“My name’s Sam…26 years old…archaeologist…here on…here on…what…”

The frail human sighed in frustration as they stumbled through the pitch black sand filled ruins, the only thing illuminating their path being the torch held in their shivering hands. They could barely recall the reason for being in here as they clutched at their ill fitting clothes for dear life, each step a struggle as the oversized boots that protected their dainty feet threatened to trip them over as he fought a mental battle with unseen forces, trying to keep his mind intact as memories began to slip away in the darkness. Becoming increasingly unsure of his own identity as his body too, began to give in to the mental assault the darkness bore down around him, smokey tendrils lashing out wherever his torch couldn't reach, each lick taking more and more of himself away from Sam.

He wasn’t sure how much longer he could go on until he stopped resisting entirely, already finding the idea of giving in and turning off the only thing keeping the shadows at bay more appealing rather than trying to find his way outside. Stumbling on the cuffs of his heavy trousers, Sam fell forward as he flew out of his boots, landing with a thud and a loud crack as his lamp broke on contact with the solid sandstone floor, the pants slipping off of him to reveal his slim legs, devoid of muscle as the smoky darkness closed in with the loss of his lamp, swarming the exposed skin as it began to grow shapely and slender, the skin turning a natural chocolate brown and healing itself of its bruises and calluses.

Whipping out the lighter he still had on his chest pocket to bring some measure of light back to the chamber, the living shadows retreated back into the darkness. Sam could only choke back a cry as he eyed his changed lower half.

“My name’s…Sam…archaeologist…is that my…voice? It was supposed to be deeper before…wasn’t it?”

Just a few minutes ago, Sam had been a regular American man in his mid-twenties. A prodigal college graduate who had a gift for archaeology who earned a spot in an expedition team consisting of him, his friend Todd and a whole host of other like minded individuals who would be travelling out somewhere in the vast stretches of Egypt’s desert lands to excavate and study a newly discovered ruin suspected to be a temple of sorts.

Arriving with their heads held high, the team got to work almost immediately, carefully removing the caved-in entrance to access what looked to be the first floor of the underground structure. Not wanting to risk it, they had settled on a full expedition the next day, going to sleep with high hopes and excitement building.

That was when it happened.

Separated from his team after a mechanism had been triggered that blocked off the passageway between him and the rest of the expedition including Todd, Sam was on his own until he could find a way to link up with the others. Seeing no other way out but forward, Sam had pressed on, thankful for the place being built like a singular tunnel with no divergent paths to pick and choose from.

And with the bag around his shoulder containing some rations, water and supplies to make a fire with, he was confident he could last a day or two trapped here if he couldn’t make it back to the others.

A few minutes in however, Sam had begun to notice something unnatural about the place, the darkness was…too dark. Even with the supposed heavy duty LED torch in hand that he’d seen capable of lighting up a sizable portion of the night time desert, it was barely enough to light up a small portion of the corridor, the gradual transition from light to darkness missing at the periphery of the torch’s range. Instead, cutting off sharply into pitch black darkness as if it was a solid wall.

Not to mention he had been growing unusually fatigued extremely fast, making sure to train and run daily for when the need arose for physical strength and endurance in situations like these. He had only gone past five corridors of sandstone brick and carvings before feeling like he’d run a marathon, dropping the bag on his shoulders that had begun to weigh like a sack of bricks before noticing how his clothes seemed airy, like they were too big for him as he turned off the torch on accident…

With his torch lowered and powered off, Sam was assaulted in the dark as he felt something cold wrap around his neck, forcing an oddly high pitched cry out of him as his panicked fingers landed on the trigger again, illuminating his surroundings again as his eyes caught a glimpse of tentacles escaping back into the pitch black darkness…his bag in tow.

By the time he had rushed to grab ahold of the last trace of the handle still sticking out of the dark, his hand came free with that meager prize, the rest of the bag seemingly devoured and torn off. Feeling that same ice cold touch graze his back through the clothes as he whipped his torch around in fear, seeing another tendril retreating back where it had come from.

From then on it was a game of reaction speed, Sam’s mind on adrenaline as he moved rapidly from corridor to corridor, room to room, whipping the torch around like a madman to keep the dark at bay as he ran further and further down the seemingly endless corridor, no other way out but forward.

On the inside, Sam’s mind was racing with panic and fear; about what those tentacles were, what they had done to him, and why he couldn’t remember anything about his childhood as his mind raced about the near death experience he assumed he had survived, struggling to remember the faces of his parents and loved ones as he tried to imagine what would’ve happened if he hadn't turned on the torch back there.

After another few brush strokes against his back, Sam couldn’t even remember where he’d graduated from. A University? College? What even was that? Soon, he wouldn’t even remember worrying about those as the ability to rapidly break down complex equations in his mind and process information was lost with it.

Eventually, what little remained of his vastly reduced stamina left him after the first assault, his speedy run reduced to an unsteady shuffle as his arms and legs began to feel like lead, his reaction speed slowing as the tendrils got braver, lashing out in quick whip like strokes at their prey, taking more of his memory with them as his body too, began to change further and further, leaving Sam looking more and more like a teenaged boy as his muscular form was sapped and drained away with each strike of the shadowy limbs, the stubble around his rapidly slimming chin vanishing entirely

Pressing on, Sam had begun to recite the things most important to him as he continued to run while doing his best to keep the shadows at bay, muttering rapidly under his breath, mind rife with fear about losing more to the darkness.

Leading back to his current predicament. He had finally been worn down, drained of his masculinity and mental fortitude to the point where he had begun to doubt his own words. Having lost track of almost three-quarters of his life as he’d stopped worrying about what to tell his family and friends if he never made it out or his fiance waiting for him back in Canada.

After all, what was there to recall or worry for when there was not a trace of them left inside his rapidly emptying head?

By the time he’d realized what the darkness was doing to him as he felt the full weight of it bear down on him without the light to hold it back, Sam was already on the verge of giving out to the heavy fog beginning to fill his mind…

Do you give in to whatever fate awaits? or try to resist?