Page 82 of Immersed
“Levi...”he said as his eyes widened suddenly,“do you not know what you like because you’re a—”
The hidden door burst open with a crash.
Jasper, Elliot, and Tyler tumbled through the entrance, all three of them covered in blood and looking absolutely terrified. Their eyeswerewild, clothes torn, and theywerebreathing hard likethey’dbeen running for their lives.
Thank God.Relief flooded through Levi so powerfully it made him dizzy.
“Fuck,”Asher swore under his breath, his hands pulling away from Levi.
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Delete Save Data? [COMMAND NOT FOUND]
Leviscrambledtopullhis shirt down, heat flooding his face as he tried to compose himself. Even through the blood covering Jasper’s features, he caught the slight look—a knowing glance that suggested Jasper saw what was happening.
Fuck. How much did he see?
As Levi stood up, Asher’s hand settled on the small of his back. “What’s going on?” Levi asked, trying to ignore the sensation.
Elliot took a step toward them, his clothes torn and stained with something dark and viscous.“Weweresetting up equipment when Maddie got pulled through the wall,”he said, his voice shaking.“We went after her and got lost down here. Zoe and Owen got separated from us, and we have no idea what’s going on.”
Pulled through the wall.Levi’s mind raced as he processed the information. If he and Asherrespawned in the safe room, but the other NPCsrespawned upstairs...
The game moved the timeline.The loopsweren’tjust resetting—they were evolving, changing the starting conditions. Whichmeant thiswasn’ta safe haven anymore. Thiswasjust another part of the nightmare.
If this is my new reset point, it will always be in the middle of danger.
The crushing weight of that understanding settled over him. No more peaceful moments in meadows or vans. No more time to prepare or plan. Just waking up already trapped, already in crisis, with no escape in sight.
Like a checkpoint system from hell,Levi thought with bitter clarity.Each save point worse than the last.
Tyler and Elliot began comparing notes about something they saw, their voices hushed and disbelieving. Levi barely heard them as the existential terror of his situationcrashed down on him—endless loops of death and fear, with no safe spaces left to retreat to.
He started to shake, tears building in his eyes again.I can’t do this. I can’t keep dying and watching them die and—
“Man, are you okay?”Jasper’s voice cut through his spiral, concern evident even through his own trauma.
Levi looked up at him, this friendly NPC whohadno memory of their previous conversations, their shared mapping session, his brutal death. Just another reset, another version of a person whowasn’treal.
“I don’t think so.” He sank to the concrete floor, pulling his knees to his chest. The weight of everything—the loops, the deaths, whathadjust happened with Asher—wastoo much to bear.
Asher immediately sat down beside him, close enough to offer solace but not touching.“Jasper,”he said quietly,“could you give us a minute?”
Jasper glanced between them, clearly reading the moment as a boyfriend thing, and nodded.“Sure, man. Take your time.”He moved away to join the others, giving them space.
The moment theywererelatively alone, Levi started to cry. Not the angry tears from before, but deep, hopeless sobs that shook his entire body.It’s never going to stop. It’s going to keep getting worse. I’m never going to find a way out. I can’t even kill myself to escape it.
Asher shifted closer and wrapped his arms around him. The embrace was tender and reassuring, everything Asher wasn’t. Levi turned his face into Asher’s shoulder anyway.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know if I can keep doing this,”Levi whispered against his shoulder.“If this is where we’re going to restart, it’s just going to be more death and more pain and more fear and more running. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
I want to go home.But he didn’t even know if home existed anymore, or ifhe’dever really escape this nightmare.
Asher held him tighter, one hand stroking through his hair.“I know,”he whispered.“I know it’s hard.”
For several minutes, they sat like that—Levi crying out his despair and confusion while Asher offered silent solace.He’s the only constant. The only person who remembers everything like I do. I should just stop fighting…
