Page 130 of Immersed
Asher helped him to his feet, steadying him when he swayed slightly. They stood close, neither willing to step away, the adrenaline of combat still coursing through their systems.
“You kept your promise.” Asher pulled Levi into a hug. “You found me.”
Levi closed his eyes, his body still shaking, and leaned his head against Asher’s chest.This is wrong. I know it’s wrong. But I need him.
No.
I want him.
A small sound drew their attention: a click followed by a hiss of releasing pressure. The large observation window began to retract, sliding upward to reveal the surgical theater below in its entirety.
The room beneath them had once been state-of-the-art, with multiple operating tables arranged around a central pillar. That pillar now held what could only be the third key—a tissue sample in a glass vial, preserved in yellowish fluid, floating like a grotesque trophy.
“The third guardian,” Asher observed, nodding toward the creature’s corpse. “Faine’s way of protecting his ‘contributions’ to science.”
Levi approached the window, studying the room below. “How do we get down there?”
“Service stairs,” Asher replied, pointing to a door marked with a faded maintenance symbol. “If Faine’s security system follows the pattern, killing the guardian should have unlocked the way.”
As if confirming his theory, the maintenance door’s electronic lock flashed from red to green with a soft beep.
They descended a narrow metal staircase that spiraled down to the surgical theater. The air grew colder as they descended, heavy with the smell of chemical preservatives and something older, as if the scent of suffering was embedded in the walls themselves.
The operating room looked like something from a nightmare. Each table was equipped with not just surgical implements but restraints—heavy leather straps reinforced with metal buckles. Dried blood stained the floor in concentric patterns around each station, evidence of procedures where precision had mattered less than results.
“Careful,” Asher warned as Levi approached the central pillar.
“I’ve got this,” he assured Asher.
A small panel with two recessed grooves in the pillar bore an inscription: “Blood and voice confirm the worthy. Flesh reveals the path.”
Levi removed the blood vial and voice cylinder from his pockets. “We need to use all three together.”
He placed the cylinder in one of the grooves, then the vial of blood in the next. A musical tone sounded, and the entire pillar began to hum. Lights around the base glowed brighter, and a voice announced: “All components verified. Central access granted.”
The floor beneath one of the operating tables began to recede, revealing a hidden elevator platform.
“That’s it,” Levi breathed. “The way to Faine’s inner sanctum.”
“You did it!” Asher smiled at him, and Levi’s stomach flipped. Even with the inhuman blood still smeared across his face, the smile on his face, the brightness in his eyes...
He’s beautiful.
Before either could speak again, the surgical theater door burst open. Jasper stumbled through, looking worse than before but incredibly, impossibly alive. Blood matted his hair and ran in rivulets down one side of his face. Behind him came Elliot, wide-eyed with panic.
“We have to go,” Jasper gasped, clutching his side where a dark stain spread across his shirt. “Those things—there are more of them. Coming this way.”
Elliot’s gaze darted between Levi and Asher, then to the open elevator shaft. “You found it? The way out?”
“We think so.” Levi nodded.
“Then let’s go,” Elliot insisted, moving toward the elevator platform. “Now!”
As if in response to his urgency, the building shuddered. A low rumble emanated from deep within the walls, growing in intensity until the surgical implements rattled on their trays. The lights flickered, then stabilized at a lower intensity.
“It knows,” Asher said quietly. “It knows we’ve found the way in.”
The rumbling intensified. Dust fell from the ceiling in fine streams, collecting on the operating tables. The floor vibrated beneath their feet, subtle at first, then with increasing violence.
