As its eye got redder and redder, Tracy could see as the other eyes began to follow suit. Tracy looked around, now surrounded by these eyeballs on legs. Tracy’s beat faster until she hear it like a drum pulsing in her ears. Her eyes darted around, looking for an opening she could run through. She couldn't just let them trap her here. Despite her bravado, there were too many for her to make a clean getaway. Looking for options, she tried pulling up her player card, but nothing happened.

"Revenge." She heard one of the eyes say. Her eyes snapped to the robot. It repeated the word. "Revenge, revenge, revenge." As the sound grew louder, she could hear other eyes joining as they closed in on her. She had nowhere to run and nothing to fight with. Panicked, she grabbed a rock from the ash and threw it at one of the eyes.

The rock hit it squarely in its pupil, scratching the glass. The eye jumped back as all of the other eyes stopped chanting. They stared at her for a few seconds that lasted forever. "Poor choice." The firefox said telepathically. The eyes began to hiss at her before jumping at her.

They started latching onto her body. She could feel the sting as their legs latched onto her body. They grabbed her feet and locked them in place as more of the eyes began to crawl up her legs. Tracy batted at the eyes in vain, knocking them away for only a few seconds before they came at her again. Before Tracy knew it, the eyes had covered her up to her torso. They clamped her in place until she couldn’t move her arms anymore.

As the last of her vision began to be covered by the creatures, she heard a sigh inside her mind. Then, just like with the expunger, she felt a flash of heat. Several eyes turned to a lifeless grey and tumbled to the ground. The others began to squeal in fear as they unclamped themselves from Tracy's body and fled away. The metal wire attached to their heads shot higher and higher into the sky until they disappeared into the brownish-grey clouds.

Tracy gasped for air as the machines fled from her. Tracy looked over her body; she was still completely unharmed. She shuddered at the experience. First, an expunger, and now these? If anything, she couldn’t be reckless around anything in this game. She cringed. She was stupid to underestimate and engage these things without knowing how they ticked.

She grunted as she removed the lifeless eyes from her body one at a time. Curious, she picked up one of their corpses. The polished steel was smooth to the touch except for the severed wire connected at the top of their head. It was severed while the rest of its body was intact. Tracy was tempted to take it apart and see what was inside and how it ticked. Deciding against it, she tossed the robot down into the dust. Almost immediately, a gust of wind blew dust over it, covering it in the ash of this level.

She turned around, hoping to find the firefox. The beast was off in the distance, easily walking through the blistering dust storm. Tracy started to run towards it before hesitating, looking over at the building she was next to, wondering what would be best for her to get some answers...

"Follow." The firefox said as if reading her mind. Tracy looked around, still seeing the firefox walking further away. "You won't find anything other than more pods, follow." The firefox commanded. Tracy looked back at the chrome building and then to where the firefox was heading. Biting her lip, she made her choice. She wasn't looking forward to the dust storms, but she didn't have much of a choice.

***

Tracy trailed a few meters behind the firefox, holding her fox hood over her head to avoid as much dust as possible. She had tried to thank the firefox for saving her, only for it to ignore her. She had also attempted petting the firefox again, although, it shrugged her off with a small whip from its head. Tracy concluded the beast was ignoring her and slinked behind it. An awkward silence ensued.

To take her mind off of the awkwardness, she looked over the world she was in. There was nothing more than more dunes filled with ash and dust. As she looked around, there was only an occasional withered bush and nothing more than the dunes. It was like all life had been sucked out of this land along with anything interesting. She didn't understand this level. She kept looking over her shoulder for enemies that would ambush them or anything of interest. They traveled for at least thirty minutes, and Tracy found nothing but an eerie stillness.

It gave her the creeps. It was too quiet for them to only run into a few enemies and then nothing. Tracy was confident that the bizarre eye things were gathering reinforcements or waiting to ambush them. As Tracy thought this, she saw the firefox stop at the top of a dune hill. It probably found something.

"What is it?" Tracy asked as she rushed to it. There was still no response. The firefox just stood still, looking down into the valley below. Tracy rolled her eyes before looking over the dune hill and into the valley. The sight took her breath away. There weren't any enemies, just a magnificent city in front of her. What she could make out from the dust storms was almost magical.

The city surrounded a massive round structure, like an egg nestled in a nest. Skyscrapers spiraled up into the sky, their design defying physics and logic, all while the roads twisted about, creating a forest of intersections and edifices. It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi novel. No, it was even more alien than that. Though from its construction and layout, there was no doubt in her mind that this was an advanced civilization.

Or the remains of one. While the city's design was dazzling and bizarre, the color could not live up to such a name. Like the rest of this barren world, there was only grey and black. What color she did see was faded and chipped. It was easy for her to tell it had been weathered through the ages from the dust storms.

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Interrupting her thoughts, the firefox started down a well-trodden path into the city. As Tracy followed, she looked around. Paranoia crept in as she looked at the large buildings, especially inside their cracks. Their insides were dark, making them an ideal place for enemies to ambush them, and she would be ready to face them. Although the firefox showed no such concern, walking through the middle of the street without so much as a glance at the areas of Tracy’s apprehension. Tracy squinted in shock at the lack of the firefox’s concern.

“They won’t attack us here.” The firefox said, not elaborating any further.

“How can you be so sure?” Tracy asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. “Those things looked like they’d hold a grudge.”

The firefox chuckled. Then, as if in response, it meandered from its path, turning a corner into an alleyway. Tracy clenched her teeth. She didn’t like being ignored. Without another choice, she continued to follow down the alleyway. It wasn’t like the ones that she had known. The ones on Earth were filled with trash and danger, not this one. Tracy noticed different flower boxes, dirt-filled pots, and even the occasional tree. All the plants were withered and covered in ash, but Tracy could imagine how relaxing this alleyway would’ve been. There wasn’t a piece of trash in sight. Tracy could tell this place was well-tended by the residents. There were no signs of destruction. It looked like everyone just disappeared without a trace.

Tracy looked in surprise as the firefox just continued down the path, not paying any heed to the scenery. "Where are we going?" Tracy asked, her freckled nose scrunched up in concern as she looked at the firefox.

The firefox turned from the small lane into a main road, again ignoring Tracy. She looked down, keeping her eyes on her feet and the smooth concrete. This city was off. She thought it would be like a regular abandoned city, dangerous, with something dreadful at every corner. She didn’t feel that way about this city. The only emotion that she could put to it was… sadness.

Tracy didn’t expect a response but waited for the firefox to give one anyway. After a few minutes, it did. "We are going to see the princess, of course." It said. Tracy knitted her eyes at the answer. That didn’t make sense.

"But we saved the princess in the last level, didn't we? Why would she be here?" Tracy said, trying to catch up with the firefox. The firefox only chuckled at the answer before continuing down the road.

"Not quite." The firefox answered.

Tracy looked down at the ground, confused by what the firefox meant. As if noticing her confusion, the firefox took a breath. "But yes, you did save the princess. It’s just a bit more complicated than that. We're almost here."

Tracy looked up, realizing their silent, solemn journey had led them to the city's center. The egg she had seen on top of the hill was right before her; this close, it was colossal. It looked like the egg had bulldozed through several buildings as enormous piles of wreckage and ruined buildings surrounded the egg. While she saw a fusion of materials in the city, from concrete to wood and brick, this massive structure was made entirely of black chrome. The more Tracy looked at it, the more intricate it was, with spindles of wire and metal bars creating a tangled web of chrome. All of which reflected the little light from the world from its glossy polished finish. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it looked like AI art she had seen floating around the internet back home.

"A word of caution." The firefox said, facing Tracy this time. "This is not a normal place. Nor is it a level like you think it is."

Tracy folded her arms. "What are you suggesting then?"

"I suggest you don’t take everything at face value." The firefox said, looking back at the building. “You might assume something without knowing the whole picture.”

Tracy bit her lip as she heard that. With everything that she had experienced today, she didn’t know what she couldn’t rule out. All she knew was that this was one weird game.

The firefox approached the egg. The fire around its fur ignited as it whipped aside the debris, revealing a menacing door. Tracy’s heart began to pound. Even for video game standards, this egg-like thing was off. It was like putting someone putting up halloween decorations during Christmas. WIth the addition of the door, the one thing that Tracy did know was that there was nothing good behind it.

The firefox put a claw against the steel. The steel screeched as the firefox scratched a symbol into the chrome. The symbol looked like a jagged circle with a dot in its center. The building must’ve liked it as the door reacted. Tracy heard gears begin to turn as the doors whined open, revealing an ominous darkness inside. After a few seconds, The firefox walked into it, disappearing only a few meters inside.

"Follow." The words of the firefox went into her mind. Tracy only grew more uneasy as she looked into the darkness. She shook her head. This was insane. A monster had nearly killed her, and now she was following a mythical creature into an ominous egg. There were so many red flags that she didn’t know where to begin with them.

She looked around at the city. She should find a way out before it was too late, go home back to her life… her ugly, terrible life. She slumped just from thinking about it. She shook her head. She had come here for a reason, and she was going to go through with it. She looked back through the open door. As much as she hated it, she knew this was the only clue she had to finding her brother. She cursed him under her breath. If this was true, why in all that is holy did he get himself involved in this twisted hell?

With that thought, Tracy walked into the egg. She followed what small light she could see of the firefox. A few seconds after she entered, blue light flooded the room. She looked around and up, searching for the source of the light. The entire egg was hollow, except for the thousands of wires that flowed through the room. Several of them glowed a bright blue as they poured into its center.

Seconds after the blue wires went up, she saw other wires light up, from green to red and orange, all flowing down into its center, the concoction of color combining to pulse an intense white. Unfazed, the firefox walked through the egg, around the wires, and up stairs that led to the center of this massive dome.

As Tracy followed the firefox, she thought about the princess: Her cute, flamboyant dress, her awe-filled smile, and her innocent demeanor. Things that fell in contrast to the eerie wires and oppressive dark chrome that closed in on her.

As They reached the core of the egg, the view filled Tracy’s heart with disgust. It was a pile of dirty clothes. Confused at the sight, she got closer until she could see a face. She recognized it immediately. Tracy could tell that by her long ears, glowing eyes, and smile. It was the princess. She wore dirty rags that didn’t seem like they had been washed in months. Not that it mattered. More pressing was how Tracy saw the princess. She sat on a chair, like the ones used for torture in horror movies she had seen. Her little ten-year-old body was strapped in, with clamps and restraints keeping her in place. The wires were all connected to these different clamps and restraints, with the glowing parts all flowing into her. This didn’t look like the princess; this was a prisoner.

“Hi, Tracy.” She said with a warm, raspy voice.