world of silence

Chia and Sue, paralyzed by terror, expected the worst. Every fiber of their being screamed that the end had come, that El Silbón would tear them apart as it had done to countless victims before them. But the fatal blow never came.

Instead, the monster looked at them with those empty eyes, studying them with a disturbing intelligence. Its whistle became softer, almost melodic, as if it were savoring its victory in a different way.

With abrupt movements and without any care, El Silbón lifted them from the ground. Its claws dug forcefully into their arms and legs, leaving small cuts that burned with stinging pain. The dead limbs that had immobilized them didn't withdraw completely—instead, they coiled around their bodies with brutal pressure, squeezing just enough to leave them almost breathless.

The monster seemed to enjoy their suffering. Each time one of them tried to move or resist, its claws sank a little deeper, creating new superficial wounds that bled slowly. El Silbón tilted its head, observing them with that empty gaze while its whistle took on an almost playful tone, as if it were experimenting with how much pain it could inflict on them before taking them to their final destination.

—What... what is it doing?

Sue whispered, her voice breaking with fear and confusion, feeling the blood from a cut on her cheek sliding down her face.

El Silbón didn't respond. It simply carried them toward its sack, which lay open on the floor of the destroyed office. From that distance, they could see the interior—a dark and pulsating abyss that seemed much deeper than should be physically possible.

One by one, the monster put them inside the sack.

The moment they crossed the threshold of the torn fabric, Sue and Chia felt themselves falling. Not downward, but inward, as if the sack were a portal to a completely different space. The air became cold and dense, heavy with the nauseating smell of death and decay.

When their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the horror of their situation became completely evident.

The interior of the sack was vast, impossibly large. It wasn't simply a cloth bag—it was its own dimensional space, a mobile prison designed by forces that defied all natural logic.

And they were surrounded by corpses.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds of bodies in different states of decomposition filled the space. Some were recent, their skin still retaining some color. Others were ancient, reduced to bones and scraps of clothing. There were men, women, even children—victims of El Silbón collected over who knows how many years.

Sue felt like she was going to vomit. Chia squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the vision, but it was impossible. The horror was everywhere.

The sack began to move. They could feel the monster's steps as it walked, carrying them to some unknown destination. The movement made the corpses shift and collide with each other, producing wet sounds and bone crunches that resonated in the confined space.

—We have to get out of here.

Chia murmured, her voice barely audible over the macabre sound surrounding them.

—Our powers...

Sue responded, trying to summon her fire again. But nothing worked.

—It's not working... What do we do, Chia?

But before they could formulate a plan, they noticed something. The fabric of the sack had holes—small tears and gaps through which faint beams of light entered. Sue crawled toward one of them, ignoring the bodies she had to push aside to reach it.

What she saw through the hole made her heart stop.

The outside world had changed.

They were no longer in the city. The landscape that stretched beyond the sack was alien and terrifying. Twisted trees with bark black as coal rose toward a night sky covered with dark clouds that swirled slowly, blocking almost all the light from the pale moon that struggled to penetrate them.

And yet, there was light. A ghostly luminescence emanated from the ground itself, a sickly greenish glow that made everything seem as if it were underwater. The shadows didn't behave normally—they moved independently, writhing and sliding like living creatures.

—Chia.

Sue called, her voice trembling.

—You have to see this.

Chia crawled beside her and looked through the hole. Her face turned pale.

—Where are we?

Through another hole, they could see what El Silbón was doing. The monster walked along a path of black earth that wound between the grotesque trees. But it wasn't walking alone. Around it, other figures moved—creatures with a striking resemblance to El Silbón.

There were dozens of them, perhaps more, moving along the path and among the trees with that same unnatural grace. Some were almost identical to their captor, with threadbare hats and sacks carried on their backs. Others seemed like variations of the same horror—some taller, others with longer and more deformed limbs, but all sharing those same empty eyes and that characteristic whistle that now filled the air like a macabre chorus.

—No... it can't be.

Sue murmured, feeling the terror multiply in her chest.

—There are... there are so many...

Chia watched with growing horror as the Silbones moved in groups, some dragging their own sacks, others simply wandering with no apparent direction. It was as if they had entered the native territory of these creatures, a place where they weren't the exception but the norm.

—I thought it was just one.

Chia whispered, her voice breaking.

—Just one creature... but this... this is like an entire colony...

And ahead, visible in the distance, there was an enormous portal.

It was what the news had called a Gate—a blue portal that spun in on itself like a spiral. Sue and Chia recognized it immediately.

They had seen the news, entrances to places called "dungeons." But they never imagined they would end up being dragged through one.

—A Gate.

Chia whispered, her voice trembling as she recognized it.

—Like the ones in the news. The entrances to the dungeons...

The Silbón carrying them stopped in front of the portal, as if considering it. Sue felt a flash of hope—perhaps it would take them back.

But then, the monster turned its back on the portal and began to walk in the opposite direction.

—No, no, no...

Sue murmured, watching desperately as their only exit moved away.

After what seemed like an eternity inside the sack, Sue noticed that the light entering through the holes was changing. It was no longer just the greenish glow of the forest.

There were artificial lights. Dim, flickering.

—Chia, look.

A village emerged from the mist.

It was small, with colonial-style structures—cracked adobe walls, faded red tile roofs, rotted wooden balconies. Ancient wrought iron lanterns emitted that sickly greenish light that flickered constantly.

The village was arranged around a central plaza with a dry and cracked fountain. Disfigured angel statues surrounded it, some without wings, others with eroded faces.

But the most unsettling thing was the feeling that this place had been abandoned long ago... and then reoccupied by something that shouldn't be there.

Doors hung open at strange angles. Torn curtains moved with a non-existent breeze. And on the roofs, more Silbones perched like crows, watching with their empty eyes.

—It's like a corrupted colonial village.

Chia whispered.

El Silbón entered the village. There were bones scattered through the streets, claw marks on the walls, and in the shadows, things that crawled and watched.

El Silbón carried them toward the largest structure in the village—a colonial mansion in ruins. Its cracked walls and broken windows revealed only darkness within.

The monster crossed the threshold and advanced through corridors filled with dust-covered furniture and disfigured portraits. It stopped in front of a rusted iron door with strange symbols that glowed faintly.

Behind it, a staircase descended into darkness.

The descent seemed endless. With each step, the air became colder and denser, the smell of dampness and decomposition more intense. The walls were covered with a viscous slime that glowed in the darkness.

Finally, the staircase ended in an underground dungeon illuminated by green-flamed torches. Cells with rusted bars lined both sides, some containing desperate human prisoners, others twisted creatures that moaned in the darkness.

El Silbón stopped in front of an empty cell at the back. It opened the sack abruptly.

Sue and Chia fell onto the cold stone floor, surrounded by the corpses that had shared the sack with them. The monster pulled out the bodies one by one and stacked them in a corner like sacks of grain.

When it finished, it left the cell and closed the iron door. The bolt slid into place with a metallic click that resonated like a final sentence.

The dead limbs that bound their legs finally loosened and dissolved into a black substance that filtered through the cracks in the stone. However, the bindings on their wrists remained firm, tightening even more as if they had a life of their own.

They were partially free, but their hands were still bound by two severed hands.

Upon entering that place, the first thing that struck them was the silence.

An absolute, heavy silence that seemed to absorb even the sound of their own breathing. There were no groans from other prisoners, no echo of distant footsteps, not even the dripping of water that would normally be expected in such a damp and gloomy place.

Chia and Sue remained motionless for a moment, trying to process everything that had happened. Their minds raced at a thousand miles an hour, searching for some form of escape, some way to use their powers that they hadn't yet tried.

—We have to think.

Chia whispered, pulling at the severed hands that still imprisoned her wrists. The dead flesh felt cold and slimy, but it didn't give way.

—There has to be a way out of here before

A sound interrupted their thoughts. A long, lazy yawn that came from the adjacent cell.

Both turned their heads sharply toward the direction of the sound, their hearts racing again.

In the gloom of the neighboring cell, barely illuminated by the greenish glow of the torches, they could make out the silhouette of a man. He was leaning against the stone wall with a surprisingly relaxed posture for someone in his situation.

He wore a straw hat worn by time, and a wooden toothpick protruded from his mouth, moving slightly as he chewed it with disinterest.

The man turned his head toward them, though his eyes remained hidden beneath the shadow of the hat. However, there was something in the way he moved that suggested he knew exactly where they were, as if he had been waiting for their arrival.

—You can get comfortable.

he said with a calm and almost casual voice, as if he were commenting on the weather.

—You're going to be here for a good while.

Sue felt a chill run down her spine. The way he said it—without drama, without fear, only with resigned acceptance—was somehow more terrifying than any scream of terror.

—Who are you?

Chia asked, her voice trembling slightly but trying to maintain composure.

The man shrugged, adjusting his position against the wall without bothering to get up.

—Someone who's been here long enough to know how things work.

he replied, moving the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.

—And believe me, girls... you're not getting out anytime soon.