Spectra: The Mark of Eden

The Escape

Although he couldn't clearly recall any previous memories, he was quite sure that he'd never felt such terror as he felt now.

Wandering around the halls and passages of this place was a nerve-wracking task, especially when his progress was continually punctuated with the distant sound of metal slamming against metal, the signature noise he'd come to associate with his captors' legs as they crept throughout the hallways trying to locate him. He didn't know how many there were, just that there was more than one, and that was enough motivation for him to take great care when traversing the corridors.

The air had been silent for a while now, he heard no other noise besides the rapid beating of his heart and the slow breaths he was taking to keep from hyperventilating. With trepidation, he peeked around the nearest corner—

CLANG.

Stifling a shriek, he immediately ducked his head back behind cover. He didn't get a clear look at the thing that was coming down the corridor, but it was big. His mind racing, he glanced around to see that, though rather difficult to make out in the shadowy lighting, there was a small alcove in the wall where its surface had been eaten away by years of decay and lack of upkeep. He supposed that this was what those sheets of metal welded onto the walls had been for—

CLANG.

Hastily, he squeezed himself into the alcove as tightly as he could, then held perfectly still. Several gut-wrenching seconds passed, each accompanied by another metallic clang as the thing's legs hit the floor, before a large silhouette appeared and blotted out what little light reached the alcove. In the darkness, he dared not breathe for fear that it would hear him, and he had to actively keep himself from trembling so that he wouldn't accidentally give away his hiding place.

It lingered for only a moment or two before continuing on, its legs continuing to clang down the hallway. He waited until the halls were dead-silent again before shakily emerging from his hidden refuge, then running in the direction it had come from.

Unfortunately, he didn't get very far. While, thankfully, the hall was clear further ahead, in place of one of his captors was something equally damning—a dead end.

Walking up to it, he was met with what appeared to be a locked door. A seam stretched from each corner to the center to form an 'x' shape, suggesting that the top, bottom, and sides of the door slid into their corresponding walls. He hadn't the slightest idea of the layout of this facility, but generally locked doors were guarding something important. And with one of his abductors having just gone the way he'd come from, backtracking wasn't an option—so his only way forward was getting through this door.

The question was, how was he going to do that? He hadn't thought far enough ahead to what he'd do if he found himself in a situation like this. He was pretty sure that the doors of the ship only reacted to his captors' presence, and he certainly wasn't going to be able to break through it.

Take my matrix from the capsule. It contains what's left of me—it will help you bypass any obstacles you encounter.

The mysterious voice from earlier echoing in his mind, he raised the matrix up and eyed it dubiously. There wasn't anywhere to slot it into the door, not like there had been in the pod. But even if he didn't see how this thing was supposed to work, it was essentially his only lifeline to hold onto. With bated breath, he held it out towards the door and waited.

—V—

We are each and all reflections of the gods that made us.

She awoke.

Awareness simply came to her. In a single instant, she flickered into being and found that she was surrounded by a dark emptiness. She did not truly see so much as she felt the vacuum all around her. She searched for some kind of meaning, some explanation for her sudden manifestation, but there was no answer—no answer other than the maxim which echoed around her with a voice that was not her own.