The Light On Your Face For The First Time

Holy fuck. I have to run.

A glowing green mouthful of teeth charged at her. Lotusfoil barely registered that the change in scenery wasn't a hallucination before an incomprehensible monster burst from the ground with imminent threat. Disoriented, Lotusfoil spun on her heel and stumbled away, expecting any moment for the monster's jaws to close around her, and still trying to understand what she was experiencing in the first place.

Then the rocky terrain vanished, and in its place was a narrow concrete corridor lined with thick metal pipes. The floor in front of her crumbled into a hole. She skidded and twisted, but her feet slipped over the edge and her chest slammed into the overhanging rubble, arms scrambling for something to hold onto. Her momentum didn't allow such grace; gravity cast her down the dark hole, her body greeting a sharp pile of broken concrete instead.

Pain shrieked through her bones. Lotusfoil gasped, stunned, staring up at the flickering lowlight beyond the hole. Sprawled on the mound, she at first couldn't feel her arms and legs. Her chest throbbed as she breathed. The first attempt at movement warned that one of her ribs might be broken—might have even punctured a lung. She coughed and tasted blood, confirming it.

Was she still in the Echoless realm? If she died here, would she be revived somewhere else? Or would this death be permanent?

It took a couple minutes before the fear of eternal death motivated her to get up. Lotusfoil slowly rolled onto her hands and knees, climbing off the pile onto even ground. She hovered, whimpering, before urging herself onto her feet. The pain was unreal, worse than her first beating from Redmaw; she'd never broken a bone before this. Stabilizing her hand against a nearby wall, Lotusfoil searched her surroundings. She appeared to be in the basement level of whatever building she had blipped into. The massive room was illuminated only by dim light falling in from holes in the ceiling, and comprised of cement marred with puddles of water and oil. Rusty machinery lay abandoned throughout the room, which was adorned in more large whistling pipes and steaming boilers. If she had to guess, this was some kind of industrial complex, and from its dilapidated condition housing still-functioning appliances, most likely she was in the Echoless realm.

"Hello?" she rasped.

No response.

She strained to hold her body upright, pained cries seeping from her mask. Lotusfoil gingerly stepped forward. Her gloved hand dragged along the wall until she reached an old machine, then leaned on that, squinting into the darkness until she spotted a corridor exiting the room. Okay. She just had to find the stairs, and then find the exit, and once she was outside, maybe someone would find her. Was Redmaw here?

Although the thought made her heart pound, Lotusfoil swallowed it back. She was no damsel in distress. She didn't need Redmaw to come save her.

Lotusfoil's feet scuffed the floor as she limped to the corridor. Her nervous system was electric, all senses heightened with adrenaline to the point that her vision blurred and ears rang. There was no telling what she could expect to find here. When she reached the end of the corridor and heard scraping in the darkness down the adjacent hallway, she prepared herself for a fight—reaching for her haladie, only to remember she'd been unarmed while cleaning the stable.

A body took shape out of the shadows. Lotusfoil's mind blared in alarm.

"Ah, a friendly face!" exclaimed Blisterwell, walking with purpose toward her.

Lotusfoil sighed. "Thank God."

The viking-sized Knive wielded a crowbar he must have found somewhere. "You seem hurt. Are you alright?"

"I fell down a hole, it's possible I broke a rib." And now her back felt damp. She probably gouged herself on the broken concrete and rebar, too. "Have you seen anyone else?"