely breathless.

Clank!

I started to knock things off the table, my hands reaching out for my head.

’Hurts. Hurts. It hurts…!’

I didn’t know what was going on, but I could hardly process my own thoughts; the only thing that was consuming my mind was the pain that had suddenly taken over me.

’Hurts…! Hurts!’

All I felt was pain.

All I saw was white.

I could hardly process what was around me as I continued to knock everything that was around me, and just when I thought the pain had reached a point where I could hardly contain it, something flashed in my mind.

An image.

Scribble~ Scribble~

A book.

A pen writing on the book.

From a circle to the strange patterns.

’….!’

Despite the pain, I could recognize the patterns almost immediately.

That’s…

’Please help me. Help me, please.’

A voice whispered in the air.

A voice that I was all too familiar with.

My… voice.

’I can’t… live like this anymore. I beseech you, Da■■■■■■■! Help me!’

“Haaaaaaaa—!”

A scream ripped through my lungs, and everything faded at once.

“Haa… Haa… Haaa.”

By the time I regained my bearings, I found myself back in my own office, the entire place a mess as I sat alone, sweat pooling down my forehead.

“W-What…”

Looking back, the sigil was gone.

It was almost as if it had never been there in the first place, and as I looked at the door, I didn’t see anyone moving towards it.

I was… almost sure I had caused a lot of noise.

Did no one notice?

“No.. haa… That’s not… haa… what’s important.”

Reaching for my drawer, I rummaged through the mess that it was before pulling out a certain pill box. Popping the contents in my mouth, I finally started to feel better as I leaned back against the chair, feeling all the energy drain away from me.

For the first time in a while, the surroundings fell silent.

“…..”

I sat in a daze, blankly staring at the ceiling.

Despite the wall being black, I could see a certain sigil on the blank wall. It was as if my mind was reconstructing the image, making sure that I wouldn’t forget it.

’What.. was that?’

I thought back to the Sigil and vision that I had just experienced.

That… it felt like some sort of distant past. That voice was also mine, but why…? Why couldn’t I recall a single thing?

’I know that’s me, but I don’t ever remember doing something like that. Something is not adding up.’

Could my memory of that incident have been erased?

And what was the last sentence?

It was blacked out, but I could distinctly make out the first two words.

Da…

A name of sorts?

Despite the heavy throbbing of my mind, I still managed to force myself to reach for my phone and type out everything that I knew into the browser.

[71, Name, starts with Da…]

I tried to put everything that I knew and had found out. I even went as far as drawing the sigil by hand and using a reverse image search to get something.

But—

“Nothing.”

I wasn’t able to find a single thing.

“Is there really nothing?”

I tried again, but the result was the same. There was nothing that I could find on the web that was even closely related to the things that I wanted to find out.

I tried a couple of dozen more times, even going as far as using the Guild Database, but despite doing everything within my power, I wasn’t able to find anything at all.

Sitting blankly in my seat, I looked at my phone.

A certain thought popped into my mind.

“Should I… ask the Guild Master?”

I hadn’t been in much contact with the Guild Master ever since he had helped me evolve my Dreamwalker into a Realmwalker. He seemed to have understood my current predicament with my game and had left me alone.

But…

’Is it possible for me to ask him?’

I knew the answer at heart.

Yes, it was possible.

However, I also knew that asking wouldn’t come cheap.

There was a price in asking, and I wasn’t so sure I was willing to pay it.

But then again, I was that desperate.

After all..

This seemed to be the greatest clue I had received regarding the reason behind the sudden shift in the world and the truth behind everything.

“Haa.”

I let out a long breath, covering my face with both hands.

“What should I do?”