- ???: "I've finally found you."
The woman speaks to me in a happy, almost ecstatic tone. She seems relieved.
I can't explain it. I've never seen her before—anywhere, actually. Yet, standing there in the swirling fog, I feel like I've known her for ages. There's something so familiar about her—like a memory that's just out of reach, lingering at the edge of my mind, but too elusive to grasp.
I can't see her face properly—blurred by the fog. The only thing that stands out are her rose quartz pink eyes—burning its essence into my memory.
Her presence pulls at me, even as every instinct inside me screams to turn and run.
My heart is racing in confusion.
Who are you? Why do you act like we've met before?
I try to speak, but my mouth doesn't open—as if it was ripped off my face.
Her figure flickers like a shadow in the mist, but she stands firm. The longer I stare, the more I'm struck by how intensely familiar her presence feels—by how her eyes look at me with such affection. It's like she belongs here. Like she's always been part of this place, even though I've never seen her before.
I want to speak. I have too many questions.
I can feel the frustration in my chest, the need to understand, but the silence is suffocating.
What is this place? Where are the others?
The woman tilts her head slightly, her expression unreadable, but the softness in her gaze never wavering. Her lips, enveloped by fog, move as she finally speaks. Her voice is light, excited—like she's been waiting for this moment. For me.
- ???: "We've met before. But you won't remember."
What? Did she just—
- ???: "I promise they're safe. Oh! And so are you! I've been looking for you. For a long time."
It's almost as if she's… reading my mind?
Her voice is gentle and upbeat.
She reminds me of Lena.
I chuckle a little at the thought, but I'm instantly shot by the realization of what she just said.
You've been looking for me? I don't even know you though. Why me?
I can't convey any thoughts, nor feelings. The silence is gnawing at my mind little by little.
However, she doesn't seem bothered by any of this. In her eyes, there's something else—a kind of understanding, like she knows what I'm going through. She knows what I've faced. She knows what's ahead.
The woman steps closer and continues speaking, in a calmer, almost serious tone, a complete polar opposite of what she started off with. My chest tightens.
- ???: "This world is an endless cycle of death and misery. You will face more than you can imagine, and there will be moments when you feel like you can't go on. But please, stay strong. Your first trial isn't over yet, and the next will be even harder. You'll need to fight with everything you have."
I step forward again, now standing only a few inches from her, feeling her words settle in my chest. I want to say something, but the fog is suffocating, and my mind is clouded with questions I can't voice. Before I can process anything, she speaks again.
- ???: "I guess we're out of time. Remember these words Ayden and please keep trying. I'm sure we'll meet again. Bye bye."
Before I can react, she begins to fade, like breath in cold air, fading into nothing. Her presence lingers for a moment longer, and then, just as suddenly as she appeared, she is gone.
Then—
The fog begins to spin around me, collapsing inward. Light slashes through the mist, the tunnel walls twist back into place, and sound returns in a sudden wave: breathing, distant echoes of dripping water.
I'm back.
I stagger, my knees buckling as the pressure of everything slams into me. The ground is damp beneath my hands, and the air is thick with mildew and something metallic.
The strange peace that woman brought me is replaced by the cold of the tunnel I've become accustomed to.
- Isabella: "Ugh…"
I look to my right and see Isabella—also laying on the same wet rocks as me.
I stand up, trying to force down the immense nausea that came with this strange experience, and make my way over to her.
"Isabella! Are you ok?"
- Isabella: "…Huh? Ayden? What happened?"
Her voice is weak, barely above a whisper, and laced with confusion. She tries to sit up, but her arms shake beneath her.
I swallow hard. My stomach twists again, and I nearly collapse forward. Whatever that was… it's still clinging to me like damp air.
"I-I don't know. You disappeared. Everyone did. There was this fog, and—"
I stop. How do I even explain her?
Isabella blinks slowly. She presses a hand to her forehead.
- Isabella: "It felt like I was dreaming. Like I wasn't even here."
"Same. Except… I saw someone."
- Isabella: "Someone? Who?"
Before I can answer, I hear a groan come from deeper in the tunnel.
- Kai: "Fuckkkkkkkkk…"
We both turn toward the sound.
"Kai! Are you ok?"
I call out, pushing myself to my feet again. My knees threaten to buckle, but I manage to stay upright.
Just a few feet away, Kai is slumped against the tunnel wall, rubbing his temples. Christy is beside him, coughing harshly as she tries to sit up. Lena's curled against the opposite wall, her breathing shallow but steady. She's holding the sides of her head. Blair… I can't see her.
I move closer.
"Are you all okay?"
Kai winces.
- Kai: "Define 'okay'."
- Lena: "Ow… My head is spinning…"
Isabella speaks up from beside me, already on her feet and wobbling toward Lena.
- Isabella: "Where's Blair?"
I scan the area. The fog is gone, but the tunnel still feels dim and disorienting—like reality hasn't quite settled yet.
Then a voice cuts through the silence.
- Blair: "Behind you."
Blair approaches the rest of us, slowly but surely. There aren't any visible injuries on her and she seems fine outwardly, but I see her legs shaking a bit.
- Christy: "It looks like we're all okay. Somewhat…"
She says the last bit while looking at Kai and Lena, both still shaken from the experience.
- Christy: "We need to keep moving. Does everyone think they can move?"
- Kai: "Yeah, I'm feeling just peachyyyy. Other than the nausea and the massive headache, I'm totallyyyy fine."
- Christy: "… I'll take that as a yes."
After a few minutes, the group begins trudging forward into the tunnel once again, silence stretches between us. The weight of whatever just happened hangs heavy in the air.
We walk for a while, each step echoing with a strange hollowness.
Then, quietly—so no one else hears—Isabella leans in beside me and whispers.
- Isabella: "Ayden… that girl you mentioned. Who was she?"
I freeze for a second. Her voice is cautious, but not accusatory—genuinely concerned. I look over at her. She's watching me carefully.
"I don't know. I've never seen her before. But she acted like she knew me. Like we've met somewhere. She said I wouldn't remember."
Isabella dawns a deep frown.
- Isabella: "Did she say anything else?"
"She warned me. About this place. Said things were going to get worse. That… this isn't over."
I cut the conversation short, showing I have nothing more to say about it.
As we continue walking. she stays close to me. The others shuffle along ahead or behind, no one talking much. It's too quiet.
It's too difficult to keep track of the exact time, but it feels like hours.
And then… things start to shift.
At first it's just little things. Kai starts muttering to himself. Lena keeps glancing behind her, like she's being followed. Christy is gripping the torch so tightly her knuckles are white—or maybe it's just the lighting? Blair… Blair keeps watching me from behind.
- Kai: "None of this makes sense. We keep walking and walking, and we're no closer to getting out! What if we're just going in circles?"
- Christy: "We're not. I've been keeping track of the wall marks. We're moving forward."
- Kai: "And what if the walls are changing?"
- Blair: "They could be. Wouldn't be the strangest thing that's happened."
The group slows. Everyone's eyes start darting around more.
Christy keeps pushing forward, trying to keep us together.
- Christy: "Let's just keep moving. Don't stop."
But it's too late. Paranoia's already sinking in.
- Lena: "Someone's doing this. This whole thing. The fog. The voices. It's not natural!"
- Blair: "You're right. Someone is."
Her eyes land on me.
- Blair: "Maybe it's him."
I stop walking.
"What?"
- Blair: "You saw something, didn't you? Back there in the fog. You said it yourself. How do we know that thing didn't mess with your head?"
Shit. She must have heard me while I was talking to Isabella when we first woke up.
- Kai: "Oh, come on. Now we're blaming each other?"
Lena snaps.
- Lena: "Why not? He's the only one who came out of it looking calmer than the rest of us!"
Her voice is raised. It feels unnatural to hear her voice in that tone. She's panicking.
I shake my head.
"I'm not behind this. I don't know what's going on either!"
- Blair: "How do we know you're telling the truth?"
- Christy: "Stop it! We're not doing this. We're not turning on each other."
But they're not listening.
The shouting grows. The tunnel feels narrower. Claustrophobic. I look to Isabella—she's shaking, her hands covering her ears.
Then she breaks.
- Isabella: "Stop it! Just stop! I can't— I can't do this anymore!"
She falls to her knees, crying.
Everyone is silent, making her sobbing even louder in the cramped tunnel.
Lena is still breathing heavily from the argument. Kai looks like he's losing his mind. Blair just stares at me.
I don't know what's going on anymore. Everything was fine a few minutes ago. What happened? This feels too sudden!
I kneel beside Isabella, unsure of what to do—how to comfort her. She clutches her head, mumbling something I can't make out between her sobs. Her pain is real. All of this is.
"Isabella, it's okay. We'll get out of this."
I whisper, hoping to calm her down, even a little.
But I don't think she hears me.
Then a voice cuts through the silence.
- Blair: "This needs to end."
Her voice is cold. Focused. Everyone turns to her. She's staring straight at me, arms limp at her sides, fists slightly clenched.
"You're blaming me? You think this is my fault?"
- Blair: "You've been hiding things since the start. And I'm done pretending not to notice."
Kai steps in.
- Kai: "Blair, calm down—"
- Blair: "No. I won't calm down!"
She's yelling. I've never seen her like this. Her usual calm, emotionless tone is replaced with a panicked, almost frightened, anger. I'm at a loss for words.
She points at Isabella.
- Blair: "Look at her! She's falling apart because of him. He saw something, and now we're all losing it."
- Lena: "She's not wrong…"
"How is this my fault? I wasn't even doing anything! It's all because you guys are blaming each other. We need to just calm down and think for a second."
- Blair: "Yeah, so you can come up with more lies."
- Christy: "Enough! Both of you! We're all just shaken—he's not behind this!"
- Blair: "Then what if he's the cause without even knowing it?"
This isn't getting anywhere. What do I do?
- Kai: "I can't do this shit anymore. If it really is him at fault for this tunnel being endless, then what? We kill him and it stops?"
No one says anything. My heart is racing.
Kill me? How did it come to this? There's no way…
The tension snaps.
Christy steps forward. Slowly. Silently. Her face unreadable.
"Christy?"
She doesn't answer.
She kneels near the wall, picks something up.
A rock.
Small, jagged. Fits perfectly in her palm.
Blair's voice is like a final nail.
- Blair: "You see? Even she knows."
"No. Wait, Christy—"
I start, stumbling back, heart hammering. I'm backed into the tunnel wall.
She looks at me. Her eyes are wild—panic, confusion, anger. But above all else:
Fear.
- Christy: "I'm sorry."
The rock slams into my skull before I can react.
The pain is blinding—sharp and raw and immediate. I stumble, blood rushing down my face. There's a deafening ringing in my ears. My knees give out.
Another blow.
Then another.
My vision blurs. I see the others—frozen. Watching.
Isabella's scream is the last thing I hear before the darkness takes me.
And just like that—
I die.
Again.