I stopped dead in my tracks, not moving a muscle, not making a sound. I felt frozen, incapable of movement, stuck. My eyes moved frantically all over the room, searching for something. The perpetrator? Clues? I didn't know.
My extremities went cold. My pulse raced, my head pounded. Numbness crept through me. Looking down, I was startled to find my knife already in my hand, hilt gripped so tight my knuckles turned white. The blade felt weightless.
This was bad. Real bad.
I took a step forward and paused. Nothing happened, but I felt like the world was spinning, faster than ever. Another step. Time blurred. Sensations melted in a confusing soup. I kept going.
Third step; I could see their broken limbs.
Fourth; the stench of rot hit me.
Fifth; I saw... I saw their insides spilled on the floor.
Sixth; their faces, twisted in death.
Seventh: I looked into their lifeless eyes.
Terror.
The bodies were mutilated, with white ribs and intestines showing. The throats were also open, and some limbs weren't even attached to the torso. The rags they wore were almost scarlet red, the white underneath barely distinguishable. The bodies seemed to be of a couple: one male, one female.
They were eaten, I said in my mind. Those things ate them. Most of the internal organs were missing, and there were... pieces of them all around the room. Their faces were hurt and scratched, but mostly intact in comparison to the rest of the body. It was the goriest sight I had ever seen.
The room itself was mostly full of trash, with a single sofa, a few broken tables, and a chandelier hanging above. There were no windows, only small vents high on the walls. Scattered across the floor were some candles, a lot of broken wood, and random bits of trash. What had been the purpose of this place?
As I was about to leave, I tried to avoid looking at the bodies again, unsuccessfully. Fuck. You had to be careful about what you let yourself see, or it could scar you forever. This would take real effort to forget...
Despite the traumatizing impact, this last glimpse revealed an unnoticed detail: a small blue marble, lying forgotten beside the woman's body. It was just a small sphere, easy to overlook, yet far too pristine to belong in this horror.
Touching anything near the two corpses seemed reckless, but the marble’s vivid blue glint was unsettlingly familiar — too much like the azure amulet to dismiss. I had refrained from scavenging the bodies, out of primal aversion and respect but...
I reapproached the scene, quickly got the marble, and stepped back again. Nothing happened. Not even a tiny prickle like the one I'd felt when I'd put on the amulet.
The sphere itself was slightly glassy and smaller than a table tennis ball. Nothing other than that.
Enough, I can check this later.
Closing the door behind me, I just stood there for a few moments, fighting to push the nausea back down.
I was in a dangerous place, I couldn't lose myself now. I had to focus. Stay alert. One wrong move, and I'd be the one dead on the floor. Lifting my head, I stared at the other closed door, now standing opposite me. That would be my next stop. No running away now.
I avoided walking through the courtyard, as it felt too exposed for my tastes. I'd rather walk slowly and quietly through the hallways than stroll right through the middle of an open area. It would make me too visible, too vulnerable. Plus, it would not be prudent to leave too many traces of my presence in this place.
My nerves were stretched taut by the time I reached the next room. Hearing nothing from within, I eased the door open and peeked inside.
This room was different. It had cages, and chains, and metal, and... This was a jail of some type — or maybe a zoo exhibit. The cages came in all shapes and sizes, some large enough to hold humans. Either this place is 03, or it's another testing facility that I haven't read about yet, I thought.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Some cages were smashed open, others were still intact but eerily empty. The air, surprisingly, wasn’t as foul as I expected—just the faint stench of rust and mold. Shards of glass and twisted metal littered the dirty floor.
I also noticed the door. Heavy and made of metal. Something had been kept here.
After another look around, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything, I left. This time I paid more attention to the scraps on the floor, but nothing stood out. There were traces of blood on some chains, so either this was a torture chamber, like the ones back in 01, or some type of... I don't know, lab? Storage?
Perhaps the rest of the building would give me more clues.
"On to the second floor then", I muttered.
I headed for the set of stairs, on the opposite side of the entrance. They were made of wood and creaked with every step I took — something to keep in mind if I had to escape. Reaching the second floor, I confirmed that the layout was the same, with this floor simply mirroring the first one; There were three doors, each on a different side.
This was a pretty good vantage point. You could overlook the entire courtyard from up here, while also keeping an eye on the only entrance of the place.
The first room I reached seemed to be an office of some kind. It was full of tables, chairs, cabinets... It looked like one of those stereotypical offices from old movies. The complete absence of electrical equipment was just the cherry on top. This is the perfect place to find more evidence, I considered, my mood improving a bit.
Not wasting time, I quickly began searching for documents, reports, notes... anything useful. All the desks were identical, as were the drawers and most of the furniture. Interestingly enough, for an office, this place was suspiciously devoid of paper. I mostly found empty folders and random blank sheets here and there.
Only after searching for quite a while did I manage to find something interesting. Beneath one of the cabinets, a tiny bit of paper was sticking out, almost too small to notice. Pulling it with care, a full report came out.
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0107 - 08.10 Research Report
Summary:
Subject shows signs of accelerated morphological development under the Distilled Essentia Treatment, confirming J-Hypothesis-1 (H0). Brain and Aspect development do not reach the new estimated threshold for the organism, rejecting J-Hypothesis-2 (H1) and further indicating the necessity of revision in the main theoretical framework. The entire methodology and streamlined process can be consulted at MP 0107, submitted on 04/10.
Results:
Subject does show an observable increase in cognitive capacities, albeit under the original estimated trend (pre-DET). It includes, but is not limited to: Acute increase in socialization capacity, Acute increase in communication capacities, Average increase in audiomorphological manipulation, Low increase to MW - stimuli responses, Low increase in symbolic comprehension, High increase in behavioral mimicry, Low increase in problem-solving capabilities, Low increase in imaginative cognition.
The average increase in proto-Aspect capacities is considered to be directly correlated to natural development and maturity, not to the effectiveness of the DET or additional Essentia enhancement drugs.
Relevant observations:
0107 shows signals of typical psychosomatic stress, usually after failures in performance tests or when kept in silence for too long. Before resorting to bouts of mania and agression, subject employs audiomorphological mimicry and behavior modulation to trick, change, cause distress, confuse, or obtain simple information. The nature and limitations of its approach are described in MP0107 - 04/10, as is an updated list of characters and skins the subject has adopted until now.
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"Uhhhh... What?"
This wasn't exactly what I expected to find, but it was intriguing nonetheless. Were my first impressions right then? Was this really a lab complex? But..., things still didn't make sense. Distilled Essentia Treatment? Audiomorphological manipulation? Was I even on Earth anymore?
Deep down, I already knew the answer. I had died that day, with that knife in my guts. So this... this was what happened after death? Really? What about-
It doesn't matter, I thought to myself, you have to leave this place first. Focus.
This report. Was 0107 the code of the experiment then? Ignoring the technical jargon, this thing was basically describing... I don't know, a skinwalker of some kind. And this-
Wait...
0107? 0107... I started pacing around the room. 01, 07... these numbers rang a bell.
Martha?
'Martha' was in the seventh cell, wasn't she...?
My eyes widened. A chill crept up my spine. I looked back at the report and reread the last excerpt out loud.
"The nature and limitations of its approach are described in MP0107 - 04/10, as is an updated list of characters and skins the subject has adopted until now."
Skins. That is creepy.
That thing was really more dangerous than I thought.
And what about the other document, this MP0107? Where could I find it?
I glanced around the empty office. Actually, where had everything gone? I'd searched every inch of this place and barely found this lost report.
Pieces were still missing. This suspicious emptiness, the two bodies... things didn't add up.
I looked at the report one last time and turned it around. There, in the back, was a signature:
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Signed and Submitted by: Chief Researcher M.N., #03 — 08.10.1222
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This felt familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but it did. I’d have to think about it later — when I was calmer, more composed.
Putting the file in my pocket, and taking one last passing glance at the abandoned office, I left.
There were still two more rooms to explore.