Without wasting a moment, he turned around and bolted in the opposite direction. He did not really care about where he was going. All he knew was that he had to get as far away from that thing at possible. His mind quickly recalled the route he had taken to get there and he diverted into another hallway hoping that it would lead to something better. Metal groaned above him and somewhere beyond the flickering overhead lights, a machine arm sparked and crashed to the ground, sending a sharp echo through the cold corridors. He didn't pause to check the sound. His boots pounded across the grated floor, his own breath loud in his ears.
He had no idea where he was going. Every hallway looked the same: silver walls stripped by rust, ceiling lights flickering like dying stars. Direction meant nothing at the moment. What mattered was movement. Deep inside him, he had a gut feeling that if he were to stop, he was going to die.
[Alert: Hostile combat unit in pursuit. Proximity breach imminent.]
Nyx's voice rang coldly in his head, devoid of urgency but full of warning.
[Unit designation: Black Guard. Classification: Enhanced Facility Guardian. Priority Directive: Terminate escapees. Threat Level: Critical.]
If he had not had an actual reason to run from that thing before, he definitely had more than one now.
He turned a corner too fast and nearly slammed into a half-collapsed support beam. Ducking under it, he entered a service tunnel darker and tighter than the others. His breathing was rough now, less from exhaustion and more from the mounting pressure in his skull, a feeling like static crawling along his thoughts.
Behind him, something thudded into the floor with heavy mechanical weight. He turned his head just in time to catch the distant glow of something crimson cutting through the gloom.
"Of course it's fast," he muttered under his breath.
A door blinked red to his right, its keypad showing that it was tightly sealed. He slammed his hand into the access panel anyway, praying for a miracle.
[Access Denied. Clearance Insufficient.]
A sudden bang tore through the corridor, causing him to spin and run. He ducked into a side passage, sprinting past rooms of shattered glass and toppled machines. He must have run through lab spaces, storage bays, he did not even know what was what anymore.
But as he skidded around another corner, he found something else. There was a person right there in front of him. It was a man and he was half-crushed beneath a fallen girder, blood staining his white lab coat. His eyes fluttered open at the sound of his approach, and widened in disbelief.
"Cael?" the scientist rasped. "You're out."
He froze mid-step at the name, before rushing forward. He analyzed the situation quickly, his mind supplying him with information from nowhere. The man wasn't going to last long as his wounds were far too grievous. His ribs had collapsed inward, his organs probably crushed and punctured, and one leg was clearly twisted beneath the weight.
"Cael... Is that my name? Do you know who I am?" He asked.
The scientist stared at him with a strange mix of awe and horror before nodding, his face twisted in agony. "That's the name you were given. You weren't supposed to leave the Cradle. You were still synchronizing… How are you on your feet?"
"I woke up, though I don't know how or why," Cael replied quickly. "I broke out of the lab and now something called the Black Guard is hunting me."
At the mention of that name, the scientist visibly paled. That alone made Cael's concerns increase.
"Listen… Cael." The man struggled to sit up, then gasped in pain. "That thing will never stop. Not until you're dead."
"Why? What am I?"
"You don't know... Then your synchronization must not have been completed... Damn it…"
Cael opened his mouth to ask another question, only for the sound of heavy metal falling on the ground to break through the silence of the hallway. He glanced back with clenched teeth, knowing that the massive killing machine was now not too far behind.
The scientist flinched. "There's no time. Here." He fumbled at his belt and pulled out a black card with a glowing sigil embossed on its surface. "My service card. It has Level Four clearance. That should get you through most barriers in the facility."
Cael took it without hesitation. "Thank you..."
The man caught his wrist as he turned. "Don't thank me yet. You have to get out of here. Don't look for answers. There are none worth finding here."
The corridor behind them exploded and the Black Guard strode through smoke and shattered steel, its red-tinted visor glowing like a furnace. A long black spear formed from digital nano fragments originating from its body, assembling in its hand with a resonant hum.
The scientist did not even have time to scream. The spear launched through the air and impaled him cleanly through the chest, nailing him to the floor.
Cael stumbled back, wide-eyed. His thoughts screamed at him to fight, to rage and protest the man's death. He had so much to ask him, so much he did not know. But something deeper, a primal instinct of survival urged him to run.
And so he did.
He bolted down the hall as the Guard retrieved its weapon, its steps picking up speed. Cael slammed the service card into the next terminal he saw. The door hissed open and he did not wait for it to finish. He slipped through the moment there was space and kept running.
The lights grew dimmer as he ascended. Every level he passed looked older and more decayed. Red emergency bulbs throbbed faintly along the baseboards. Somewhere above, the Herald's pursuit grew louder.
Nyx chimed again.
[Recommendation: Exit vector identified. Access tunnel to surface levels located in Sector Delta-12. 342 meters east. Security checkpoint ahead.]
"Can I get through it?"
[With the service card, yes.]
Nodding to himself, Cael rounded another corner, skipping steps as he descended a grated stairwell two at a time. He could hear something hissing behind him. Compressed hydraulics most likely, which meant the Herald was gradually getting closer.
The final door came into view. Beyond it, an access tunnel bathed in pale, sterile light. Relief hit him like a wave and he sprinted the last stretch and slammed the card into the reader. The lights blinked green and the door began to rise.
Then he heard an agonizingly loud explosion as the wall of the hallway exploded behind him and the Black Guard walked into the corridor. Its visor tilted up, fixing him in place.
Cael turned around, his heart threatening to pound a hole through his chest. At his back, the door kept rising. The path was almost clear.
The Herald stepped forward and Cael instantly knew that there was nowhere to run now. Blood smeared his temple, sweat burned in his eyes and his muscles throbbed with a dull ache. But there was no hesitation now.
He could see the sky past the rising bulkhead.
And nothing was taking that from him.