Page 139 of Immersed
Levi winced as he walked, his muscles still tender and the marks Asher left on his body throbbed with each heartbeat, a constant reminder of their hours in Faine’s private quarters. He knew he would be sore, but it was the bite marks and bruises that truly ached, badges of possession scattered across his skin like a violent constellation.
Asher walked half a step behind him, his hand taking up its usual place at the small of Levi’s back, fingers occasionally tightening on his shirt when they passed a junction or shadow that might conceal a threat. He hadn’t moved more than arm’s length away since they left the bed.
“Stop,” Levi said, putting out a hand to halt their progress.
The corridor terminated in a massive circular door, far larger and more elaborate than anything they’d encountered in the sanitarium so far. It resembled a bank vault more than a hospital entrance, withinterlocking metal plates and hydraulic pistons built into the frame. A single button existed on its surface: the encircled triangle.
“This is it.”
Asher surveyed the door with his eyes narrowed. “What do you think is waiting for us?”
“Faine,” Levi replied, the name tasting bitter on his tongue. “The real Faine, not just records or notes. This is where he’s been all along.”
“And after we find him?” Asher asked.
Levi met his gaze. “We end this and we get out of here together.”
A half-smile curved Asher’s lips. “Together.”
Levi raised his hand to the door, hesitating for a moment. What if they died again during this? Would neither of them come back? Would they always wake up in Faine’s quarters?
Would he wake up in the real world, alone again?
I don’t want to be alone again. Even if it hurts to be with Asher, I need him to come with me. Maybe he’ll be different outside of this place.
Levi took a deep breath and pressed the button.
“Stand back,” Asher warned, pulling Levi a few steps away as the massive door began to move.
It didn’t swing open as a normal door would, but rather separated into interlocking segments that retracted into the surrounding wall. Cool air rushed past them, carrying the scent of old air and something metallic and organic, like blood mingled with machine oil.
Beyond the threshold lay darkness punctuated by the ghostly blue lights and status indicators. As their eyes adjusted, the chamber beyond revealed itself: a massive circular room, easily the size of a cathedral nave, with multiple tiered platforms ascending toward the center like an inverted amphitheater.
Levi took a tentative step forward with Asher moving in perfect synchronization beside him. The moment they crossed the threshold,the door behind them reversed its process, segments sliding back into place with the finality of a coffin lid closing.
The chamber was unlike anything they’d seen in the sanitarium so far. The walls were lined with equipment that blurred the line between medical and mechanical—heart monitors connected to hydraulic pumps, IV stands modified with industrial tubing, surgical tables with restraints that looked more appropriate for an automotive factory than a hospital.
Massive cylindrical tanks lined the perimeter, their glass surfaces clouded with age but not enough to obscure the preserved specimens floating in yellowish fluid, some recognizably human, others grotesquely modified with components.
But it was the center of the room that drew their attention. On the highest platform sat what could only be described as a throne—a monstrous amalgamation of life support equipment, components, and a withered human form connected to it all by a web of tubes and wires.
“Dr. Faine, I presume,” Levi said, his voice carrying farther than expected in the cavernous space.
As if in response, a low thrumming began, not a sound so much as a vibration that traveled through the floor and up into their bones. The lights flickered, then stabilized at a higher intensity. Status indicators around the room shifted from amber to green.
The throne at the center began to move. Hydraulic components hissed as the entire structure rotated to face them. The withered form—what remained of Dr. Faine—jerked as if electrified, his limbs twitching.
Eyes snapped open, revealing not irises and pupils but glowing optical implants, one blue, one red. The mouth, still disturbingly humanagainst the modifications of the face, stretched into what might have been a smile.
“Visitors,” the creature that had once been Faine said, his voice a discordant mixture of human vocalization and electronic amplification. “How... unexpected.”
The words were followed by a grinding as the throne began to descend from its platform, moving down toward them. Asher shifted his stance, placing himself half a step in front of Levi.
“After all this time,” Faine continued, his head tilting at an angle no human neck should permit, “someone has finally reached my inner sanctum. I was beginning to think my little puzzles were too challenging.”
Levi’s mind raced, analyzing the situation with the strategic focus he’d developed across multiple deaths and resets. This felt familiar somehow—not the specifics, but the structure of the encounter.
I know what this is,he realized.The final boss of the sanitarium.
