Exploration of the bunker quickly began anew, Lefie having mostly forgotten about the strange experience.

The pair of them decided to start down a tunnel opposite the one that led to the kitchen, a complete unknown.

Whilst in the tunnels, with a ceiling a mere few feet above them, the whole place felt small and claustrophobic, the fight with the humanoid demon feeling like fighting in a cage. This contrasted paradoxically with the massive, open hall they stayed in, and the apparent labyrinthian design to the whole compound.

They didn’t go walking for very long before Lefie tugged on Riza’s hand.

“There’s lights ahead. They look… kinda green,” The teenager said, squinting.

With a spider sitting on HER shoulder, Riza could sense shapes all around her but whatever esoteric sense the spider used, it lacked the optical cones that allowed a human to see colour.

“Green lights? Do they look natural? Are they moving?” Immediately, her mind raced with a multitude of possibilities.

“Stationary. Looks like a row on the ceiling and near the floor,” Lefie pointed towards either wall, indicating the lights were at ankle level.

Green lights embedded in the wall and ceiling. No open flames--not in this fog. Could it be… electricity? Or is that too unlikely and it’s actually a magical equivalent?

“Ever heard about lights like these before?”

“ No, nothing comes to mind.”

There hasn’t been any light before. Why is there any now?

“You want to see what it is?” Riza asked.

With affirmation from Lefie, they resumed walking, though at a slower pace. Lefie’s vision didn’t extend very far--not as far as Riza’s ability to detect demons--but who knew what else was down here.

The tunnel didn’t shift around them as their bodies were awash with a green glow. Now that they were closer, and the resolution of the image from Spidey was better, Riza could make out the indents of the lights.

They were simple ovals but uniform in shape, interspersed at regular intervals and had all the signs of manufactured lighting.

But...why green? The question would soon be answered.

Not much walking later, they came to a split in the tunnel. Unlike a standard intersection, a heavy, open, metal door sliced through half of the tunnel, oval in shape and with a wheel attached to the front.

One-of-a-kind so far, Riza was instantly drawn towards it. Stairs descended into a narrow tunnel, barely taller than Riza herself, with the green lights drenching the shaft.

An idea popped into Riza’s head and, without discussing it, she dragged Lefie down with her, a momentary worry about the door closing shut behind her like they were in a horror movie. She quickly dismissed it as a needless worry.

The shaft wasn’t very long, and didn’t descend much before they were taken to another door, the shaft opening up a little.

Like the other one, a steering-wheel-like bar of metal was affixed to the front and, without anything else to do, Riza grabbed and pushed with all her might.

It didn’t turn.

Her arms were beginning to burn, her feet starting to slide, as she put all her body weight into trying to turn the wheel, but alas, years of disuse seemed to have welded the door shut.

“Shit.”

“It’s not turning?” Lefie asked innocently.

“No,” Riza huffed, drawing heavy breaths. “Try-try dousing it with water. At the base.”

Even with the best lubrication they had, the door refused to open.

Needing to use their last resort, Riza picked Spidey up and placed him on the ground, killing him and then raising him at the highest level she could.

With all the stat points dumped into power, the small, insect-like demon agilely skittered up the metal door, wrapped its two mandibles tightly around the wheel, and pulled with a surprising amount of strength.

The rusty wheel squeaked, the drawn out creak followed by the slow turning of the wheel as Spidey kept repositioning his feet.

As soon as it seemed he was successful, Riza grabbed the wheel and pulled towards her, the door slowly swinging open with a heaviness belying it’s dense construction.

“Woah. He’s stronger than he looks,” Lefie said.

Disappointingly, they weren’t met with a long tunnel, an expansive hall, or even a room with furniture.

They were met with a box. A small box barely two or three strides from wall to wall with a door on the other end, except without a wheel.

Riza quickly killed and resummoned Spidey at a sustainable level while Lefie took a step into the room, looking up at the ceiling and then at the walls.

“There’s nothing here,” She said as Riza stepped in after her.

Riza hummed as she looked around, juggling different thoughts around in her head when, suddenly, the door closed behind them, locking shut with a dull thud.

The sound startled her, causing Riza to turn around and seeing Lefie rapidly pull her hand away from a wall.

“I’m sorry I don’t know what I did!” She rushed out eyes wide like a kid who got caught doing something they shouldn’t have.

Riza didn’t say anything, focusing on what Lefie had apparently touched.

Spidey provided a lack of detail. It looked like a panel of some sort, extruded from the wall but of indiscernible material, the senses too simple for that.

Before she could even take a single step, a whirring of fans started up, quickly increasing in volume followed by a strong and sharp whistling, lasting only a few seconds, and then a startled gasp by Lefie.

“The fog!” She twisted and turned, amazed at her surroundings. “It’s-It’s gone,” She said with a subdued reverence. Her voice sounded a little strange without the fog all around them.

Riza promptly tore her focus away from the pseudo-sight Spidey offered her and opened her own eyes in a while, seeing the dull, grey and blue tones jumping out to her.

Like paint splashed on a pure white canvas, the world looked shockingly bright and vibrant.

Shit. That was clearly a pump of some kind. Working electricity but not all over. A back-up generator, perhaps? If so, why is this place important enough to remain on the grid?

As the whirring of the fans died down, the closed door in front of them opened almost silently, swinging open and revealing a darkened interior, lit only by the incandescent glow of numerous green lights.

Riza stepped forwards confidently, her eyes adjusting to the darkness as she began to be able to make out shapes.

The room was of a decent size, comfortably large to be a living room in a larger house, with a large, glass panel separating it from what seemed to be another room. Two doors lined opposite walls and shelves and desks littered the floor, all covered in dust, cobwebs, and paper.

“It’s not very lively. Not unless you count the spiders,” Lefie giggled, cautiously walking in behind her.

Riza gingerly picked up some brown paper from a nearby desk, raising it up to her eyes as the low ambient light made reading difficult.

She quickly placed it back down, remembering that this world had an altogether different language than English.

Of course you can’t read it. It just feels familiar.

“What’s that? Can’t read?” Lefie asked lightly, hopping over and leaning down to look at the papers. She scrunched up her face, leaned in arguably unnecessarily close, before pulling back.

“I don’t get it. Is it-is it… writing?” Lefie said, strangely breathily.

With a furrow of her brow, Riza looked away from her friend and out the window.

It was hard to make out but a row of large blocks was situated outside. Two cylinders, one large than the other, and at the end was a large cuboid.

Clean-cut shapes clearly indicative of industry. If Riza had to hazard a guess, they were very important, locked behind layers of security and safety. Perhaps even fragile.

Suddenly, a quiet thud barely reaching her ears brought Riza’s eyes to Lefie’s stationary form, splayed out on the floor and eyes barely open, like she had fallen open.

Riza’s eyes shot open as she fell to her knees, grasping Lefie’s shoulders before quickly moving to her wrist.

Weak pulse. What’s happening? Her mind went into overdrive, quickly healing Lefie over and over again while she thought.

Food? Water? Nothing seemed to be happening. Her mind was alternating between completely coherent thought and impossible distraction as she switched in and out of [Meditate].

Shit shit shit. Weak pulse. Why? Weak heart, no. Calmness, lack of stress? No. Lack of oxygen? We weren’t exercising.

The sound was quiet. I barely heard her. The door, too. Quiet.

The box. It’s like an airlock. Air? Is there a lack of air? Sealed room, airlock. It’d need air pumped into here. She was acting a bit strange.

Name Riza Level 16 Health 54/100 Stamina 47/100 Essence

5600/5600 Power 5 (5) Constitution 5 (5) Endurance 5 (5) Vim 6 (6) Essence

5 (280) Spirit

85 (1290) Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

376/minute

Once her mind came to a conclusion, Riza focused on oxygen, being carried by haemoglobin in red blood cells and travelling through the body, as she blasted [Heal] after [Heal] on both her and Lefie.

Quickly, she slipped her arms under Lefie and picked her up, the girl unnaturally heavy, and staggered back to the door. She pulled it close, the door definitely quieter than it should be.

Swiftly identifying the panel, Riza poked, prodded, and even caressed it all over until, eventually, something worked and the fans span up to speed.

A few seconds later, the outer door swung open, fog tumbling in like an avalanche as Riza stumbled outside.

Knees shaky, she placed Lefie down and collapsed herself, taking deep lungfuls of air--and fog--as she watched her health and stamina no longer ticking down.

A minute or two later, Lefie stirred, looking around at the tunnel and then at Riza, clearly trying to figure something out.

“We’re...not in there?” She asked, pointing towards the doors of terror.

“You don’t remember?”

“Remember what?” Lefie asked, starting to sound a little worried.

“We went inside. The doors closed, some fans went off, and then we walked into a large room. We were in… like a minute, max, before needing to leave.” Upon seeing Lefie’s lack of understanding, she continued.

“Oxygen deprivation. Not enough to breath, so it makes you lightheaded, fucks with your decision making, and stops the creation of memories.”

“Oxygen deprivation…” Lefie repeated, the words quirkily pronounced. “It’s like a curse? A poison?”

“Something like that.”

“But [Cleanse] didn’t work? Like, it’s meant to stop poisons and curses but it didn’t stop this one.”

Riza thought for a bit about how to explain it.

“It’s like- you know how you can’t breathe in water but you can breathe outside of water. You can breathe air? Water has no air so you can’t breathe. In there,” She pointed, “There’s no air so you can’t breathe. When you can’t breathe, that’s oxygen deprivation.”

“I guess I can understand that. So, what do we do now? Leave? Move one?”

Riza looked up, staring at the lights, before looking back at Lefie, relying on Spidey to see if she was facing her.

“No. I want to explore that place a bit more. It feels important.”

“How’re you going to do that?”

“I should be able to [Heal] myself enough. Give myself a few minutes.”

Lefie was silent for a few seconds, a small smile appearing on her face.

“Does that mean you can breathe underwater?” She asked, her tone light.

“Maybe? I don’t think I want to try.” Lefie chuckled. “Anyway, I won’t go in just yet. I’m a little… frazzled, currently.” Riza wrapped her arm around the girl and pulled her towards her.

Lefie didn’t object, snuggling in and closing her eyes with a restful look on her face.