After we suddenly appeared inside what seed to be the control room, the sa place where Laura, Emily, and the other scientists had been monitoring our progress, the tension in the air seed to loosen, if only slightly.
At first, the room dissolved into overlapping voices and disorganized murmurs, chairs scraping against the floor and screens flickering. But the chaos soon gave way to audible sighs of relief, almost synchronized.
So mbers of the response team simply collapsed onto the floor, bracing themselves with their hands or leaning their backs against the cold walls, as if they were truly breathing for the first ti in hours. There were tired gazes, deep dark circles under their eyes, and trembling fingers.
Laura and Emily, on the other hand, seed to be holding back an avalanche of questions. Their attentive eyes analyzed every detail, as though they were ntally reconstructing everything that had happened during the mission before even opening their mouths to speak. Actually... there were far fewer scientists in the room than I had expected.
The spacious area felt empty. Unattended monitors displayed silent graphs, and several swivel chairs had been left abandoned. Were they really able to keep track of everything with so few people? Or had sothing happened while we were gone?
That said, I wasn’t even sure anymore whether they were still able to capture anything through the caras attached to the team’s equipnt.
As far as I knew, all transmissions had stopped shortly after we reached open waters, probably due to so kind of interference in the area, or perhaps caused by the anomalies themselves. That happened just before we crossed the boundary and were swallowed by the colossal maw of that giant marine anomaly.
My thoughts drifted away when Emily’s voice broke the silence, erging in a confused, slightly dazed murmur.
“So...” she began, pressing her fingertips against her temple as if trying to reorganize her thoughts. Her furrowed expression betrayed discomfort, my fall on top of her probably hadn’t helped at all. She blinked a few tis before continuing: “If I understood correctly, after you entered the tower, a shadow started chasing you...” She paused briefly, her eyes narrowing as she reconstructed the sequence of events: “...and when you were about to be swallowed by it, you just appeared here?”
Rupert, who had been listening silently until then, leaned back more comfortably in his chair, letting his weight sink into the backrest as he released a slow sigh.
His fingers tapped absently against the armrest before he finally spoke: “No point overthinking it... the [Angel of Death] probably did sothing”
He gave a small shrug, as if trying to brush the subject aside just as easily, his tone carrying a lazy nonchalance: “Personally, I’m not that curious to find out. Whatever she did, it saved ... so I’ve got nothing to complain about”
“It’s incredible how you can act so indifferent after everything you went through...” Emily comnted, her voice tinged with soft disbelief.
Rupert shrugged again, the light, careless gesture contrasting with the tired gleam in his eyes. A half-smile ford on his lips as he tilted his head slightly: “Better than worrying about sothing I can’t control” he said with a brief sigh: “That’s what keeps from going insane in this crazy world, my dear Laura”
I noticed Emily slowly shaking her head, an exasperated look crossing her face as she released an almost imperceptible sigh, as though she were trying to gather patience before speaking. Her voice ca soon after, firm, yet slightly tired.
“We were able to keep tracking you after the signal was completely cut off thanks to her” she said, casting a brief, aningful glance toward Althea.
Althea responded with a calm, provocative smile. Emily, however, ignored her after that brief gesture and continued: “We didn’t have any data other than what we were seeing in real ti...” She paused briefly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she organized her thoughts: “That said, our signal is strong enough to reach another galaxy” she added at last, with a hint of pride: “Thanks to our technologies that use anomalous properties”
Arthur raised an eyebrow at her words, as if a newly ford idea had found space in his mind. His eyes glead with a trace of curiosity as he tilted his head slightly to the side.
“In other words...” he paused for a mont, savoring his own reasoning. His cane spun between his fingers in slow, acrobatic movents, tracing elegant arcs through the air: “We were as far away as if we were in another galaxy...”
This ti, Rupert was the one who raised an eyebrow, doubt written across his face as his eyes narrowed slightly. He tilted his head: “That ans what I think it ans?”
Arthur nodded slowly in confirmation, the slight movent accompanied by a brief, thoughtful silence. His eyes wandered around the room for a mont before he finally spoke, his voice low and reflective: “We were probably in another dinsion... that’s why everything felt so... strange”
The room fell into silence. Victor, Arthur, Emily, and Laura exchanged brief glances, their thoughtful expressions revealing the weight of the situation as they processed each word. Rupert, on the other hand, let out an audible snort, crossing his arms impatiently.
“Wonderful...” he muttered, his tone heavy with irony, before tilting his head slightly and continuing: “I hope the extra pay takes this wonderful news into account”
His voice ca out low and sarcastic, cutting through the silence like a thin blade, while his fingers tapped slowly against the armrest, betraying his irritation.
Emily cast a slightly exasperated look toward Rupert but remained silent, as if she didn’t even have the energy to respond. Her fingers pressed insistently against her temple, as if trying to contain a persistent headache, a small gesture, yet enough to catch everyone’s attention.
"Are you okay, Emily? You look... terrible" Victor asked, leaning slightly forward. His eyebrows were furrowed with concern.
Emily shifted her eyes from Victor to when he spoke. While they talked, I kept observing the equipnt scattered throughout the room, cables coiled like sleeping serpents, monitors blinking silently, and machines whose functions I barely understood yet still found incredibly fascinating.
“Other than getting run over by an out-of-control truck?” Emily muttered, shooting an intense, almost accusing look. She crossed her arms as if to emphasize her point: “I’m fine” she added at last, her tone dry.
Honestly, that was rude. I an, I’m fully aware I’m heavy, but comparing to a truck is a bit much. Maybe a compact car... at most a small pickup.
Anyway, the conversation between Emily, Laura, Victor, Rupert, and Arthur continued, settling into a calr rhythm. They briefly described what we had gone through while searching for my little sister, exchanging occasional glances and subtle pauses.
So details were clearly left out. Emily didn’t go into them, treating them as irrelevant. Victor, Rupert, and Arthur didn’t seem eager to revisit certain monts either, averting their eyes or shifting slightly whenever the topic threatened to resurface. Naturally, the discussion eventually turned toward the communication that had been interrupted.
Emily explained that, after a certain point, they began seeing everything from my point of view, through my eyes, as if they were there with , thanks to Althea, who floated calmly at my side.
I was mildly surprised to learn that sohow what my eyes saw had been transmitted to the monitors. Up until that mont, I hadn’t noticed any sign, noise, or strange sensation that would have given sothing like that away.
While the voices in the background continued talking among themselves, I shifted my attention to Tenebrya. She walked through the area with obvious curiosity, her attentive gaze scanning every detail as if she were exploring a completely new world.
Her steps were light and cautious, yet filled with restless energy. She touched nearly everything she ca across, smooth surfaces, irregular structures, objects.
Whenever sothing reacted to her touch, a subtle glow, a faint vibration, a muffled sound, her posture would change instantly, a small jolt betraying surprise and a silent excitent.
Naturally, none of this was obvious to any ordinary observer. But for , it was different. I could understand her feelings clearly. To , Tenebrya was like an open book.
Whenever she passed near a human, she would stop abruptly, no matter whether they were behind, in front of, or beside her, and stare at them intensely.
Her eyes remained fixed on her subjects without blinking, which naturally made people tense. So swallowed hard, others looked away, and a few seed on the verge of fainting under Tenebrya’s cold, inexplicably heavy attention.
The scene repeated itself several tis along the way, leaving behind a trail of nervous murmurs and uneasy glances, until suddenly she seed to lose interest. Then she turned with the sa enigmatic calm and approached , Victor, Rupert, and Arthur, who were talking with Emily and Laura.
Her arrival imdiately put them on alert. Rupert, Arthur, Victor, and Laura looked away almost at the sa ti, each choosing a different direction, as if even staring into empty space felt safer than looking directly at my little sister.
The gesture drew a mischievous and surprisingly cute laugh from Althea, who floated upside down beside , her hair slowly swaying as if gravity didn’t exist, just another normal day.
What wasn’t normal, however, was Emily. Instead of looking away, she kept staring directly at my little sister. And in turn, my sister stared right back without blinking, as if a silent dialogue were taking place between them.
For a mont, I wondered if Emily was being affected... but no. Her expression wasn’t empty or distant, it was clear. She looked uncomfortable. Not fear... discomfort.
Her shoulders were stiff, and there was a subtle tension in her posture, like soone trying to maintain control in front of sothing they didn’t fully understand.
Victor, Rupert, Arthur, and Laura also showed discomfort at my sister’s presence, but in their case, the fear of what she represented to them was far greater. It was visceral and instinctive, making them avoid Tenebrya at all costs, like prey fleeing from a predator.
The scene caught off guard for a mont. Briefly, I found myself wondering what exactly Emily was seeing. I shook my head, pushing the thought away before it could take root, and let my gaze wander across the room again, sliding over faces, movents, and scattered fragnts of conversation.
That’s when my eyes fixed on soone a few spots ahead, just one table away from Emily. An amused smile curved her lips as she watched, almost like a privileged spectator.
Seeming to feel my gaze on her, she slowly turned her face toward . Our eyes t for a brief mont, and a subtle, mischievous, defiant glimr danced in her eyes before her lips curved further into a teasing smile. With a light, provocative gesture, she raised her hand and waved using only her fingers.
My only reaction to the gesture was to tilt my head slightly to the side. That said... who was it?
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