A makeshift raft floated downstream. My feet dragged in the currents, sending small shivers up my spine. There was a stark beauty to this unknown wilderness – moss clinging to jagged stones, ancient trees twisting skyward. And yet it was laced with the knowledge that behind this vibrant veneer, there was a silent struggle between those who built this Initialization project, and aquellos like Lilith, who fought against its terrible machinations.
"How many? I mean, are there more like us?" My voice barely carried over the soft babble of the stream.
“Some.” Lilith scanned the shorelines, the makeshift oar guiding us around boulders and snags. "Most who find a way out go mad. Even when the loops stop..." she grimaced, a trace of pain flickering across her expression. "Many end up like Richard, just... echoes of who they once were."
She didn't elaborate, and respect drove me to silence. It was clear there was a toll to their defiance that extended beyond the System itself.
The river twisted. In the distance, something unnatural caught my eye - a tower of glistening obsidian jutting from the shore.
"That is not supposed to be here," Lilith spoke up, tension edging her voice. Her oar strokes intensified, pushing us into a small eddy. "No telling what safeguards the Administrators put in place…we must go on foot from here onwards".
We landed in a secluded grove, pulling the simple craft onto the rocky beach. Here, within the tangled undergrowth, was a barely distinguishable trailhead. It was as if nature itself conspired to conceal its existence.
The walk felt endless. Hours passed in a tense blur, navigating around fallen trunks and muddy trails. There was no conversation, just Lilith moving purposefully, and a heavy feeling settling in my stomach. It was the anticipation, the anticipation of confronting whatever lay ahead. A part of me yearned for those simple loops, those mindless iterations. At least there, the battle lines were clear-cut.
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In contrast, this forest whispered with hidden meanings, every rustling leaf a lurking secret.
At last, just before sunset, we emerged at the crest of a small hill. Before us lay a clearing and within it, a sight that struck a blow more impactful than any monster from the Initialization. It was a village, but not in any sense I could fathom.
"A husk" Lilith muttered. No walls, no proper shelters, but a collection of what appeared to be crude huts crafted from tree branches and discarded bones. And the people inhabiting it...They were moving, yet there was a stiffness to their motions, something less than alive. Their hollow expressions made Richard's fear all too real.
Then my sight snagged on something strange – figures weaving amongst the villagers, cloaked in ragged cloth. While the villagers moved jerkily like puppets, these figures held a grace in their step. With every subtle gesture, there was a flicker of an energy I now recognized all too well - that familiar red flicker.
"Those are the Collectors," Lilith's voice held a new note, grimly fascinated. "They harvest from those trapped outside the system, feeding from the echoes of forgotten iterations." A shockwave of nausea rippled through me as I finally grasped the horror on display.
Lilith grabbed my arm, a sharp warning. "Stay absolutely still. Do not give any indication that you are sentient." We crouched within the underbrush, hidden from the macabre scene below. I held my breath, a scream building in my throat. I wanted to surge forward, to shatter the Collectors, to unleash all that pent-up anger. Yet, fear squeezed my heart. Not my own life, but for what my rage would reveal. Would the Administrators finally take note of this new pawn out of place in their grand simulation?
This was the reality beyond the loop. What the system truly built; husks left behind for these...these scavengers. A grim parody of their original goals. Every beat of my heart felt like a betrayal to those lost souls. To what I might become.
One of the collectors stepped towards a man – an almost translucent figure who sat blankly under the harsh twilight sky. Its hands gestured in a series of intricate motions. Slowly, the red, spectral energy around the collector grew thicker, more potent. Finally, with a sharp pull, the glowing energy dissipated from the man, turning him a ghastly pale white. And just like that, he collapsed to the ground, joining the other empty shells.
In a single act, we witnessed the true fate of those outside the system. Not a sanctuary, but a feeding ground. An eternity where even your memories and sense of self are consumed. This is what I might have become, if not for Lilith.