The deeper we ventured into the forest, the more the air around us felt heavy, as if we were stepping into a forgotten world. Ang mga puno ay parang mga matandang saksi sa mga nangyari dito, at ang mga sanga nila ay nag-uukit ng mga anino sa malamlam na liwanag. It felt like we were being pulled towards something... something that we couldn’t avoid, no matter how much we tried.
Elias led the way, his pace unwavering despite the growing tension. His eyes never left the path ahead, his hand firmly gripping the map that seemed to pulse with some kind of energy. I kept my distance, my mind racing, trying to understand what was really happening. Hindi ko pa rin maintindihan kung bakit ako kasama sa lahat ng ito. Ang map na tinutukoy ni Elias, at ang mga sugat sa katawan ko—lahat ng ito ay may koneksyon sa kung anong nangyari sa mundong ito, pero hindi ko pa rin alam kung paano.
Finally, we reached a clearing, and there it was—an old facility, hidden deep within the forest. It was a stark contrast to the natural beauty surrounding it. The building was towering, made of dark metal and glass that had long since decayed, its edges overtaken by thick vines and moss. The air around it felt charged, almost like the facility itself was alive, waiting.
Elias didn’t hesitate. He moved forward, his eyes scanning the structure for any sign of life or danger. I followed closely behind, my breath catching as we approached the entrance. It was a huge metal door, rusted and overgrown, but there was no mistaking the symbol etched into it.
The same symbol.
The same markings that were on my skin. My heart skipped a beat as I took a step back, feeling the weight of the memory pressing down on me. Elias noticed my hesitation and turned toward me.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice softer now, but there was an edge to it—like he was starting to understand just how much this was affecting me.
I nodded, trying to steady my breathing. “I’m fine.”
But I wasn’t. My chest felt tight, and I could hear the sound of my own heartbeat in my ears. I wanted to back away, to run, but something inside me—some part of me—urged me forward.
We stepped inside.
The air was cold, stale, and the faint smell of rust and machinery filled my nostrils. The walls of the facility were lined with old equipment, abandoned monitors, and broken consoles. Some machines were still connected to power, their screens flickering dimly. The entire place seemed frozen in time, like it had been abandoned for years, maybe decades. Yet, there was something about it that felt... familiar.
I walked past a row of machines, my eyes scanning the broken devices. As I moved deeper into the facility, I felt a strange tug—a pull in my chest, as if something was calling to me from within the building. My feet moved on their own, drawing me closer to the center of the room where a large metallic door stood, slightly ajar.
“Liora,” Elias’s voice broke through the fog in my mind. “Wait.”
But it was too late. I had already pushed the door open.
Inside was a dark room, but as my eyes adjusted, I saw something that made my breath catch. The walls were covered in strange symbols—symbols that mirrored the scars on my body. My fingers instinctively reached for the mark on my wrist, tracing the pattern that had been burned into my skin. The same symbol was etched all over the walls, and my pulse quickened as the memories started to flood back.
I was here. I was part of this.
“Liora,” Elias whispered, stepping closer to me. “What is this place?”
I couldn’t answer him. I was too consumed by the images flashing before my eyes—images that felt like they belonged to someone else but were undeniably mine.
I saw myself. A younger version of me, standing in a sterile lab, surrounded by people in white coats. I was arguing with someone—another scientist, maybe? They were angry, shouting about shutting down the experiment. “We can’t stop it now,” I remembered myself saying. “We’re too close. We’ll finish it.”
But then everything shifted. The images blurred, and I saw flashes of destruction—chaos, fire, screams. The world collapsing. I felt it—felt the power of the experiment breaking free, tearing apart everything.
And then—darkness.
My body jerked, and I gasped, my hand flying to my head as the memory faded. I felt dizzy, disoriented. Ang lahat ng nararamdaman ko ay parang mga piraso ng isang sirang salamin na mahirap buuin. The fragments of my past were scattered, and I couldn’t piece them together. Hindi ko kayang intindihin ang mga alaala ko. But I knew one thing—this facility, this place, it was the epicenter. It was where everything had started.
Elias was at my side, his hand on my shoulder. “What happened?” he asked urgently.
“I was here,” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “I... I was part of the experiment. This is where it all began.”
Elias’s eyes widened, but before he could say anything, a loud sound echoed through the facility. A door slammed shut, followed by the sound of something heavy moving—shuffling footsteps.
I froze. The Faded.
They were here.
Elias grabbed my arm. “We need to go. Now.”
But it was too late. The shadows at the far end of the room began to shift, and I knew—without a doubt—that they weren’t alone.
Something else was in the building. Something far worse than the Faded.
As I turned to flee, the door slammed shut behind us, trapping us inside.
“Liora!” Elias shouted, but I was already running, my heart pounding in my chest. The memories were still swirling, but they were no longer my biggest concern.
Something was hunting us.
And it was closing in fast.
We sprinted through the narrow hallways, the sounds of shuffling footsteps growing louder with every passing second. The facility felt like it was alive, its metallic walls reverberating with each echo of our footsteps, and I could almost feel the weight of its history pressing down on me, suffocating me.
“Liora, we need to find a way out!” Elias’s voice was urgent, but there was panic creeping into it. I could hear it in the way he gritted his teeth, the fear that he was trying so hard to hide.
I didn’t answer. My mind was too preoccupied with the memories that were still clawing at the edges of my consciousness. Those images—of the lab, of the experiment, of the destruction—I could still feel them as if they were happening all over again, like they were being burned into my mind with every step I took.
“Liora!” Elias called again, snapping me out of the haze. “We need to keep moving!”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw shadows flickering in the hallway behind us—shapes that didn’t belong. The Faded. They were getting closer.
I turned back to Elias, trying to steady my breath. “We have to find a way out,” I muttered, more to myself than to him. “There’s got to be another exit.”
We turned a corner, and I stopped dead in my tracks. At the end of the hallway, the lights flickered weakly, casting long, twisted shadows on the walls. The air felt thicker here—heavy with the scent of old machinery and decay. But it wasn’t the environment that made my blood run cold.
It was the figure standing in the center of the hallway.
A woman. Pale, her features obscured by shadows, but her eyes—those eyes—burned with an intensity that I couldn’t escape. There was something familiar about her, something hauntingly so. Her long, dark hair moved as if it had a life of its own, the edges trailing like tendrils of smoke in the dim light.
“Liora…” her voice was soft, but it sent chills crawling up my spine. “It’s time.”
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. My body felt frozen in place, caught between the terror of the Faded closing in and the strange familiarity of the woman before me. I wanted to scream, to fight, to run—anything—but the words wouldn’t come.
“Who are you?” Elias’s voice was hoarse, but there was a hint of recognition there, too. He knew her—he had to.
The woman’s lips curled into a slight, knowing smile, and then she spoke again, her voice carrying an edge of finality.
“You’ve been running from the truth, Liora. But there is no escape from it. Not anymore.”
And just as quickly as she appeared, she stepped back into the shadows, vanishing as if she had never been there.
I could feel the breath in my lungs catch in my throat as a chill ran through me. Elias’s grip on my arm tightened, but I barely noticed. My heart was pounding in my chest, and the room felt like it was closing in on me. I didn’t understand. What was that? Who was she?
Before I could ask Elias, the sound of dragging feet reached my ears. The Faded were almost upon us.
“Move!” Elias pulled me back into motion, but I couldn’t shake the image of the woman from my mind. The weight of her words echoed through my head: It’s time.
Was it time to face the truth? The truth of the experiment? Of the collapse?
Or was it time for something far worse?
I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything anymore.
But as we rounded another corner, I felt it—the air thickening again, a heavy presence in the room. The Faded were closing in from all sides now, their guttural groans echoing like a death march, their relentless pursuit pushing me forward, pushing us toward the inevitable.
And then, in the distance, a faint, cold light flickered in the darkness.
It was coming from the farthest room, the one I hadn’t noticed before. The one that seemed to pulse with the same energy as the symbols on my body.
Elias’s grip on my arm tightened. “Liora, no—don’t go in there. We can’t—”
But it was too late. My legs moved on their own, drawn toward the light, drawn toward the source of my memories. As I reached for the door, I heard the Faded behind us, their footsteps now deafening, and I knew—without a shadow of a doubt—that we were about to face something that neither of us was ready for.
The door swung open with a screech, and my heart stopped.
Inside was a large chamber, but it wasn’t what I had expected. The walls were lined with rows of pods—human-sized, lifeless. And in the center of the room, a single figure stood. A man.
A man who looked just like Elias.
My breath hitched, my vision blurring. Was this another hallucination? Or was this the truth I’d been running from?
The man’s eyes locked onto mine, his gaze piercing through me like he knew everything about me—like he had been waiting for me all along.
And then, before I could react, the lights flickered one last time, and the door slammed shut behind me. The Faded were right outside, their claws scraping against the metal.
I was trapped.
But it was the man’s next words that froze me to the core:
“Liora… it’s time. The world must end again.”