Her breath showed in clouds of the frigid air. This section must have been the abandoned area the Admiral mentioned, and the heating was broken.The old, somewhat rusted, metal was freezing to the touch. That is, if one could see anything. She was underdressed for this cold which made her heart pound even more faster. Darkness bathed everything and anyone, except for the light her flashlight shined down the hall. Wherever the light landed, the frost on the walls gave off a beautiful glare against the purple walls. Quickly moving through the seemingly endless corridors of doors. The doors looked less like doors to her and more like wounds in flesh. She feared one would open and swallow her whole. These doors, long shut, blocked the rooms off. One could only move down the corridors and hope there would be no door barring their way. Footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the halls, followed by another pair, but there also were words. “WHAT WAS THAT THING!?” Nilni shouted behind Elinsys, trying to keep up the pace. Elinsys was busy trying to plan out an escape route, but the hallways didn’t give way to any splitting corridor or room. “RUN.” Elinsys told her friend, she could explain when they weren’t being chased. Behind them, always few turns behind, but never quite losing the pair, was the sound. Talons scratched the corridor floor, walls and even the ceiling. It shrieked behind them, causing pain to the pair’s ears. Elinsys couldn’t keep up the pace anymore, her legs hurt more and more as the doors went along. “Your legs will give up if you keep this up.” Nilni said behind her, in a relaxed voice. Elinsys turned around, stopping to see why she couldn’t hear Nilni running anymore. “What do you...” Nilni was far away, too far, she was standing just at the last turn they had taken. She stood there facing towards the shrieking sounds coming down the corridor. “Nilni what are you doing!?” Elinsys shouted. “We need...” The thing chasing them was now standing in front of Nilni, like a statue. Elinsys could see it perfectly, well, except for the fact the light right above it gave out, and so did others in the hallway. It was an umbra, a gloom made manifest. Now it was dark again, but she could still make out Nilni, but barely. The monster, the beast that was chasing them was still there, its shining green eyes like pits of fire in the night. All four of them, two big and a smaller pair right over the big ones, but more to the side. She’d seen spiders with eyes like that. Not many stories with giant, clawed spiders ended well for plucky women. Elinsys tried to turn on the flashlight in her hands, but it refused to work.Does it absorb light, or electricity? Nilni extended her arms towards the monster. “You are… you are...” Elinsys could hear the growing struggle she had with speaking. “You...are...” Her voice sounded more and more broken until finally she could speak no more. One of the beasts' claws came closer to her face. “Young.” It said with a deep voice, sending shivers down both Nilni’s and Elinsys’ spines. The voice has an ethereal property. When it said that word it sounded like it was coming from every possible and every impossible direction. It was both coming from outside and inside of her mind. “Too young.” It brought the claw down, cutting Nilni and forcing her to the floor. “Weak.” The voice made her skull ring with pain. She wanted to shout, but she was paralyzed by the voice. She tried to run down the hall, but her legs gave way, like her dream, her...premonition. She fell to the floor with a grunt, but she didn’t give up. She tried to crawl away. “Weak?” The voice asked again, this time from closer to Elinsys. “Young?” Even closer. “No.” Closer. “Suitable.” So close. “Host.” Elinsys turned her head to look behind her. The beast was right above her, standing over her all four eyes looking at her, a small golden retina in a sea of green in each one. It moved its claw closer. It had a blue liquid on it, few droplets splattered on Elinsys’ face, burning where they touched. “Why did you do that? Why to Nilni?” Elinsys asked, she was buying time. She has to get out of here. The corridor is right… there? There was no corridor in front of her, there was nothing. In fact, there was nothing all around here, she was in nothing. It was just her and the beast floating in this endless black. Only some purple veins stood out. “Naive.” The voice was overpowering, she couldn’t think of anything, but that voice drilling itself into her head. “Listen.” It said. “Where are you?” Said a female voice with melody. “I have a gift for you. It is a most wonderful gift, young and beautiful.” She started to sing some melody, it was painful to hear ears, all four of them. “SILENCE!” The voice shrieked with hurt and anger turning the purple veins a bright red, all was bathed in red. “Silence.” It calmed down, all was calm around them, the purple shade returned. “Salvation.” It said, its maw opening ever so slightly. Was it smiling? Nilni appeared next to Elinsys, her eyes dead and staring at hers. “Save.” the voice told her, then all turned black and the cold was gone. * Elinsys woke up and hit her head against something. After a few seconds she realized she was in a vent, a rather old and large one. It was unlit, but she could see all the rust around her. This station was badly maintained, she would report this to the Admiral. She turned on a flashlight she had in her hands, it was tied to her wrist, When did I get this? She didn’t have it before, it is a very old model. It lit up the air vent. In one direction it kept on going into the darkness, but the other way was… smashed. The whole thing was crushed, as if beneath some great force. There was only one way for her to go, so she took it. She crawled for a few minutes before she finally found an opening. It led out into a huge area, sadly, she was too high up to get down safely. She was looking at the promenade, like the one on the station. It was smaller, but the store names were still visible. There were still goods in some of the windows and bags were thrown all over. In fact there was garbage everywhere, they must have used this place as a dump after it was too badly damaged. There was moss all over and it has overgrown some of the shops and walkways. Elinsys could picture it before, Shil’vati walking around, soldiers getting hammered in the bars, hopefully there were no places like the one she was in two nights ago. Now it was causing a shiver to move down her neck, what once must have been a beautiful place is now nothing but ruins and piles of garbage. On the wall opposite her was written in large, white and bold letters. “Polaris Section C-3” and under those “Promenade Ulthar”. “The abandoned section? How did we end up here from that…, what was that place even? Focus Elinsys, focus.” She closed the shutters and moved forward. Nilni, she must find her. She must save her. Her thought went back to the nightmare. It would seem that gold dust really does things to her mind. Did she stick herself into the air vent? “No, that would make no sense. Why would I do that? That makes no sense...” She realized she was still wearing her wrist bracelet. At least she could use it to contact Melora and then... It had no signal. At least she could see what time and date it was. Her heart stopped, it showed it has been a day since their little party, in fact they were half done with the second one. There must be a search going on, unless… Elinsys remembered the dust show, and what happened before on the Frontier. Did they all go crazy? Those eyes, staring into her soul. She shook her head, as if to remove such thought from her mind. “FOCUS.” She heard her voice, more forceful than usual. Commanding even, it reminded her of the rebellion. How she commanded her allies back then, how her words reshaped the cities around her, how she won that war single handedly. How wonderful the crown felt upon her head. Heavy, heavy with power and respect. How it felt when her word was law. How her four eyes saw every move of her enemies. Except one. Just the one. “NO!” She shouted. What venomous thoughts were these? Infesting her mind, she must still be under the influence of the drug. That is the only reasonable explanation. “I have to press on.” She moved by the vents, going from room to room, trying all the doors and looking for some kind of a map. A way out, so she and Nilni could escape, when she finds her. Where is she? Then a noise, screaming, shouting and laughter. Further down the ventilation system. Elinsys crawled as fast as she could, she was getting closer now, she could make out words. “What is wrong with this one? This whore? Is that it? That she is a whore?” A female voice said, the one from the nightmare. “Fine, next one then.” She heard muffled cries and then a thump. “This one is older, you said you want older. Too old?” She asked again, mild annoyance in her voice. “No?” A slice, spluttering of blood and a thump. “This one, I saw how much you liked her. Not having her forget that she saw you. And she is acrobatic, perfect. Right?” Again no answer. “Oh, come on. I am running out of people here. I have only so many left. Tell me what you want, why must we play this guessing game, my dear?” Elinsys was getting close, so close. Almost there. “Well, are you sure you don’t want her? Fine, I will.” A stab, then another. Muffled screaming filled the air. And the sound of flesh being cut continued. Then Elinsys reached the shutter. She saw a mostly ghastly sight, she wanted to puke. The Shil’vati woman who was shouting was… was cutting and eating the flesh of another Shil’vati. She cut out small thin strips and then ate them raw. She wore an old uniform, ragged and clearly stitched back together multiple times. “Does this bring me… make me closer to you? More like you?” She asked, her mouth blue, her whole neck was blue from all the Shil’vati blood. Her clothing was also covered in it and all around was blood. There were few more corpses littered around the room. All of them with their throats cut, some having other cuts as well. Then Elinsys saw Nilni, tied to the pipes in the room, watching the unfolding horror before her. She tried not to look, her eyes were closed. Elinsys started to remove the shutter as quietly as possible. “One more chance, one more opportunity for a happy marriage, will you give me this?” She walked over to Nilni, raising her hand to touch her face, similar to how the beast did it in Elinsys’ nightmare. Nilni headbutted the woman, knocking her back and making her trip over one of the bodies, falling to the ground. “Naughty, hopefully it will like it.” She got up, slowly, she looked sick. “Maybe it will like your ferocity, girl.” Elinsys exited the vent and decided to use her flashlight like a club. The woman approached with her knife and put it against Nilni’s throat. “Can you sing? It likes it when I sing to it, when I sing to it songs about great and bloody battles.” She asked pressing her knife more to Nilni’s throat. If she goes any deeper there would be blood. Elinsys slowly approached the woman, raising her improvised club high. “Maybe, you are not good enough. Maybe nobody is, but your friend should be given a shot.” Elinsys drove her club down upon the woman. She dodged, but was too slow and the club hit her shoulder, producing a loud crack. The woman screamed like an animal trapped in a turoxtrap. Her arm went limp, hanging off to the side. Elinsys felt a moment of respite, there was no way she could fight on. The woman turned around and swung her knife at Elinsys, cutting some of her clothing, but luckily nothing else. Before Elinsys could return the blow she swung again, this time slicing Elinsys across the chest. Filled with agony and rage. Elinsys swung her club up towards the woman's legs, and hit her knee. “DIE.” She shouted. The woman stumbled back towards Nilni. Surprise or fear on her face. “This one? So be it.” She braced as Elinys came at her. When the club went towards her, she moved out of the way and hit Elinsys in the leg with her boot. Elinsys fell over, dropping her club. She was ready to deliver the final blow to Elinsys. Raising her knife above her head, she prepared to stab it into Elinsys’ throat. Nilni would not let her do it. The woman let out a painful scream when Nilni’s boot hit her right in her nether region, sending pain through her whole body and causing her to lower her arms. Elinsys took this opportunity to regain her balance and smashed her in the head with her club. The woman fell to the ground, blood oozing out of her skull. “Elinsys, thank the Goddess you came. I was praying. Me, praying! I am glad she didn’t find you.” Nilni was crying, tears of joy, but also of fear. “I thought I was done for. I hoped you would at least get out.” Elinsys freed Nilni from the rope which was holding her tied to the pipes. Nilni and Elinsys hugged, for what appeared to be an eternity. “She ate her. Cut her flesh off and… put it into her mouth.” Nilni said, in what Elinsys could not tell was either disgust or longing. Elinsys looked behind her, the body of the dancer from two nights ago lay. She quickly turned Nilni away from it, blocking her view of it with her body, but placing the horrific sight in her full view. Nilni tried to look back, but Elinsys held her in place. “Do not look. It will only be worse. Look at me. Look. At. Me.” She said in as gentle of a voice as she could. Nilni was as if possessed and forced herself to look. “NO.” Elinsys said, this time in a commanding voice. Nilni did not look. Elinsys told Nilni to wait and watch the woman. Then she walked over to the corpse of the dancer. She was covered in what appeared to be cuts, but some were too big for the knife that the woman had. Large chunks were missing from her, as if gouged off by something very big, and very stong. Elinsys moved the corpse into the corner and tried to hide it as best as she could. “She is looking at me.” Nilni said. Elinsys turned around and saw Nilni holding a knife, now over the woman. She came closer, and the woman followed her with her golden eyes, burning as brightly as of the dancer two nights ago. “I see. A tool. That is what I am. Not a bride to be. Not a queen or an empress, but a tool. Not a good one at that.” She chuckled to herself. “Who are you? Why did you do this?” Elinsys asked. “I was a captain, a long time ago, back when this part of the station was still operational. I was young then, and arrogant. Noble blood in my veins made me think I was better than all. I was told to oversee a trading ship for some time, got a bit too rough with one of the Noble boys.” “We spent so long out here, so bored. Then we found the rocks and I found my fortune. My ticket back home, but I didn’t want to go home anymore. Well, I did at first. Soon, I wanted to stay and have all the rocks for myself. Then, well, then the crew wanted a cut, so I gave them their part. They slaughtered each other like animals. We laughed, didn’t we?” She looked behind Elinsys, towards the door. Elinsys gave a quick glance behind, but there was nothing there. “You can’t see it yet? What a terrible decision it made. I hope it has more mercy upon your soul than it did mine.” She laughed with great force. “I hope you learn how wonderful the flesh of your own kind is, how wonderful the song of the endless void is. How the...” She started to choke on something, then she coughed out blood. “I leave you two. Enjoy each other's company for as long as it lasts. I doubt it will be long.” She looks towards Elinsys and then towards the door. Then she dropped dead to the cold floor. “What now, Eli?” Nilni asked, but Elinsys was not in that room anymore. Her mind had wandered far away. Or was it closer, thought Elinsys? “HOST.” The voice from the nightmare said, making Elinsys head hurt once more, then it burrowed itself deeply. And didn’t speak again. A feeling of dread came over Elinsys with that one word. It’s funny how one single word can change so much.