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You stepped forward, smiling.
Pain tore through your foot, crawling up your leg. The world warped. You stumbled, catching yourself on one knee. The smell hit you next. Rot, metallic and sour. Cerise’s limp form was still slumped against your shoulder. The bright room was gone. Only the pale, flickering blue light of the hallway remained.
You felt something cold fall down from your eyes. Tears. Of course, who wouldn’t feel sad when shown what they have lost?
At least no one was here to see.
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The hallucinations grew stranger after that. Surreal. Unreal. Eyes sprouting from the walls, Grimm twirling in grotesque dances with each other, a war waged between humans and faunus under a rain of cakes. Ridiculous, but useful. The absurdity made them easier to break. Easier to recognize for what they were.
Still, Cerise needed help. She was still breathing, but it was shallow. You couldn’t stop now. Someone in this place, someone alive, might still be able to help.
Then another vision came. One from long ago, your early days as a licensed Huntress. You remembered the lake, the ripples on the surface, Grimm silhouettes far away. Your bow was drawn, your eyes aiming at them.
Instinct told you to fire. You wanted to let loose.
You didn’t.
“This isn’t real.” you whispered to yourself again.
The image slowly faded.
It was brief this time. Faint. Manageable. You were learning. Whether your body was building resistance to some airborne hallucinogen or your mind was adapting, you couldn’t tell. But you’d take the progress.
Forward. Always forward.
You turned the corner.
Three doors stood ahead, massive, metal, split open like paper. Each one at least five feet thick, layers of reinforced alloys and wiring torn apart by something unknown. The edges shimmered faintly, carved runes, cracked and dim.
And beyond the last door… a room. Large. Cold. Silent.
You moved closer, a slow, deliberate pace. The air changed. A low hum. Then the sound of wings. Flies, dozens, hundreds, drifted past you, not hostile, just... passing. They circled once, drawn to the iron stink of your hands before continuing into the chamber. Maybe they weren’t real. Maybe they were another hallucination.
Inside, you saw something… peculiar.
People. Standing still. A group of scientists, their white coats shredded and stained. Torn flesh, open wounds, none of them bleeding. Their faces blank, fixed upward towards a metal cage suspended from the ceiling.
The ground below it glittered with shards of shattered glass, the remains of a containment dome. The cage itself hung open, heavy metal bars bent outward.
Then you looked up again.
Someone was there, inside.
A girl, small, frail, her body draped in white restraint cloth. Long hair fell over her shoulders. One eye covered by a bandage, the other glimmering a dim silver. She stared down at you from inside the broken cage, her legs dangling lazily between the bars.
