The silence was the first thing she noticed.
It wasn't peaceful. It felt wrong. Dense. Like sound had been drained from the world completely, leaving only pressure in its place.
She opened her eyes slowly. Above her, the ceiling pulsed faintly with blue-white light, threaded through black roots that twisted like veins. She lay curled inside a cracked shell—half-stone, half-organic. Damp, cold, still breathing.
She pushed herself upright. Her limbs were sluggish, like they didn't quite belong to her.
There was nothing in her head. No memories. No name. Just breath, weight, cold air.
She slid down from the cocoon and stepped onto the wet stone. Her bare feet landed in shallow water that rippled with each cautious step. The floor was uneven. The walls were cracked, layered in pulsing root systems. Pieces of strange machinery and bone jutted out from the surfaces like the remains of something ancient and long-dead.
There were no sounds. No animals. No wind. Just the low, almost imperceptible hum of the place.
She moved through the corridor slowly. Ahead, a shard of something reflective was lodged in the wall.
Drawn to it, she stepped closer and leaned in.
Her face stared back. Pale. Blank. Her left eye looked slightly off. There was a thin, almost invisible film over it that shimmered faintly in the cold light. She blinked. It didn't go away.
She touched the corner of her eye, but nothing came away.
There was a soft sting—brief, dull. She turned from the shard and kept walking.
She stayed low to the ground, careful with each movement. Every part of this place felt wrong, like it was holding its breath.
Then something broke the silence.
A distant sound. Metal scraping against stone.
She froze. Listened. There it was again. Louder this time. Movement. A voice.
Someone was nearby.
She crept toward it, sticking close to the walls. The sound echoed unnaturally, warped by the narrow tunnels and thick air. But it was clear enough. Someone else was alive.
She reached the end of a branching hallway and peered around the corner.
A girl stood there, she looked to be about the same age, maybe a bit older, dragging a chain with thick metal cuffs on her wrists. Her hair was tangled and tied back loosely, she was built like an athlete, broad shoulders, tall, and seemed strong, She looked tense, wide-eyed, searching the dark. She called out again. No response.
The girl didn't try to hide. She moved like someone who didn't care what found her.
She hesitated, then stepped into view.
The girl turned fast, raising her fists, wielding the thick metal chains. "You real?"
She nodded once. "Yes."
"You sure?"
She thought about responding sarcastically, but then nodded again anyway.
The girl lowered her hands a little, arms growing weak from the weight. "Well... you don't look like the walls, at least."
They stood there, saying nothing. Studying each other.
Then something shifted.
A faint white symbol appeared, glowing across her collarbone. At the same time, a soft blue mark surfaced across the other girl's right hand.
"Connection Established, Please Begin Ascent." a loud voice rang painfully out not around them but in. they both falter.
The ground beneath them rumbled. Roots peeled away from the stone ahead, revealing a narrow path that hadn't been there before.
Neither of them moved.
Then she stepped forward.
The girl followed without speaking.
They entered the new corridor, quiet now. At the end waited a platform, circular and carved from bone and smooth black stone. As they stepped onto it, it began to rise.
She stared straight ahead.
Her eye stung once, faintly. She ignored it.
The other girl rubbed her arm and kept her head down.
They didn't speak.
They didn't look at each other.
The elevator rose into the dark.