There had been something abnormal about that energy that had wrapped around them. Not only had it felt revitalizing, but unlike what one might expect, it had been strangely peaceful, warm, almost as if it rejuvenated the soul itself.
The presence behind it had been something she’d never felt before, unnatural in a way she couldn’t quite put into words.
It intrigued her, but more importantly, it made her wonder if that entity might be someone who could help them get out of this strange place.
Because she had no idea where they even were, let alone how to leave, but the longer they stayed here, the more she felt that something terrible was bound to happen to them.
The moment the girls had gotten far enough away, two more entities seemed to begin appearing, emerging from the ground with the same unnatural violence that had given birth to the tree only moments before.
The first was a fetus. Massive, disproportionate beyond anything nature could ever have produced, its thin, translucent skin let something pulse faintly just beneath the surface, a slow, irregular beat, almost painful to look at.
Around it had formed an enormous, dense shape, dark red, like blood long since coagulated, a gelatinous mass that wrapped around the fetus like some unnatural cocoon, almost as if it were a womb that had grown outside whatever body should have contained it.
The mass moved in fits and starts, contracting and expanding with a rhythm that belonged to nothing living, and yet, despite the monstrous size of that shell, it was clear the fetus itself was its true heart.
The second entity was even harder to look at without feeling a deep, visceral unease.
A twisted, formless mass, devoid of any recognizable structure, that seemed to be literally devouring everything it touched, trees, earth, rocks, swallowing them and fusing them into its own body in a continuous, revolting process.
As it expanded, eyes began sprouting across its surface, one after another, at random points, with no symmetry at all, some enormous and bulging, others tiny and clustered together like rotting grapes.
Alongside them, mouths opened just as randomly, some toothed, others toothless but gaping in a silent scream, each one different from the last, as if that mass still hadn’t managed to decide what shape it actually wanted to take.
On the exact spot where the two girls had been standing only moments before, Seraphine’s figure appeared. Her gaze slid slowly from one entity to the other, her expression somewhat grave as she watched the three beings fully manifest across the area.
The avatar’s words came back to her, the ones it had spoken right before it started fighting Evan.
Back then, that Avatar had been strangely confident, going so far as to say that this time, they wouldn’t let her walk away alive.
When she’d asked why it was so sure of itself, it had only said that she’d find out soon enough.
She couldn’t help but wonder if this was exactly what it had meant.
’I see. So the restrictions have been lifted,’ she thought, the implications of that realization crashing through her mind one after another, too fast for her to settle on any single one.
And then, another thought pushed its way through, more insistent than all the rest.
’Could this also be connected to Evan’s sudden disappearance?’
***
The moment the surroundings changed, Evan’s perception shifted instantly. One moment he’d been in the underground cavern, and the next, he found himself in this dark, empty space, devoid of anything at all.
No light source, nothing. Nothing at all. Just absolute darkness.
"What kind of place did I end up in?" Evan muttered, trying to extend his perception, but without success. No matter what he did, he couldn’t sense anything in this place.
Just as he was wondering what else to try, something caught his attention.
Hm?
A short distance ahead of where he stood, he saw a faint light flicker, before vanishing again almost immediately.
It wasn’t intense, not nearly bright enough to illuminate this place, but it seemed to finally trigger a change here, one that eventually led to the appearance of a strange object.
’A sphere?’
Evan wondered, a bit uncertain, as his eyes settled on the object that had just appeared a few meters ahead of him.
It was a sphere slightly larger than himself, suspended above the ground, or at least what should have been the ground.
Its surface looked smooth, dark, and showed no trace of imperfection or anything else.
Just as Evan was wondering what it was, or why it had appeared out of nowhere, the sphere seemed to tremble, and thin, translucent blue windows appeared around it, each filled with strange lines of text.
Evan had no idea what those lines of text on the various panels meant, but it didn’t matter, because what he was looking at was something he knew all too well.
’Bruce?’
They were system screens.
Identical to his own, he had seen them for years, so he recognized them instantly.
As for why they had appeared here out of nowhere, Evan could only attribute it to one person.
Bruce, the system’s voice... or perhaps the system itself.
At least, that was how he had always thought of him.
However, in recent times, Bruce had rarely made himself heard. The only thing that remained was that same old, monotone mechanical voice, appearing only to provide updates about missions, kills, or other information.
Nothing else.
Now, seeing this scene, and considering his overall situation, he couldn’t help but wonder if Bruce was behind all of this. And sure enough, he’d guessed right, because a moment later those system screens seemed to stabilize, beginning to float and orbit around the sphere.
[You’re finally here]
The familiar voice of the friend who had accompanied him this whole time rang out.
Hearing it, Evan didn’t know what to say.
He had already suspected it when he saw this scene, but now that he was actually hearing the voice again, he found himself momentarily speechless.
He wasn’t sure what to say or ask, maybe it was because it had been so long since he had heard Bruce’s voice.
Or maybe it was because he knew nothing about his current situation and couldn’t even form a proper question.
In the end, he didn’t dwell on it for too long.
He simply smiled and said,
"It’s good to see you again, buddy."