In the dimly lit corridors of the facility, three figures moved forward with determined steps. Leading the way was a man with a sturdy, imposing appearance, while the two following him could easily be mistaken for children — at least at first glance.

One of them didn’t even touch the ground; he floated a few inches above the cold floor, supported by thin, white downy wings that fluttered at a steady pace, attached at the base of his spine like natural extensions of his body.

This oddly mismatched trio was made up of me, Victor, and Althea — who, as always, simply refused to let me go alone. I argued, insisted, but in the end... I gave in. It was easier to accept her stubbornness than to keep trying to convince her. She could be a real pain in the neck.

The place was wrapped in an almost uncomfortable silence — not because no one was allowed to speak, but because, deep down, none of us seemed willing to break it. Each had their own reason. Victor, for instance, walked beside me with alert eyes, cautiously scanning the surroundings.

There was a barely noticeable tension in his shoulders, just enough to reveal his heightened state of alertness. Althea, on the other hand, wore an indifferent expression, her gaze lost somewhere far away.

Her boredom was obvious, as if all of this was just another minor setback in her routine. And me... well, I stayed silent simply because there was nothing I wanted to say. It wasn’t discomfort or caution — just nothing.

Anyway, the silence that had followed us finally broke when we reached an old, reinforced-looking elevator that led down to the deeper levels of the facility. The metal doors were worn, as if they’d seen years of use... or worse. Apparently, it would be quick and easy to reach the anomaly I needed to absorb. But Victor, as usual, seemed to have a different opinion.

“I hate that this place doesn’t have stairs” he grumbled, crossing his arms and looking up at the ceiling like he expected it to answer him: “I mean, I know it’s an underground base, but still... relying on just an elevator? That never ends well in stories like this”

He seemed bothered by something. At least, that’s how it struck me at first — a subtle unease in his eyes, a slight tightening of his shoulders. It put a bug in my ear.

With that thought in mind, I focused and asked, sending my thoughts directly to Victor: (Are you okay? What’s wrong?)

Victor didn’t answer right away. His eyebrows lifted slightly as the expression on his face grew even darker — a deep scowl, almost instinctive. For a moment, he just stayed silent, eyes fixed on the elevator doors ahead, as if he could see something beyond them.

Finally, in a low voice heavy with tension, he murmured: “I’ve got a really bad feeling... I think something bad’s gonna happen as soon as we step into that elevator”

I blinked slowly, processing Victor’s words. I mean, as far as I knew, his “gut feelings” were never just vague impressions. It was like something inside him always knew when things were about to go wrong.

Honestly, if someone told me Victor had some kind of anomaly-related sixth sense, I wouldn’t hesitate to believe it. Unfortunately, we had no other options. Like he said, this place seemed to have no stairs — at least none visible or accessible.

The elevator was all we had. And even with that uneasy feeling hanging in the air, like an invisible presence poking at the back of my neck, there was nowhere to run — just move forward and hope Victor’s instincts were wrong, just this once.

“Heh heh heh...” Beside me, Althea let out her peculiar, low, melodic laugh, a playful smile spreading across her face.

Althea’s eyes sparkled with that mix of curiosity and mischief typical of her, like she already knew something no one else did. Even in tense moments, she seemed to enjoy the chaos — as if the whole world was just an intriguing game to her. Anyway, in the end, despite Victor’s warnings and obvious unease, we stepped into the elevator.

It wasn’t exactly cramped, but far from spacious — there was something uncomfortable about how the metal walls seemed to quietly close in around us. Still, Althea didn’t seem to share that feeling. On the contrary, she stayed relaxed, almost excited, like the tight space didn’t bother her at all.

(Could you move away a little?) I said, trying to keep my tone light, though I felt a bit uneasy: (It feels tighter than usual... even with all this room)

As I spoke, I glanced at Althea, right next to me, practically glued to my side. Her arm was firmly wrapped around mine, like she was afraid I’d disappear at any moment. But her eyes avoided mine — pretending to be distracted, but clearly aware of the situation.

Yet, the moment I tried to pull away from Althea’s tight grip, her cheeks flushed faintly with a shy blush. Her eyes shone with a mixture of determination, while her soft but firm voice echoed in the silence around us: “We can’t, dear sister... we need to stay together, just in case something happens”

Honestly, from my point of view, Althea was just using that as an excuse to cling to me. In the end, all I could do was sigh heavily, full of resignation. Beside me, Victor shot me a confused look, glancing back and forth between me and Althea, clearly unsure how to handle this awkward situation.

It was like he was trying to figure out the right reaction, but to be honest, I was lost too. I had no idea what to do about her almost obsessive attachment, which stuck to me like a baby koala.

In the end, we stayed silent, only listening to the faint hum of the elevator panel as we waited for it to finally go down. Time seemed to drag, and something in the air started to make my chest uneasy. Victor, next to me, furrowed his brow, as if he too felt the strange vibe.

“Is it just me, or is this elevator taking longer than usual?” he asked, voice low, almost a whisper: “I think we should have arrived by now”

I looked at the panel — the indicator stuck in the same spot for way too long. The silence in the elevator felt heavier now, almost suffocating. Something was definitely wrong.

I didn’t answer Victor, but honestly, I was thinking the exact same thing — like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Althea, clinging to me with a mix of surprise and impatience, said: “Huh? You two really didn’t notice?”

Hearing her words, my eyes blinked softly, like waking from a light daydream. Slowly, I turned to look at her, meeting her bright eyes staring at me with a radiant smile full of hope and tenderness.

I couldn’t help but feel a comforting warmth in my chest seeing her like that. In a calm, almost whispering voice, I asked: (My dear little sister...)

Hearing the loving way I said it, Althea beamed a wide smile that lit up her whole face. Her eyes sparkled with contagious joy, and in that moment, she seemed like the happiest person in the world. With genuine enthusiasm, she replied: “Yes! Dear sister!”

I watched Althea for a moment, a strange feeling starting to grow inside me — a mix of doubt and unease. Her eyes shone with unusual intensity, and her voice still echoed in my mind: (What did you mean by that just now? You know... when you asked if we hadn’t noticed?)

Althea, still with her characteristic playful smile, answered calmly, almost like sharing a secret: “We haven’t actually been inside the elevator for a while. The feeling of going down is just to distract us a bit”

The moment I heard Althea’s words, my gaze automatically shifted to Victor. Our eyes met, a brief silent shock passing between us. Then his body suddenly trembled, like an invisible current ran through him.

I wasn’t the first to react, but after what Althea said, something inside me woke up too. A strange but familiar feeling began to rise — that characteristic unease I always get when I’m near an anomaly or an anomalous place. It was like the air around us had gained a different vibration, imperceptible to most, but crystal clear to me.

The next moment, without warning, the elevator changed — or rather, calling it an elevator didn’t make sense anymore.

The air around us seemed to compress and stretch, as if space itself had started to distort slowly, folding and twisting in a surreal way. A weird vertigo sensation took over, mixed with an almost complete silence, broken only by the faint hum of unknown energy filling the space.

The metal walls started to melt, slowly giving way like they were made of hot wax, dripping in a thick, sticky silence that seemed to suck in all sound around us. The melted metal flowed in irregular streams, sliding over surfaces as the light flickered, casting distorted shadows over the liquid edges.

The floor, once solid, turned into a restless liquid mirror, reflecting a thick, black fog that silently curled around our ankles. It rose slowly like spectral fingers, cold and hungry, trying to grab our legs, sucking out warmth and strength.

The air grew dense and humid, heavy with a sharp, acrid smell of burning iron mixed with a rancid, rotten odor — something hard to describe but enough to make the skin crawl and the stomach turn. It was like the very environment exhaled death and decay.

Victor took a step back, eyes wide and breathing fast, as if desperately searching for an exit that no longer existed. His body trembled lightly, overcome by the chill of despair: “Shit...” he whispered, voice hoarse and shaky, almost choked up: “I knew taking the elevator was a bad idea”

He swallowed hard, the bitter feeling of betrayal burning in his throat: “We’ve been tricked”

Althea, meanwhile, wore a calm, enigmatic smile. Suddenly, the light flickered for a brief moment, plunging the room into a fleeting darkness.

In that brief instant, my eyes caught pulsing shadows twisting on the walls — humanoid shapes, grotesquely distorted, like dark nightmares come to life.

A cold whisper slid through the air, followed by a dissonant chorus of strange, cold voices that didn’t belong to any of the three of us.

(What’s happening?!) I exclaimed, furrowing my brow as my eyes scanned the surroundings with curiosity.

My question was answered by Victor, who, face tense and eyes burning, kicked fiercely at shadowy hands clinging to his legs and hips, trying to drag him down.

“It’s an anomaly” he said through gritted teeth as he delivered another violent kick: “The full extent of its effects is still unknown, but we know it overlays our reality with... another — apparently its own dimension”

Hearing Victor’s words, my eyes swept the surroundings with growing alertness. The walls, previously just melting, now writhed, taking on a grotesque appearance — like living, pulsating, twisted flesh breathing irregularly, as if something was trapped beneath the surface.

It was as if the very environment was turning into a hungry creature. I still didn’t fully understand what was happening, but one thing was certain: I wasn’t going to stand still and watch this anomaly do whatever it wanted.

With that single thought, a thick dark mist began to emanate from my body, spreading through the room like living smoke. In seconds, the place was completely filled with that pulsing fog, writhing in the air as if it had a will of its own.

From inside it, huge ethereal hands — made entirely of smoke — emerged from all directions, advancing with relentless precision toward the elevator door.

With a metallic snap and a sharp creak, they grabbed the frame, forcing it with brutal strength. The door groaned under the pressure until it finally bent, twisting enough to open a passage. We’d forced our way out.

We didn’t hesitate to step out of the elevator. But as soon as we set foot outside, the reality of the place hit us like a punch to the gut. Victor was the first to feel it — his face immediately went pale, and he barely had time to turn before vomiting right there, dumping everything on the floor... or at least what should have been the floor.

A long hallway stretched ahead of us, but any resemblance to a normal structure ended there. The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were made of living flesh — pulsating, trembling, like we were walking inside a colossal organism. It contracted and twisted slowly, emitting wet, visceral sounds with every movement.

A putrid stench hung in the air, thick and suffocating, like a mixture of old blood, bile, and rotten meat. Honestly, at that moment, I was thankful deep down for not having any internal organs left — because if I still had a working stomach, I’d be throwing up just like Victor, who bent over beside me, tears in his eyes and his face taking on a greenish hue.