The corridors turned darker. Already dim, the lights fizzled out; lantern after lantern going out. Shirin looked around, gritting her teeth, water rushing by her feet.

“How the hell is it spilling so much…” She muttered under her breath, peering out into the blackened hallway.

On one hand she carried their homemade bomb; on the other hand she latched onto her younger sister. She’d strapped a spear to her back and Rie continued to hold onto the dagger she’d been given shakily but tightly.

Aside from the voices of guards roaming the halls only silence reigned; silence so overwhelming that a pin drop could be heard.

The smell sickened. A rotting stink coming from all around her; she ignored the smell as she waded slowly through the shallow water flooding the corridors, still checking for lights.

Bright.

She stood back and slowly laid down face-first into the water; Rie doing the same; the water almost completely submerging their bodies as litter and other rubbish continued to float down past them, coalescing around them. Then - splish. Splish. Splish.

Shirin’s eyes remained closed underwater as her ears wobbled; feet stopping in front of her. Her heart pounded. The boots stayed in front.

With more water-displacing noises the boots slowly marched away.

Rie lifted her head up first, panting as water continued to roll down her face; her hair drenched. Moments later Shirin lifted her head as well, breathing in and out as she wiped the water off her face; eyes darting around as she glanced to see what was going on. She looked back at Rie, raising a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down; Rie responded with the former.

Shirin grinned at her younger sister’s response.

“We’ve got just a bit left.” She whispered. “And then it’s time to turn back.”

The two slowly slithered down the corridor, silence remaining of their utmost concern.

*DA-DA-DA*

A guard fell upon the floor face-first. “What the fuck is that?!”

“Don’t ask, mate, move! Move! It’s a fucking super-weapon!” His comrade sprinted away, the corpse of his own fallen comrade staring back at him with two holes in his chest.

The guard, abandoned; turned back to feel a cold metal touch to his head and a sudden warmth between it. His eyes had barely widened before a flash of white and red blinded him and he was pummelled against the floor by a bullet, a little pool of red flooding out of the wound as the assailant moved past.

Wei stared over at the escaping hostiles and quickly released the magazine to check the rest of his ammo. Six holes in the mag; only 3 had bronze looking back at him. He shoved the magazine back into the gun and stared around.

“You see anyone, Tooru?”

Under his head of blue hair Tooru slowly stared around in a muted fashion. “Um… no one alive, no.”

“Either one works, let’s go.”

Wei raised his weapon again and held the butt of the gun against his shoulder; aiming down sights, finger on the trigger. He carefully and cautiously continued forward, moving as if only danger surrounded the two.

Tooru looked up at Wei, his eyes narrowed. “Umm… why can’t you move faster?”

“Then I’ll run into more people faster and run out of ammo faster.”

“It’s limited…?”

“Yeah. I got like… maybe a hundred ten shots left?”

“YAAAAAR!” The sudden scream pierced his ears as he turned to see the blur of three guards charging towards him, increasing in size as they sprinted closer. He let loose before the circular iron sights reached his eyes, the blaze of bullets illuminating his face in a marvelous orange as smoke billowed from the muzzle of his gun.

Flipping the weapon over; he saw only one hole with brass meeting his eyes. He sighed; releasing the magazine and dropping it into one of the empty pouches on his chest, before picking out another and ramming it into the mag well, cocking the weapon again. His bullpup gun seemed to absorb bullets all too fast.

“Let’s go.”

He stacked up against the wall, before leaning over and checking. He nodded, before the two turned the corner into another corridor.

The sisters stopped. Their faces, one grey and one ivory white, both displayed a bright blue hue.

“What the fuck is taking so long? Secure it!” One of the oncoming guards stressed, pointing over at the others as he arrived.

“It’s not that fucking easy! You gotta help!”

“Gotcha…”

The dozen guards or so in the wide room slowly moved around the large open-air box of glowing blue orbs. All strapped down with a series of ropes and leather pieces, the guards began to wrap the stack of sokovs with large tape-like bandages; others looking around the place, checking for intruders. Shirin peered over the crate she was hiding behind, intently staring at the sokovs.

She peered over to the other end of the corridor. Taking the spear on her back off the strap, she stepped back before slowly letting it loose in the water; floating around and joining the cacophony of incoherent water-splashing noises ringing through the air. Stretching out her hand she began to slowly move it through the water-inundated corridors unnoticed, the guards looking up, not down.

“Hui! Did you get the base of the bandages done yet?”

“Are you fucking crazy?! We didn’t expect emergency protocol after the fucking advance team left!”

Shirin snickered to herself as she slowly manipulated the spear over to the other end of the corridor, just beneath all of their feet. Watching the weapon float through the water she ducked down and flicked up her hand; the spear jumped out of the water and splashed against the floor once again.

“What the hell?”

The guards turned to look over; some walking over to where the spear had landed.

She pulled her hand back. The spear lunged towards one of the guards and impaled him square in the stomach; he collapsed forwards, face-first into the water, blood mixing into the water as the guards began to run towards him.

“Rie. Give it to me.” Shirin held out her hand; Rie handed the dagger over to her.

Shirin briefly put the dagger down, before aiming the crude barrel of the bomb-gun up and pressing down the trigger.

*thunk*

*pssss*

“Yes!” She exclaimed, before throwing the bomb over the crate and next to the pile of sokovs. The guards turned, but she pulled out the dagger and hurled it over. In instants blood splatter filled the air, and another guard fell on the floor.

“See ya, ya fucking suckers!” She screamed, dragging Rie along as she kindled a spark with magic to lead them out of the prison.

“This is it!” He exclaimed. Wei sprinted forward, a bright white light at the end of the doorway. A sudden burst of cold air enveloped him; his skin turned to goosebumps, and fresh air greeted him once again. Freezing as it was, it was freedom.

He turned around. Tooru sprinted to his side, feet in the snow.

*rattle*

The ground shook underneath them; snow falling off ledges and the pebbles flying up into the air. The tents in front of them flopped to the ground as men spilled out of them; five, six guards glancing around before noticing Wei and Tooru’s presence.

“Hey! Get them!”

*DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA*

His finger moved before his mind did. Three men fell on their backs; two more collapsing forward, and one stopped in his tracks. He stared at Wei.

“A-a-aaaaah…” The lone guard stuttered. He fell to his feet; Wei pulled out a bat.

Blood flew once again.

As a corpse dropped into the snow Wei turned back. The entrance to the prison remained open.

“You had better be showing up…”

Black.

She opened her eyes.

More black.

Sweat drenched her hair, her face. The smoky smell of dust filled the air around her. Shirin stared around, before shakily raising up her hand, forcing a glowing light into the air. Her arm, completely caked in dust and black lines running across them; pebbles ingrained into it. She dusted it off; red marks bursting with little pocks of blood.

She stopped.

“Rie.” She muttered.

“Oi! Rie!” She shouted. She stood straight up, eyes darting around; she fell to the side, limping on the wall. “RIE!”

Shirin’s eyes widened, her mouth ajar. She hacked before stumbling over forwards, wheezing as she slowly supported herself on the wall. Wiping off the dust covering her face she realised it stung. The left side of her face burned, as if the sun itself had made contact with it, but she limped onwards regardless.

“FUCKING HELL, RIE! WHERE ARE YOU!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

Slowly she stepped on. She barely made eye contact with a dusty corpse on the ground; mangled under dust and stone and concrete splintered everywhere.

Turning the corner she saw a head of black hair under the rubble. She tripped over herself while sprinting to the side of her sister.

“Rie!”

She pulled the fallen plank off Rie, throwing rocks and stones away. Her brown clothes, torn, her skin, dusty and bloody, her eyes, shut.

“RIE!” Shirin shook her sister by the shoulder. She leaned over and bent her ear over to Rie’s chest.

A palpable silence.

An uncertainty.

Then a thump. Thump. Thump.

Shirin smiled and began to pull the rest of the rocks and stones littering her younger sister’s body off her. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she threw one after another and the dim yellow light illuminating gave way to a single thing.

A deep gash in Rie’s left leg. She peered in. Her bones exposed underneath, the red flesh and blood flooding out filled with little bits of grey and white. The bone… the bone itself appeared slashed. Shirin’s mouth was left ajar before she started looking around, slowly limping back to the corpse she’d seen before.

Finding parchment slightly submerged in the dirty water she collected it in her arms; then briefly a sword shined. She picked it up and steadily went back to her own sister, leaving the orb to float in the air behind her she shakily raised the sword above the wound.

“...”

She put it down. Moving Rie’s right leg out of the way, she then raised it once again, leaving it hovering above the chasm. She trembled.

“I…”

A tear shed.

“I’m sorry, Rie.” She dropped the sword down on the wound; separating the lower half of Rie’s left leg from the rest of her body before steadily papering over the amputated region; blood flowing out like a steady, constant stream. Shirin’s heart continued to pound on her as she continued to cover the wound with makeshift bandages.

She lifted her sister up, one hand under her back and the other under her bottom. Slowly but surely, she quietly proceeded down the dark corridor.

Vanishing, into the great unknown.