Je's footsteps echoed too loudly in the abandoned hall. Each sound was swallowed almost instantly, as though the air itself refused to carry them far. Shadows clung to the ceiling, dripping down like strands of tar, coiling and uncoiling in patterns his eyes could not follow.
[System Alert: Location — Unclassified. Mapping unavailable.]
He exhaled, watching his breath rise in unnatural swirls before dissolving. The walls were inscribed with jagged symbols, each one glowing faintly — not with light, but with the memory of light. When he blinked, they rearranged themselves.
> "…do you hear it?"
The voice came from nowhere, and yet it was inside his ear.
He turned sharply, summoning the faint ripple of energy he could still control. "Who's there?"
Silence. Then, so close it was as if it were whispering against his skin—
> "The others are already moving."
[System Warning: Unknown Entity — Caution Level Beyond Maximum.]
The air thickened. His heartbeat slowed, not from calm but because something else was controlling its rhythm. His limbs felt distant, as though his body had been loaned to him only temporarily.
Through the haze, Je glimpsed an outline — tall, draped in layered robes that shifted like smoke, face hidden beneath an ornate mask. Its presence was older than language.
"You…" Je breathed, his voice trembling despite him. "You're not supposed to be here."
> "Neither are you."
The figure's head tilted, and the symbols on the walls began to burn.
[System Override Attempt Detected.]
[Locking user consciousness…]
The last thing Je saw before blackness was the mask's mouthless grin.
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