Crushing Tension

The doors in the base continued to shut down the corridors behind them, their feet desperately kicked the floor so they could advance before the doors closed behind them.

Their survival was on the line, and they knew that on the aggressive intrusiveness of the base in containing the Primal Corruption.

They didn't know what that was, just that it was bad. Incredibly bad.

They continued to run for entire minutes, even as Ellianor's head pounded by the pain and memory overflow and the confusion Kissenn had about the entire thing.

They were both in a state of confusion for different reasons. As they ran Ellianor realized that he would have to suck up the pain and deal with whatever problem came their way without whining.

'Treat it like a job, the worst overtime your boss had given you.' Even the overtime wouldn't be that bad in comparison. Ahead of them, Ellianor saw another hall.

The locking of the corridor intensified as if sensing that they could escape if they resisted just a little more. The air snapping and being cut and sealed was palpable on their backs, the bites of the gates on their back.

A cold bite that promised a crushing death or suffocation. "Tsc! That thing doesn't stop in wanting to kill us?!" Kissenn questioned as she looked down on the shutting corridors.

The gates were on them already, they would need to hasten their face for survival. "Run with all you got! Once we are in range to get out of here, jump!" Ellianor ordered as he hastened the pace first.

He had the impression that Kissenn would be faster than him, and at a moment's notice, she matched his position and started to leave him behind, even with Ellianor's headstart.

The black-haired man's vision started to wave, it was not a good sign. Ellianor began to sprint at his body's full capacity, the air in his lungs ran short, and his muscles started to burn, but he didn't care.

Ellianor couldn't care about the damage, it was not ideal, but dying was even less preferable. His stomach contracted as his breath ran out, he pushed himself until his face was red by oxygen deprivation, but he did not stop.

"Just a little more!" Kissenn shouted, flickering lights awaited ahead, the promise of freedom and safety, for the time being, was there. She reached the exit first and jumped.

Ellianor felt his throat clench and his vision darken as he reached the ledge, a gate bit off a whole section of his ponytail, the hair crushed, the vacuum it made on his back. Before his vision gave out, Ellianor jumped ahead.

Ellianor leaped with faith that he would escape the corridor. His body crashed against the ground as the final gate shut off the corridor completely. His breath was the first thing his body tried to resume.

"Aaaah!" Like a newborn's cry, burning oxygen entered his system again, his vision cleared bit by bit, his blood resumed carrying oxygen through the whole body, and his brain was forced to work overtime to recover from near unconsciousness quickly.

While it was not his best shape, it was far from the worst. "Damn this place…" Ellianor cursed under his breath as he grabbed the sword that was given to him, he used it as an impromptu cane to raise him.

"That was insane." Kissenn talked out loud, recovering first. The hall they were in looked a lot more like a food court.

A derelict and broken food court. There were corpses around, but not that many.

It was as if the bodies were moved around. Kissenn narrowed her eyes on the destroyed space. 'I… don't know what happened, or much of anything, but this is bad.' Kissenn winced, as she too held her head in confusion.

Her mind was foggy, it was vacant of important information… she knew, but had no recollection of how she acquired it.

She trusted that man, Ellianor, but the reason for her trust was not clear.

'It's as if my mind has been factory reset…' The chance to go on endlessly while thinking about the meaning of factory reset was there, but Kissenn ignored that thought because it would apply to everything.

Knowledge without experience, and experience without history. 'Dammit.' She couldn't remember a single thing about her life or what led her there.

It was infuriating, as if trying to pick up a coin from the ground, but always letting it slip by the end.

Ellianor got himself back up, his head clearer, and almost devoid of the pain that afflicted it. He could see the sight of carcasses and mangled corpses, it made his stomach turn and his face go green.

Quickly Ellianor covered his face, his stomach thrashing at the sight and the blood-filled smell that permeated the food court. It was a strange layout…

'A reception room, a laboratory, and a food court so close together…'

It made no sense. The number of corpses there and the lack of them a few rooms and corridors ago painted a mystery. 'It would be impossible for Kissenn to be there and stand unharmed… unless she was placed there afterward.'

The smell of entrails and guts was everywhere in the food court, and there was a sizable corruption where he started. 'It is impossible for Kisisen to have been at that laboratory at first.'

It was already thrashed by the time he entered. Ellianor had to stare at Kissenn, who was too confused, but he was sure it was not for the same reasons as him. 'Damned voice.'

With a look at the map, it had shut down, just a blank screen with no information on it. 'Just what I needed.' There was no way to know what path they should take next.

Standing still and mopping about the problems wouldn't help them, or answer their questions. "Hey. Let's introduce ourselves. We couldn't because… whatever happened."

Kissenn nodded with a thin smile. "I'm… Kissenn. That's all I can remember about me. There is… nothing else."

'Amnesia…? No, it is not that selective…'