Every step that Arin took down the chipped tiles of this ghastly structure echoed, heaved with a weighty atmosphere carrying a tinny metallic taste, and with stillness, save for the creaks that came from afar. He firmly clutched in his hands the map to indicate the directions for the very first marked target: The Council Building. Yet, somehow, Arin couldn't let the thought settle just right in his head.
And then, of course, the entire incident with the man replayed itself in his mind: words spoken in stuttering tones and jittery feelings of the man seeming so real, yet all wrong. Arin was not about to let his defenses down, not when everything here screamed the word 'deceit'.
"Trust isn't free, buddy," Arin muttered under his breath, his jaw setting in stone. He was not going to be dictated by someone else's desperation.
The next corridor went down, disappeared in darkness; flickering lights overhead cast macabre shadows. Arin's eyes darted once more to the map. The Council Building wasn't all that far away, but the marked path plunged directly through an open plaza ahead-a place that looked far too exposed for comfort.
He stepped very cautiously onto the plaza and felt something vague in the air, shimmering like heatwaves when the day is hot. It was far from striking, yet Arin just couldn't let aside this incomprehensible intuition that stirred within him.
"This place… it is a trap, right?" he whispered, and his eyes circled. This place was where the map had been leading him-but why?
His hand instinctively brushed against the iron pipe he had found some time ago. It was nothing much, but it was reassurance, a modicum of control. He slowly stepped into the plaza, all his senses on high alert.
A sudden noise behind him made Arin whirl around, weapon raised. It was the man again-the one he had left behind. He stood at the edge of the plaza, his figure quivering as if he had run a marathon to catch up.
"You again?" Arin's voice was sharp, laced with suspicion.
He threw up his hands, palms to Arin, in some sort of placating gesture. "Please, don't leave me behind. This place… it's not safe. I… I can help you!
Arin's eyes narrowed. "Help me? You couldn't even help yourself back there. Why are you following me? What do you really want?
The man's face contorted, desperate. "I'm just trying to survive! You don't understand how this place works. The system… it sees everything. It… it picks people, Arin.".
That last word paralyzed Arin. My name. He had not said his name to this man.
"How do you know my name?" Arin asked coldly, his fingers clamping on the pipe.
The man seemed to stumble a step back, stuttering. "I… I heard it earlier. You said it out loud. I swear, I'm not your enemy!
"Maybe. But you're definitely not my ally either," Arin said. "So, now tell me why I shouldn't end this conversation right here.
The man's voice fell silent, and his eyes flickered to something beyond Arin's shoulder. A wry smile-oh, the kind that traces a shiver down your spine-covered the space between his lips.
Arin instinctively turned, swinging the makeshift weapon in the same motion. His pipe connected with something solid but unseen. The air rippled in that direction, taking on the shape of a humanoid figure fully made of glitching code.
The creature hissed, its form distorting wildly as it leapt at Arin.
Arin dodged, his heart racing with adrenaline as the entity's claws raked across the ground. He swung again, this time at the core. The pipe connected, and the figure exploded in a thousand shards of data that went out into the air.
Arin heaved a shaky breath and turned back to him. "Care to explain that?
He now really did look terrified whereas a moment earlier he had been confident. "I didn't… I mean, I didn't send that thing! I swear!"
Arin did not believe her. "Then why were you smiling? Why did you suddenly look so calm?
The man opened his mouth to say something, then shut it; his gaze darted toward the edge of the plaza. The air shimmered once, then shimmered again. More entities materialized, their forms glitching as they stepped from the dark.
Cursing under his breath, Arin retreated backward. "That's why I work alone," he grumbled.
Now, the monsters started going around the plaza, their deformed bodies crackling with electricity. Arin thought desperately. He couldn't fight, not against so many with a pipe. He had no choice but to run, but the man made it more problematic.
"Stay here if you want to die," Arin said snappishly, wheeling toward the door.
Out they tumbled; the man hesitated a moment and then tumbled after him. "Stop! Don't abandon me!
Arin sprinted for the far side of the plaza, the man right behind him; the glitching entities gave chase, spastically but unnervingly fast.
Just about the time as they reached the door, Arin saw across their path a metal gate. He didn't stop running but looked around and found a control panel. He pushed the man aside and ran toward it, pushing buttons fast, praying one of them opened the gate.
Hurry!" he shouted, looking frantically at the fomalhaut coming closer and closer.
The gate groaned, its rusted mechanisms protesting it was opening. One last heave and it would rise high enough for them to slip beneath.
"Go!" Arin yelled, shoving the man beneath the gate and diving through himself. On the other side, Arin went down on the ground, panting hard. An iron gate shut itself with a clang, closing behind them-the things chasing them-silenced. Nothing was heard for some time. "You saved me," the man said in a thick voice full of gratitude. Arin shot him a glare. "Don't read too much into it. Next time, you're on your own." He fell silent, a shadow of terror and shame in his eyes. Arin stood and dusted himself off, eyes returning to the map in his hand. The Council Building did sound like a place to go, but more than ever now he felt he had more questions, trusting no one in this ill-disposed world. "Let's get one thing straight," Arin said icily. "You're not my companion. You're lagging behind, I will leave you without a thought. Got it? The man nodded demurely, and with that, Arin was off, a little surer now of his determination.