The storage corridor seemed to close in around Kai, suffocating any hope of an easy escape. He gripped the knife tighter, trying to ignore the pain in his injured knee, but every step forward felt like moving through a living nightmare. Blue mist seeped from cracks in the walls, covering the floor in a thin, dense layer, as if it wanted to trap his feet there forever. The air was so cold it burned his nostrils, and the whispers drifting from the shadows only made it feel like the entire Nexus was breathing around him.
Kai paused for a second, trying to hear if there were footsteps besides his own, but the silence was so heavy that only the sound of his own heart remained. He forced himself to keep going, deeper into the corridor, guided only by the pale light leaking from invisible places. He thought of Lina, alone at home, waiting for him, and that thought became his fuel not to stop. Fear was a living thing inside his chest, mixed with the irregular pulse of his core, which seemed to shiver at every shadow he passed.
The corridor, which had been just one of many tunnels in the Nexus, began to change. The walls turned darker, almost black, and the blue moss flickered intermittently, like it was trying to draw symbols Kai couldn't decipher. He ran his sweaty fingers along the wall, feeling a strange, viscous texture, as if the Nexus was made of something alive and hostile. The farther he walked, the more he felt that it wasn't just the place changing, but himself as well.
When he tried to use the old communicator at his waist, all he heard was muffled static, followed by a sharp beep that nearly split his eardrum. He turned it off quickly, not brave enough to try again. No one would answer, and even if they did, he doubted anyone would come looking for him here. It was every man for himself, as always.
Outside, the tremors continued. The floor vibrated beneath his feet, kicking up small clouds of blue dust that spun in the air, vanishing when he got close. Kai tried to calculate how long he'd been trapped, but it felt like time no longer made sense in here. The watch on his wrist had stopped a long time ago. What mattered was surviving, and for that he needed to find a way out before the Nexus's creatures realized he was alone.
At every turn, the whispers in the walls grew louder, mixing deep and high voices in an impossible cacophony. For a moment, Kai thought he heard his own name, but he swallowed his panic, gritting his teeth until it hurt. "It's just my mind," he thought, trying to convince himself. But he knew that inside this place, his mind was the most dangerous enemy.
Suddenly, a stronger light appeared at the end of the corridor, and Kai ran, feeling his knee throb with every step. He reached a rusty, half-open door leading to another section of the Nexus. The tremor noises came from there, along with an acidic smell, different from the rest of the place. He pushed the door open slowly, the rust squealing like a warning.
On the other side, a new corridor opened, wider, covered in thick mist up to his knees. Broken lights dangled from thick wires in the ceiling, flickering at random. There were marks on the floor, deep scratches winding a twisted path to a metal gate. Kai recognized the Union's symbol scrawled on the side, but the gate was completely out of place, pinned by crooked beams, impossible to open or close.
That's when he realized: this was the main exit. Or had been, before the last tremor. Now, the gate was shoved aside by debris, the path blocked by chunks of concrete and fallen wires. Kai tried to pull one of the smaller pieces, but the pain in his arm and the weight of the rubble only made him lose hope. He took a deep breath, trying to ignore the feeling of defeat. There had to be another way.
As he weighed his options, he heard a distant noise, like something scratching at the walls. His heart raced. He gripped his knife, eyes searching for any sign of movement. The noise grew louder, and for a second, Kai thought about hiding, but he knew any hesitation here could be fatal. He advanced slowly, pressed against the wall, moving past loose wires and piles of broken crates.
Halfway down, he found what looked like an old monitoring station. Cracked screens, panels covered in dust, everything dead for a long time. An old radio rested on the table, but when he tried to turn it on, all he got was static and mixed voices, impossible to understand. Among the scattered papers, he found an old Nexus map, with routes crossed out and hurried notes scrawled in pen. Kai scanned it quickly, trying to find alternate routes, but half the exits were already marked as "inaccessible," "blocked," or "contaminated."
Suddenly, one of the screens flashed, bathing the room in intense blue light for a moment. Kai flinched, waiting for some alarm, but nothing happened. The light vanished as quickly as it came. Only then did he realize the silence had returned, and with it, the feeling of being watched. The core in his chest vibrated, warming as if warning him of some nearby danger.
Back in the corridor, Kai forced himself to keep moving. He passed an open air duct, where the mist was even thicker. He thought about squeezing inside, but the space was too small, and the fear of getting stuck won out. He kept walking, until he heard footsteps—or something like footsteps—behind him. He spun around, knife ready, but only saw the shadow of some small animal dart across the weak light.
The next corridor was different: old metal walls, scratched all over, and on the floor, trails of something that had been dragged away. The strong smell of rust mixed with the Nexus's chemical stench made Kai gag. He covered his mouth with his jacket sleeve, forcing his breathing to stay steady. He needed to keep calm.
At the end of the corridor, a fork. On the left, a broken staircase led down to lower levels, where a cold, damp breeze drifted up. On the right, a narrow corridor almost completely overtaken by blue moss. Kai hesitated, looking at the torn map he'd found earlier. Nothing matched what was drawn. It was as if the Nexus kept changing shape, defying any attempt at navigation.
Heart pounding, he chose the right. The blue moss clung to the soles of his boots, making every step heavier. The walls vibrated, and the whispers returned, louder now. Kai felt the hairs on his arm stand up. It was like the voices were trying to say something he could almost understand—almost, but not quite.
At the end of the corridor, an old door, different from all the others. No windows, just a rusty lock and strange symbols carved into the surface. Kai pressed his ear to it, trying to hear any sound besides his own breathing. For a moment, everything was silent. Then, a soft click, like someone turning a key on the other side.
Panic almost took over, but he forced himself to act. He tried the door slowly, feeling the lock give under pressure. When he finally slipped inside, the atmosphere changed again. In there, the air was colder, and the blueish moss light revealed strange shapes on the walls. In the center of the room, a metallic structure covered in wires, cables, and a thin layer of shining dust. It was like finding an old lab, forgotten by everyone, lost in the Nexus maze.
Kai approached slowly, feeling his core tremble harder and harder. He ran his hand over the equipment, recognizing pieces of alien technology, cracked tubes, empty tanks, and instruments covered in rust. On the wall, symbols drawn with almost obsessive precision, as if someone was trying to record something important before fleeing. He felt a sudden dizziness, his head spinning with the flood of information and fear.
He tried to breathe deeply, but the air seemed to get heavier by the second. Whispers echoed from the walls, mixing nonsense with familiar phrases, known voices and others that sounded like they came from a nightmare. Kai shut his eyes, trying to fight off the faintness, but his core pulsed stronger, like it was screaming inside his chest.
In the middle of the room, a pedestal covered by a thin layer of blue mist hid something. Kai crouched, brushing away the moss with a trembling hand, until he uncovered a small energy stone, shining with unusual intensity. He picked it up, feeling the vibration run through his entire arm, as if the energy was alive, trying to communicate. For an instant, the room seemed to transform. The floor trembled lightly, and the whispers grew until they became a muffled roar.
Kai stumbled back, almost falling, but didn't let go of the stone. Behind him, he heard the door slam shut with a dry bang, the lock sliding back into place, as if the Nexus wasn't willing to let him leave so easily.
For the first time since he entered, Kai felt that the Nexus wasn't just a hostile place, but a living trap, capable of thinking, of acting to keep whatever it wanted inside. Cornered, alone, he realized that the doors here never really closed—just shifted positions, waiting for the next fool to step through.
And there, caught between hope and despair, Kai understood that surviving would take more than luck. He would have to face not only the creatures and horrors of the Nexus, but also everything darkest within himself.