The lights kept flickering at irregular intervals. At first, the flashes were so brief and spaced out they seemed insignificant, easy to ignore. But over time, the flickers became more frequent and intense, until the lighting's wavering took over the room with an almost unsettling presence. The change was subtle but constant — impossible to overlook.
Outside my room, the visitors also began to notice something was off. Their voices, once muffled and scattered, now came clearer through the walls and the door. There was a growing tone of unease in their conversations, marked by hurried whispers and nervous questions. The atmosphere, once merely curious, started to feel tinged with worry.
"Why are the lights flickering so much? Is this part of some other exhibit today?" asked a middle-aged man, furrowing his brow with a mix of curiosity and discomfort. He wore a slightly wrinkled dark blazer, and his watchful eyes scanned the area, as if trying to find a plausible explanation for what was happening.
"Does this make any sense? It doesn't look like the lights are going out — it's like the power is weakening" said another man, his voice urgent and edged with anxiety. He quickly glanced around, watching the lights flicker irregularly, as if some invisible force was slowly draining them.
Overhearing the conversation, a nearby woman — apparently upper-class, dressed in a stylish coat and understated jewelry — couldn't hold back her concern and spoke up, her voice heavy with worry: "Isn't this dangerous?" she asked, shooting a tense glance toward the glass walls: "If the power goes out, couldn't those... things trapped here escape into the hallway? Wouldn't it be smarter to head back to the surface?"
In the end, I stayed in my room, not daring to leave. All I did was watch through the glass as chaos started to take hold in the corridor. Muffled screams, hurried footsteps, and growing restlessness filled the air.
Something was clearly wrong — I could feel it in every fiber of my being. And from Emily's tense gaze, which met mine for a moment, it was clear: this wasn't part of the original plan. Whatever was happening out there, it was serious... and about to get worse.
Yet one persistent question nagged at my mind: what was the real goal behind all this? Whoever was behind it, were they really trying to free all the anomalies in the facility? Did that even make sense? The very idea was absurd.
If for some reason those creatures got to the surface... well, it doesn't take a genius to imagine the outcome — it would be the dawn of an apocalyptic scenario, a total collapse of order.
The moment this thought crossed my mind, the lights — which until then had been flickering wildly — finally went out completely, plunging the room into a dense, oppressive darkness. For a moment, everything was silent, as if the very air hesitated.
The only thing still visible were my eyes, glowing softly in the dark like embers alive in the night. But I quickly realized I wasn't alone: Nekra's, Althea's, and Nyara's eyes also shone in the shadows, each pair with a distinct hue, pulsing with a quiet energy that almost seemed conscious.
While my eyes burned with an intense golden glow, Nekra's — also radiating a purple light similar to mine — showed something more: a fraction of that purple shimmered with the same intensity as my gold, as if carrying a hidden power or raw emotion.
Althea, among us all, was by far the most radiant. Her glow didn't just illuminate; it pulsed with a living energy, almost blinding, like something inside her was about to overflow.
Her hair gleamed like pure gold strands, emitting a warm golden light that didn't blind but captured the attention of anyone daring to look. The glow was delicate, almost magical, as if a gentle flame danced in every lock, holding the gaze with a silent magnetism.
Her eyes shone with a deep, intense gold — but unlike mine and Nekra's, her glow wasn't just a reflection. It was genuinely golden, like two tiny suns burning in her eyes, radiating heat and light with an almost hypnotic force. You couldn't help but feel the power and energy pouring from that solar gaze.
Above Althea's head, her halo floated serenely, almost ethereal in its lightness, emitting a soft and steady glow that seemed to pulse gently.
From that delicate luminescence, tiny shimmering flakes of energy drifted down slowly like miniature shooting stars, lighting the air around with a subtle, mesmerizing sparkle.
No matter what angle you looked at Althea from, her presence radiated such a pure and imposing aura that her appearance transcended the human, making her a truly divine and majestic vision.
On the other hand, Nyara really stood out. Her hair, though not glowing as brightly as Althea's, still held a soft, enchanting shimmer. The strands slowly shifted through various colors — gold, purple, cyan, red, and more — like a magical aurora dancing in her locks, changing naturally and hypnotically.
Her large golden eyes glowed with a faint light, her spiral irises slowly rotating, almost mesmerizing anyone who stared into them. The vertical pupils, cat-like, added an enigmatic and captivating touch to her expression, giving Nyara a mysterious and irresistibly charming aura.
Watching that scene before me, a single, irresistible thought took over my mind, as an uneasy yet sweet feeling grew in my chest: (My sisters... could they possibly be any more adorable than this?)
As that thought crossed my mind, the voices of the visitors outside my room grew louder, gaining an urgency that seemed to tear through the air around me.
The distant murmur gave way to a chaotic whirlwind of sounds — screams began to overlap in a disconnected, desperate mix. Some demanded explanations in hoarse, nearly desperate voices, while others called out names, maybe of friends or family lost in the confused crowd.
The metallic floor reverberated with the frantic sound of hurried footsteps, a cacophony of shoes echoing like drums in a disorderly race. The noise spread through the corridor, reflecting the growing confusion and anxiety that seemed to infect everyone, turning the environment into a turbulent sea of voices and restless movement.
"What's going on? Why did the lights just go out like that, all of a sudden?" someone in the crowd asked, confusion and fear clear in their shaky voice as they looked around trying to understand the sudden darkness.
"This is still part of the exhibit, right? It can't be serious..." another person said, voice seemingly calm but with a hesitant tone and a slight tremor barely hiding doubt. In truth, she didn't really believe what she was saying — the words felt more like a desperate effort to calm herself than genuine conviction.
The voices outside kept echoing insistently, filling the silence with a growing murmur. Suddenly, the lights came back on, but something was different. Unlike the bright, steady glow before, the lighting was weak, almost flickering, casting faint shadows in the corners of the room.
The light barely reached some spaces, illuminating only strategic spots — as if the place was wrapped in a deliberate twilight, leaving important parts visible while keeping the rest shrouded in subtle mystery.
By then, it was obvious something was wrong. It showed on Emily and Laura's faces, whose looks carried a silent but intense concern. With that thought in mind, I realized it was no time to hesitate. Swiftly, I jumped out of bed and headed toward the glass.
On the other side, the visitors continued their heated conversation, gesturing and speaking in agitated tones. But as soon as they noticed me approaching, their reaction was immediate: they stepped back a few paces, as if some instinct warned them something was off. The movement stopped briefly, then their full attention turned to me.
Though they whispered, their murmurs reached me disturbingly clearly — as if they were right beside me, whispering directly into my ear. I clearly heard their confused comments, nervous questions, and even the dry sound of swallowing hard. It was like the glass wasn't even there between us.
"Why did she move so suddenly?" murmured someone, voice low and trembling, loaded with a fear that was hard to hide.
"She... she's not going to attack us, right?" another asked hesitantly, as if the very thought was hard to bear.
"She's still inside the cell, so we're safe..." a third voice said, trying to sound rational — but the wavering tone betrayed that those words were more consolation for herself than real reassurance for others.
Anyway, after positioning myself in front of the glass, I stood still. I didn't move — not out of hesitation, but on purpose — I was waiting. My golden, glowing eyes locked directly on Emily's, who held my gaze just as intensely.
We stayed like that for a few moments, as if having a silent conversation just through eye contact. Then something seemed to trigger a memory in her. Her eyes narrowed slightly, becoming sharper and more focused. The next moment, as if suddenly reminded of something, she turned urgently toward Laura.
At that moment, I shifted my gaze away from Emily and back to the visitors. They were people of all ages — curious children, anxious adults, even some elderly with expressions of shock and fascination.
In the middle of the crowd, a couple stood out: a woman firmly holding a microphone, while the man beside her adjusted a camera pointed straight at me. Everything about them — from their alert posture to the equipment in their hands — made it clear they were reporters.
But amid the chaotic crowd, three figures caught my attention in particular. A man, a woman, and a little girl — a family. I recognized them almost immediately. They were the couple I met at the diner, some time ago, while investigating the fog alongside Arthur.
The memory came sharp, as if that conversation happened yesterday. Seeing those familiar faces there in the turmoil was a shock. I never imagined I'd see them again, much less in such an extreme and unpredictable situation.
Before I could even react to that unexpected sight, the lights began flickering again, casting unstable shadows on the walls. A dense, absolute silence fell over the place, as if the very air had been suspended for a moment.
Then, breaking the quiet with restrained urgency, Emily's voice echoed from outside: "Damn... this situation is not good"
After saying those words, Emily, followed by Laura, turned their gaze to the dark hallway, where the light kept flickering intermittently, casting trembling shadows on the walls.
I couldn't immediately understand their reaction, but driven by curiosity, I followed their gaze through the fogged glass. Though my view didn't reach much beyond halfway down the hall, it was enough to reveal the reason for the worry on their faces.
The visitors, sensing something strange in the air, turned their eyes the same way as Emily, their expressions growing anxious and curious. Yet nothing appeared — the light kept flickering on and off, casting dancing shadows that made the corridor even darker and more uncertain.
The atmosphere plunged into an almost tangible silence, so dense it seemed to choke any attempt at speech. No one dared break that heavy quiet, as if afraid to awaken something hidden. But however intense it was, the silence was soon broken by something unexpected.
The corridor lights flickered again, casting trembling shadows on the walls. The exact moment the light went out for two seconds, plunging everything into deep, suffocating darkness, a face appeared in the hallway.
There was no head, just that floating face, as if ripped from some nightmare. Its features were animalistic, almost beastly, and its mouth stretched into a grotesque, disproportionate grin that seemed to tear the space around it.
But worst were the eyes. Red veins pulsed wildly, snaking over the surface of the eyeballs, giving the face a truly terrifying look — like its eyes were bloodshot and about to explode from suffering or rage. For a moment, that piercing gaze seemed to freeze time.
Then, the next second, when the light finally returned, the face simply vanished. Not even a shadow remained, as if that sinister expression, with its torn and grotesque smile, had never existed. It was like it had been swallowed by the darkness itself, leaving only silence and a chilling void in the air.