"So, what do we choose?"
Elliot looked at me. "Don’t you feel anything?"
"Nothing special; they’re just long corridors until the end of my perception."
Everyone hesitated as they thought about which direction to take.
I looked to the right, then to the left again. Everything seemed identical.
Without much thought, I headed to the right. "Let’s just take this direction."
"Are you sure?" Leona asked.
I shrugged. "No... of course I’m not sure; I’m just relying on fate... or luck, as you like to call it."
"You sound like a monk when you talk like that... what does choosing a corridor have to do with fate?" Izel commented, but I simply ignored her.
In the end, no one objected, and we headed right... well, what would they object to? We are literally facing the unknown, so it’s not like thinking will change anything.
And of course, splitting up was not an option.
After we resumed walking down the right corridor, Elliot spoke words I had deliberately avoided thinking about.
"Don’t place like this usually have mechanisms to detect intruders and defenses?"
I almost slapped my face at those words. I looked at him in disbelief.
"Did you really have to say that out loud?"
"Why?" he asked innocently.
The moment he said that, I prepared myself for anything that might happen.
You know when everyone thinks they’re safe, then the hero says those words, and everything turns upside down.
But no matter how long I waited, I didn’t feel anything... this place was far too quiet... more than ancient ruins should be.
As if it hadn’t realized our presence yet.
In the end, the corridor came to another end, and we had to take another turn.
But we stopped after a few steps, because in front of us was destruction everywhere.
Those ridiculously solid walls were now broken and deformed, while massive chunks of black stone had fallen onto the ground.
"What the hell happened here?" Izel spoke.
It’s true that I was curious too, but there were priorities.
"It doesn’t matter... whatever caused this destruction did it thousands of years ago... what we need now is to get out of here, not ask questions and unravel mysteries."
I added, "Especially the kind that can kill us."
Izel looked at me with disdain. "Stop acting cowardly and throwing your pessimism about death at us every moment."
I wanted to reply and say they were just fools who didn’t know when something might emerge from one of these corners and erase them from existence, but unexpectedly, Ellen responded and agreed with me.
"He’s right. We almost died earlier, and who knows if that will happen again; so we must be cautious in our movements and make getting out of here our top priority."
Izel clicked her tongue and turned her head like an annoyed little girl.
We resumed moving between the fragments of the collapsed walls.
Each piece was the size of a large truck... clearly a violent battle had taken place here, especially since these black walls were far sturdier than the sacrificial chamber.
As we walked among the debris, we sometimes saw fractures leading to other corridors, but there was nothing new... at least until Kyle called out to us.
"Come and look at this," he called while standing at the side of the corridor in front of a crack in the wall large enough for a person to pass through.
I had sensed something different than mere emptiness there, but it seemed safe.
We all walked over and approached Kyle, looking at what lay beyond the crack.
There was a large space, filled with many strange devices and glass containers, even what looked like work tables.
It looked like an ancient laboratory.
Elliot stepped forward to pass through the crack. "Let’s see what’s in there; we might find something that helps us get out of here."
He was right, but I added some instructions to make sure they wouldn’t do anything stupid.
"We’ll go in, but none of you touches anything just because you’re curious... understood?"
Izel rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine... fine."
Ignoring her behavior, I turned and entered behind Elliot.
Immediately my vision was filled with numerous glass containers connected by tubes. Some were large enough to hold a giant, while others were human-sized... but fortunately all of them were completely empty.
This laboratory occupied such a vast space that my perception couldn’t reach its edges.
Leona approached the empty work tables. "Whoever was here, their size seems to have been similar to ours." She was right.
It’s true this place seemed prepared to accommodate giants, but there were still details indicating the presence of beings with sizes and builds similar to us.
Well... there are many beings like us in the universe...
We walked among the tubes and ventured deeper into the laboratory. There was almost nothing except these tubes and glass containers, as if the place had been completely evacuated and drained.
Then, as I was about to take a look at one of the large devices in the wall, I felt something distinct at the edge of my perception.
I changed my direction and headed toward it, until I found a small cube placed on one of the platforms. It was black and appeared to be made of the same material as these walls.
I approached and stood before it, my eyes observing the small amount of essence within it. It didn’t seem dangerous, so I extended my hand toward it.
I picked it up and felt its light weight; its size barely filled my palm.
And there was something else... as if it was connected to this place.
I took it and returned to where the others were... before they did anything stupid.
"You didn’t touch anything, right?"
I looked at Izel with contempt. "What do you think we are, children?"
She said that while leaning against the pillar beside her... but the moment her shoulder touched the pillar, something I had greatly feared happened.
A part of the pillar sank inward, like a hidden button.
Nothing happened.
But only for a single moment.
In the next moment, the world flipped in my vision.
No... the laboratory itself flipped in a single instant.
The floor became the ceiling, and the ceiling became the floor, and we... we were on the ceiling...
I felt the world slow around me as essence surged through my body.
In the next moment, I began falling toward the ground.
But as if flipping an entire laboratory wasn’t enough, walls began rising from the floor at insane speed, dividing the laboratory into several sections... and worst of all—
Separating us.
Through the last opening before a wall slammed into the ceiling, I saw the others’ faces, panic drawn across them as they began falling on their heads.
I saw Talia and Izel falling together while the others were separated alone.
And that was the last thing I saw before the wall struck the ceiling with a resounding crash.
All of this happened in a single moment... there wasn’t even time for anyone to scream.
I felt the air rush around me as I fell, but I quickly rotated my body and landed on my feet.
The fall from that distance wasn’t something that could harm the awakened, so I barely felt it.
As soon as I balanced myself on the ground, I raised my head to see the ceiling of the room moving away upward, before another wall appeared and separated it from me.
Now I was completely trapped in a room surrounded on all sides by unbreakable walls.
"I leave them for one minute and this is what happens!" I shouted into the enclosed room, anger clear in my voice.
I could still sense them behind these walls, so the situation wasn’t that bad... especially since I obtained this cube.
I looked at the small cube in my hand, turning it over in hopes of finding some way to use it.
I had a hunch that this was a key to something, especially when I sensed that connection with the place.
And well, whatever that old man who sent us here was, I don’t think he would leave us without an exit.
"I just hope nothing else happens," I muttered as I tried to figure out how to use it.
But as if the place heard my words and responded to them—
A small opening appeared in the floor, and from there a thick black liquid began to seep out.
For a moment, I thought I would be drowned in this place, but soon the liquid stopped seeping and gathered together, then began to take shape.
Taking the shape of a human... my shape.
All it took was a single moment for the liquid to emerge and form into my figure, even gaining colors.
In the next moment, I was standing in front of myself... same features, same size and body, even the same aura.
It was equal to me... perhaps even slightly stronger.
If not for its completely black eyes, I would have thought I was looking into a mirror.
Without hesitation, I drew my swords and hid the cube in my ring.
But the other "me" did the same in its own way.
Its hands trembled and its skin melted into that same black liquid, before forming again into two swords in its hands.
Without any words or prelude—
The other me lunged at me.