The air was filled with the odour of rotting flesh and acids. The walls were moving, made of living flesh. In the middle of a dark living tunnel, someone awoke. It was Lukas, wearing the armor of A24's crew, which was now broken, only the anti-flesh shields were still working… barely.
His entire body was aching with pain from the fall. Moving his joints only increased the pain, but he had to stand up and leave, before his shield dies and the Lina consumes him.
"God fucking damn it!" He muttered, clutching his aching rips. "Did I break something?" His legs were at least sprained, if not broken. His shoulder felt all right and his head and stomach felt normal. "How long was I asleep?" He lifted his hanging arm to look at the time, but the part of the armor had fallen off.
He started to look around, stumbling from side to side. Lukas wanted to lean against a wall but if he did, it would just dodge him because of his shield and if he turned it off, the walls would attack. His eyes wandered up and down, from side to side, searching for the part he had lost.
While he did not notice it, he had wandered quite the distance before finding something. "Why would the Lina create a maze around its body instead of just a wall? Is it to encourage us to search for its body instead of attacking it straight on until our batteries are empty and it can kill us? Is it even smart enough to think that far?" He scratched his neck.
He noticed something shining in the corner of his eyes. It was reflecting the light from his flashlight in a different way than the walls made from living flesh. He walked quickly over to pick it up. It was made from metals, but the flesh had grown around it.
"I can't rip it apart, can I?" He asked himself. He hesitated, his hand hovering above the metal. A sigh escaped his lips and he grabbed the object, ripping it out of the ground.
An ear piercing scream came from the hole the object left.
Scared of being in danger, he bolted down a different corridor. Once the scream had almost vanished into oblivion he stopped dead in his tracks. With a glance at the metal object he put it into place on his armor, while not his time display, he was able to replace a slightly damaged object for this one, which was in almost perfect condition.
"Alright, at least something." Lukas continued down the corridor.
⟪⚪⟫
A secret entrance, hidden as nothing but a wall, opened up. A blinding light shining through the gap into the eyes of the cloaked Teddy. She stepped through the light into the room behind and the secret entrance closed once more.
The light turned from blinding into just enough to light up the room. The walls were colored a dark green, almost black. The floor was made from black wooden planks.
The Teddy spoke: "Cloak: Cancel." and ripped off the cloak from its shoulders. The Teddy started to grow and turned back into a Geddos copy. He stretched his arms and massaged his shoulders for a short moment. "That feels way better."
From his back he took his blowgun and threw it back onto a table. It slides a short distance before coming to a stop, having almost fallen off the table.
"Sebastian: Deactivate." He commanded.
A robotic voice answered him: "Right away, my liege." The robotic voice became a hum which drowned into the background as music started playing.
He sat down in front of the desk he had thrown the blowgun onto. He pulled it from the edge of the table back into its place while taking out a small notebook with his other hand. "I should have gotten used to it by now." He muttered and stretched his neck once more.
The notebook was neither titled nor had it a name written onto it to claim it. He opened it using the bookmark and took out his pen. The left page was already written full so he continued writing on the right page.
He wrote about his excursion and elimination of another Geddos copy. How fast he had died, if it seemed painless and about the success of only damaging the selected target.
Humming the song he accidentally wrote down a few lines before noticing and erasing them again. "Shit… Left a smudge." He quickly wrote over the smudge.
Finishing his report of the day he put away his notebook and replaced it with a plastic folder filled with loose papers. "Where was—"
BANG!
"Huh?" His hands stopped mid air. His eyes moved towards the entrance and he whispered: "Sebastian: Activate orange"
The robotic voice this time only sounded in his head: "My liege! An unidentified creature tried to access the door. Shall I activate the camera, or do you wish to proceed with immediate interference?"
"The camera might alert them, immediate interference second level." His hand hovered above the blowgun for a moment before he grabbed another item next to it and headed towards the entrance.
The door opened before him as he walked towards it and there she stood, a human… female? She was surrounded by a group of personalised robots. A weapon was pointed at each and every single vital body point.
The Geddos copy put on his cloak as he stood before her and had the item attached to his hand. It was some kind of glove, even though it certainly did not look like one, as he had no fingers and thus the glove also did not have any. The palm was covered with 6 different magical glyphs, four of them for offensive purposes and the remaining two for defense.
"I have come to—"
"I do not remember giving you permission to open your mouth!" He interrupted her, still adjusting his cloak.
The woman continued to speak, but she did not open her mouth, having taken his words literally: "I have come to send a message. The Emperor wished for you to receive it."
His gaze shifted towards her and with a chuckle he spoke: "I don't remember there being an emperor on this citadel, and a human woman no less. Who are you, if I may ask?"
"I am—"
"You are allowed to use your mouth, that just feels wrong, a voice but no mouth moving to it."
"Thank you." She said, her lips parting once more to speak, "The Emperor has granted me the name Lana. He wishes for an audience with you. His wishes for information regarding your coordinates and a few other things."
Geddos looked at her annoyed. "My coordinates?" He asked in confusion, "If you are here, surely he knows of my whereabouts already."
"Oh no. I misspoke, my apologies. His highness, the Teddy Emperor wishes to know the coordinates of your citadel. In his mind it is cheating for me to just tell him, as I am akin to a deity in this world and you do not have access to one yourself."
"A deity, you say?"