Chapter 58
Dax stood on Level 0 of his backrooms, surrounded by countless vile creatures of his own design. Twisted shapes lurked in the dim, flickering light—hulking silhouettes with too many limbs, eyeless faces that stared without seeing, and forms that seemed to shift and blur at the edges when looked at directly.
The air hung heavy with the low, constant hum of containment fields, mixed with the faint metallic tang of blood and the sharp bite of ozone.
Shadows clung to every corner, and the distant drip of something wet echoed irregularly through the vast space.
At the very center of the chamber rose a massive cylindrical container of reinforced transparent material, thick enough to withstand catastrophic force. Inside it, curled into a tight fetal ball with knees drawn to his chest and arms wrapped around his head, sat Kakarai. His body trembled in small, involuntary spasms; pale skin glistened with a thin sheen of sweat that caught the cold overhead lights.
