ELSTER (LSTR)

How many times had she been here? Which cycle is it? She paused for a second to look around. Everything was the same... Like déjà vu, which she couldn't shake off. The same corridors, bloodstains, the smell of despair and fear... Maybe she herself was permeated with this cursed place from head to toe. Perhaps it was hell. She shook her shoulder involuntarily, dispelling the unpleasant sensations, as she continued on her way. The corridors stretched endlessly before her, each one identical to the last. The flickering lights cast long shadows that seemed to reach for her like grasping fingers. She had learned to ignore them. She remembered the promise. She was prepared to keep it, stubbornly keep going, but... how long would it take? And would she be able to endure before finally breaking down and becoming part of this abyss of despair? She did not know. Her internal chronometer had stopped working properly cycles ago. Time here moved strangely—sometimes crawling, sometimes lurching forward in disorienting jumps. She had stopped trying to track it. A distant sound made her freeze. Metal scraping against metal. Footsteps? No... something else. Something dragging itself through the ventilation system above her head. She raised her weapon, the familiar weight grounding her. Her eyes scanned the darkness ahead, picking up shadows that flickered in and out of existence. Ghosts of data. Echoes of something that might have been real once. Ariane. The name surfaced unbidden, as it always did. A beacon. A wound. The only thing that still felt real in this place where reality had become... negotiable. She pressed forward, her damaged leg servos whining softly with each step. The repair foam she had applied earlier was already degrading. She would need to find more supplies soon. But first— A door ahead. Different from the others. Newer. Or perhaps just... less forgotten. Her hand hesitated on the access panel.