The Origin.

Our lobby had grown a crack in reality... A sharp one at that.

The crack did not move, nor grow, so there should be no imminent danger, my instincts agreed.

Still, that didn't mean I felt comfortable standing anywhere near it. I cleaned the blood coming out of the deep cut on my left cheek. A cut as clean as I had ever seen.

If one of the cracks had decided to spread anywhere nearer my skull. I would not be a miner, but a cadaver right now.

"Shit."

Only after making sure the hemorrhage was nothing serious, did my attention follow to my right eye. A blanket of darkness had devoured my vision on that side. As if the nerves involved had been cut.

More important than any of that.

I could feel movement inside that socket. Not any ordinary eye-related movement. It was as if something completely unnatural was moving underneath my eyelid. Exploring, and rearranging tissue to its heart's content.

The surrounding flesh felt slight tingles, but the eye itself had gone completely numb.

"Was this the trade that thing spoke off... A crack."

Battered and bleeding on a corner, I could feel the advance of steps rushing towards the lobby. The crack... Whatever it did. Was pretty much impossible to have missed, even if deep asleep. Not just because of the sound, but because of the deep sense of wrongness, the web of cracks emanated from it.

"Shit."

I said as I watched one of the nearby chairs collapse. Cleanly, cut into two halves.

'That could have been me.'

At that moment, Tamm entered the room, followed by Mack. The entrance made me feel a deep sense of deja-vu for some reason.

"What is that."

Understandably so, their eyes opened like plates. To the point, the two staggered to walk anywhere near that thing, or me for that matter.

What they were looking at, was nothing more than a complex root of cracks, in... dimensions?

Why would I bother explaining anyways? I was just as clueless as them.

"It's fairly complicated to explain."

Only after I talked, did their gazes lift from the anomalous... shatter standing in the middle of the room.

Their expressions turned immediately sour, and concerned at the sight of blood.

"What the fuck happe-"

Mack asked. His body as worn out, and sleep-deprived as he had showed up to be in my nightmare.

"Are you alright Vamm!"

Tamm interrupted him, immediately rushing towards me, kneeling as she examined the bloodied injury.

Even if I was supposed to enjoy these types of moments, I couldn't. I shut my right eye off as hard as I could and pushed her away slightly.

"I'm alright. Thanks... It's just a shallow cut."

I said. Diverting my sight from the pair.

'Fuck.'

I thought... My gaze landed on the floor, just above my cleanly cut, shattered analysis pad. Its interface... Or whatever was left of it, nonchalantly displayed a big, ugly glitch.