I go down the stairs and from the pulpit and pass the disturbing corpse. I glance furtively, but I don't notice anything suspicious. She is there, helpless as I left her.

I take a corridor parallel to the one I took to get there. I decide to follow the signs hanging from the ceiling.

I don't understand what the characters shown mean, but they are bright green and arranged at regular intervals.

They form a path. Whether it is useful or not, I cannot say, but they will lead somewhere, and – if necessary – it will be easy to turn back.

I walk and pass by other rooms with those frozen entities. The scenario is always similar and there don't seem to be any others alive.

A weight on my stomach hinders my progress. It's as if, following the signals, a force is pushing me forward.

It offers a gradual resistance that crushes me to the ground and makes it difficult for me to breathe.

The hum of the current is gradually covered. By a homogeneous and low sound. The volume of which increases as I get closer.

[Immortality] makes me quite fearless. Aware of this, of not having to die before the thousand years of mandate—why not advance?

But what if it didn't work?

Doubt has crept in and I can't shake it away. Just as spells and [Scan] don't work, why should [Immortality] be an exception?

Because it is a concession from the System. This certainty also makes me feel calm.

This does not mean that the System has defects and critical issues.

Who can assure me that they won't show up now?

So, do I advance or not?

I move forward, or…

I give up. I need to gather more information first.

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I go back. To the cathedral and explore a corridor beyond the opposite transept.

After a while, I am again in a corridor with green signs. I notice a niche with a ladder and go up.

The pressure is felt in this case too but the scale goes up, without getting too close. It remains a feasible effort.

Feet heavy and ears low, I skip the last step to reach the landing. A dark blue light hits me from the left, casting my long shadow on the grates of the floor.

As I turn, the light source takes on a defined shape. A wall of blue flames streaked with currents and arcs of gas, sits an enormous distance from me.

Beyond the railing with some signs, an empty chasm separates me from the wall of flaming gas. The dark color doesn't bother my eyes. I can look at it.

Despite the distance, I can't grasp the limits of the structure. Leaning over the railing, I notice that the upper and lower floors are getting closer as if the area were a kind of containment sphere.

I also notice the exits and lower balconies. I recognize the signals from the dim green aura.

Purple roots and pipelines create entanglements and immerse themselves in the sphere without being burned. The smell of oil is at its peak intensity, and valves on pipelines near my position indicate values I don't know. Nor do I understand.

The roots of the cosmic tree immerse themselves in this sphere of blue fire. The pipelines bring the fuel, the flaming hydrocarbon under the glacier, to this wall.

Sphere.

I'm sure it's a huge sphere, although it could easily be a cylinder or a plate—but the spherical structure… okay, it's not important.

[Scan]

Nothing. Obviously…

I leave the area and return to the stairs. The mystery has deepened. I'm curious. I would stay… but I'm hungry and I've been wandering around this [Sanctuary] for days and days, probably more than a month, without finding out.

I'd say I took too long. I need to go back, check on the deceased, and see if the tornado has dissipated or grown.

I go back to the cathedral and look at the rose window. The blue light it emanates has a different, less magical effect.

At its feet lies my blonde ‘twin’.

She is still as I left her, among the plates copying that of the [core].

I have a doubt.

I approach the nearest plate. I raise my arm.

Ci-cin.

Tentatively, I bite my lower lip. I withdraw my hand…

…then I close my eyes and place them on the plate.

“Answers.”

Nothing is happening.

A cold, helpless, slightly sticky block of iron. I withdraw my hand. The liquids on the plate coagulate in this environment.

I leave the room and go back down the street in reverse.

A sound.

As I approach the exit the sound of a siren becomes audible. The heart accelerates its beat. I run.

The sound grows in intensity and I recognize it.

I go out onto the steps and the darkness of the glacier welcomes me. There are several rows of lighthouses, but I recognize the one I came from.

I look around for something, I don't know what but some clue that I'm wrong. But I see nothing but headlights and a few flames burning on distant towers.

The siren.

The alarm siren is sounding.