The Night That Never Ends*

** Chapter 3: The Price of Immortality **

Molly's consciousness gradually returned, accompanied by a throbbing pain in the temples and a sharp buzz in the ears. His body was stuck in a cold metal chair, handcuffs cutting his wrists. The smell of antiseptic and burned meat made her choke. When her eyes fit into the flashing fluorescent light, she saw where she was: a decaying operating room with black plastic walls spotted brown spots. In front of you, a steel table with surgical instruments arranged in accurate order, long needles and vials of turbid liquid.

*"You woke up."*

Dr. Vorstaan's voice came from a dark corner of the room. He emerged like a shadow, his immaculate white coat contrasting with the darkness around. His face was a scar mask, as if it had been dismantled and reassembled numerous times. In the eyes, a green -green mist was pulsed in the light.

* "Where is Ayman?"* Molly tried to break free, but the handcuffs just tightened more.

Vorstaan laughed, a dry and mechanical sound. *"Your brother ... Oh, yes. He was one of our best subjects. He resisted for weeks. He even started*understand*."*The doctor walked to the table, taking a syringe full of black liquid that seemed to move on his own. *"But you, Molly, you are special. It came to us. As a*volunteer*."**

Before she could react, the needle penetrated her neck. The liquid burned as fire, spreading through its veins. Molly shouted, but the sound was drowned out by a wave of visions -*twisted bodies, surgeries without anesthesia, patients being fed with human flesh in rituals under the symbol of the triangular eye.*

*"The Lazarus Protocol is not about death,"*vorstaan whispered, while Molly saw scenes of doctors injecting substances into corpses-*and the corpses getting up.**"It is about transcending the flesh.

The pain decreased, leaving Molly Trêbula. She realized then: her camera was mounted on a tripod, recording everything. *They wanted the world to see.*

* "Why don't they kill me soon?"* She spit the words, feeling the black liquid run in her blood.

Vorstaan tilted his head, almost compassionate. *"Death is easy. What we do here is*Liberation*. Your brother ... He is not yet complete. But you will see."*

A wall monitor suddenly turned on, showing security cameras images. On the screen, Ayman -*or what had left him* - was chained in a cell. Half of his face was covered by a pulsating mass of black fabric, tentacles writhing under the skin. His only human eye set himself on the camera, and he shouted: *"Molly, don't let them-" * *

The image cut.

* "The final phase is painful,"* Vorstaan commented, adjusting surgical gloves. *"But necessary. You will help Ayman accept your destination.*Being part of it*."**

The living room door opened with a creak. Two men in rusty uniforms dragged a figure inward -*no, a creature*—Correnteed. It was humanoid, but her legs ended in hooves, and her mouth stretched to her ears, full of seriled teeth. The creature growled, fixing Molly with eyes that shone like Vorstaan's.

* "This is the result of stage 5,"* the doctor said, caressing the creature's head like a dog. *"An anomalous*. Unable to die, even if they want. They hunt the subjects who try to escape ... and bring them back."*

Molly felt fear turning into anger. *"This is not science. It's crazy!"**

Vorstaan smiled. *"Madness? All you have seen so far are*side effects*. The real goal is beyond."*He pointed to a symbol painted on the floor: the triangular eye, surrounded by runes. *"The altar of perfection is not here. It is*below us*, where Ravencroft's first doctors found ...*He*."*

The creature suddenly began to debate, howling as if in agony. Vorstaan seemed disturbed for the first time. *"He feels the presence of the devouring*. Until the anomalous fear."**

The floor trembled. From the bowels of the hospital, an ancestral roar echoed, making the lights blink. Molly took advantage of chaos: with a force she didn't know, she broke the handcuffs weakened by the injected substance. Vorstaan shouted orders, but she was already running, grabbing the camera and a rusty key from the table.

The corridors were in pandemonium. Resting sirens mingled with shouts. Doors beat, and in the shadows, figures dragged on -*deformed, crazy doctors, and worse*. Molly ran toward the descendants, following the map she turned in the previous chapter. *The altar of perfection. If there was evidence, they would be there.*

Underground, the air was cold and heavy. The camera captured greenish mists hanging over black puddles. On the walls, ancient Scriptures detailed rituals -*mass sacrifices, invocations*. And then she found: a colossal chamber, with an arched stone portal in the center. On it, a sculpture of a triangular eye, pulsating like a heart.

But what made her stop was what was * arrested * to the portal.

Bodies.

Dozens of them, sewn each other in a chain of flesh, forming a circle around the altar. In the center, a corpse wearing a medical uniform from the 50s -*the founder of Ravencroft* - was open an open book with the scheduled page:*"The flesh and dream devourer will be released when the spiral is completed."**

A moan behind her. Molly turned, illuminating with the flashlight ... *ayman *.

Half of his body was unrecognizable - Lights replaced his left arm, and his face was a mixture of horror and sadness. * "Kill me,"* He whispered, a double voice coming out of his throat. *"Before he uses me to find you."*

Molly retreated, but Ayman advanced, too fast. Her human hand grabbed her wrist, and in her palm she saw something hidden - a memory card. *His recordings.*

* "Take ... and run,"* He forced the words, his body writhing as if he struggled against something internal. *"He is coming. He -"*

The roar came back, stronger. The walls bleed, and the shadows behind Ayman, * something * has moved - a mass inform of mouths, eyes and twisted limbs, wrapped in black mist. *The devouring.*

Ayman released a inhuman scream and attacked Molly, but not to hurt her-to push it * away. She fell into a service tunnel, the hatch closing as she saw her brother swallowed by the mist, her screams turning into disturbing laughs.

Molly tried the tunnel, holding the memory card as a talisman. The camera still recorded, capturing his bloody face and the last whispered words:

*"I'm underground. They don't know I got here. If you can't leave ... at least the world will see. Ayman, I feel a lot -"*

A violent impact shook the tunnel. On the other side of the hatch, something * big * dragged toward her.

*End of Chapter 3.*