>>5146339Mortimer opened his eyes. You. You opened your eyes. You were back there. The Village. The Hole. But you weren't. Not really.
H̵̙̳̟̓̓͒̃́͝e̷̢̛̘͍̦̪̽̓̃͌̚͝͝ļ̸̡̜̪̳͍̱̄͂̿̑̒l̵̨̨̠̟͈͈͑̋̓̆̉́͑Ḩ̸̳̼͖̠̠́͊̊͌̔͐͐͛o̶̺̟̼̓̆̏̒̇̊͝m̸͚̠̣̝̗̝͓͊̒̿̈́͛̑́͋e̶̜̕H̵̡͕̳̱͑̊ę̴̹̺̑́̓́͐̑l̸͇̥̮͍̬̖̖̙̓̑ļ̷̪̭̬̂́̈H̴̩̞̣̻͉̜̟̣̃͗̑̈͛͝ö̸͍́̊̚͝m̴̤̜͆̈͒ȩ̴͎̗̫̝̦̯͑͒̀̈́̾̿̃H̵͖͗̽̄͐̽̀̚͝e̵̢̧̮̘̬̻͇͑̌͗̇͘̕ļ̴̣͍͇̫̗̭̈͊̔̒l̷̖̤̟͚̖̈͗Į̸͉̮̬̘̿̑͛̍͠͝Ķ̴͔̐̇̓͑̕͠U̸̢̼̯̞̫͐͛͒R̷̨̡͕̟͓̜̎͐̇Ą̶̱͇̥̈́H̷̯̟́ͅĮ̸͉̮̬̘̿̑͛̍͠͝Ķ̴͔̐̇̓͑̕͠U̸̢̼̯̞̫͐͛͒R̷̨̡͕̟͓̜̎͐̇Ą̶̱͇̥̈́H̷̯̟́ͅShe was there. But she wasn't. Was she ever really there? Whatever this was, it wasn't you. You flexed, your mind a shield. The slime of the Core slipping away, the Umbral rust flaking away. You had escaped, whatever it was. A trap, an accident or your own self sabotage. You rendered yourself onto the core once more. Synapses sizzling. Floating within the Shell. You feel the tender tap and bump of the Phobos finally sealing shut, you feel your body shudder. Flesh held tightly by concrete and metal bindings.
Flexing again you jolted, your floating body jostled from side to side. The restraints pinning you in place, pinching you painfully. Then the hum of an extraction unit primed, you felt the switch flip and ready itself. An electrical charge growing, barely a foot away from the core. From yourself. Tasting the fear in the air, the fumes from exhausts and the grease on bolts. The vibrations of the internal comm unit starts up. By reflex you open your eyes, the internal observer module snapping into night vision and back to normal as the tarp lets only thin strands of light through. "Pilot. Status? Over."
You couldn't see her, but Yuga's voice became more stained. Breathing deeply you sat within your shell safe. Your reply escaped happier than you had expected, you failed to keep cool and collected. Instinctively routing to your external audio system and the inter-comm unit together. "Mistress! Primary Linking is Successful. Ready for Secondary Linking. Can you get this tarp off, I can't see. Over" You heard her let out a sigh of relief at your voice, snippets of background conversation slipping into your core. Yumigawa sounded very happy.
