Rowen

Chapter 223 – The entity of pride [5]


The first to step into the elevator was the anomaly itself. Its large golden eyes darted back and forth restlessly, scanning every corner of the cramped space as if searching for something invisible to everyone else. The unsettling sight, however, didn’t last long for Emily—her body lurched forward against her will, driven by a force that compelled her to walk straight into the elevator’s entrance.


She was the second to cross the metal threshold, followed closely by Laura, who kept her gaze fixed on the anomaly, tense with every step. Right behind came Victor, his jaw clenched tight as if bracing himself to react to the slightest suspicious move, and finally, Rupert entered last.


But as the anomaly response team began filing into the elevator, Emily noticed something that made no sense. For some unknown reason, she didn’t feel the space growing tighter—which should have been the natural reaction, considering that dozens of people were cramming themselves into an elevator designed for, at most, seven occupants.


Instead, something was deeply wrong with the sensation: it was as though the elevator’s interior expanded ever so slightly with each new person that stepped through the doors, gaining invisible inches in both depth and width. The air inside also seemed to grow denser, heavier, almost as if the very environment were bending its own rules to make room for everyone.


It didn’t make any sense—and Emily knew that all too well. Never before, in all her experience, had she witnessed such a bizarre anomalous ability. It wasn’t enough that this thing could bend the will of sentient beings; it also seemed to warp reality itself, stretching space as though the laws of nature were nothing but disposable whims.


Emily’s heartbeat quickened as her mind raced, spinning through hypotheses and discarding them just as quickly. What kind of anomalous power could produce such absurd effects? And, more importantly, how far did that influence reach?

Moments later, as the elevator began its slow descent toward the facility’s deeper levels, Laura, Emily, Victor, and Rupert exchanged uneasy glances. The silence between them was almost suffocating, broken only by the mechanical hum of the cables and the low creak of the walls.


None of them had the slightest clue what was really going on, nor could they grasp whom the anomaly had meant when it uttered the word She. Still, given everything they had endured in recent months, it didn’t take much for the same inevitable image to flash into each of their minds.


As the seconds dragged by, the anomaly, its face marked with an expression of boredom, turned its gaze away from its “Puppets” Its eyes swept the surroundings with an almost calculated calm, and every movement it made—slow, graceful, precise—radiated an oddly refined, almost aristocratic aura. It was as though it stood in a ballroom, not in the middle of chaos. At least, that was the impression Emily and Laura felt as they watched it.


The anomaly’s eyes roamed with a near-predatory intent until they locked onto Victor. At that very moment, he felt the weight of that strange, suffocating stare, swallowing hard as cold sweat trickled down his forehead.


The air seemed to grow thicker around him, and then the creature began to approach, each step echoing with deliberate rhythm, as though savoring the drawn-out anguish of its prey.


When it finally stood before Victor, the anomaly didn’t rush to act. Instead, it circled him slowly, like a curious predator, scrutinizing him from head to toe with a nearly unbearable intensity. Emily, Laura, Rupert, and the rest of the response team watched in silence, tense, unable to conceal the discomfort gnawing at them.


As much as they hated to admit it, unwelcome thoughts crept into their minds—who in their right mind would ever want to be the focus of such attention from a being capable of snuffing out life on a whim? While they sympathized with Victor, a small, selfish, human part of them felt an immense relief that they weren’t the ones bearing that crushing gaze.


Completely oblivious to the storm of thoughts swirling around it, the anomaly circled Victor one last time, like a predator sizing up its prey, before stopping in front of him. Its eyes—or what passed for eyes—locked on his face with a strangely pensive look, heavy with unease.


Then its lips moved slowly, and with them, its voice echoed—not just aloud, but like a whisper directly inside Victor’s mind: “Human... you... why do I feel her energy in you? What exactly is your relationship with her?”


The only reaction Victor managed was a faint raise of his brow. Personally, the situation was already bizarre enough, but the creature seemed to possess the uncanny ability to make the incomprehensible even more absurd with every word it spoke.


For starters, Victor had no idea who it meant with that cryptic She. And even if he did, he would never reveal it—not in front of something this unpredictable. After all, how could anyone feel at ease in the presence of an entity that, with no effort at all, had already seized control of his body as though he were nothing but a puppet?


That’s why, even when he suddenly regained the ability to move his lips, Victor remained silent, staring at the anomaly before him with an intense, unwavering gaze. His mouth stayed sealed, not out of unwillingness, but sheer conviction: he truly knew nothing, and even if he did, he would never reveal it. Still, he couldn’t help the faint shiver of surprise at the words spoken by the anomaly in front of him.


“Hummmm...” the anomaly emitted a low, drawn-out sound, almost as if savoring the surrounding silence. Its eyes—or whatever served the purpose of eyes—scanned Victor with a disturbingly calm, cold, and calculating gaze: “Since you didn’t answer me... it can only mean that even your subconscious doesn’t hold the answers to my questions”


The anomaly tilted its head slightly, as if it had just found an intriguing clue: “Interesting... maybe she sealed your memories. Yes, that makes sense”


A slow, twisted smile formed on its face: “Regardless, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure I’ll discover the truth when I find her”


Victor, unsure how to respond to the anomaly’s words, simply stared at it with a confused and wary expression. In the end, that was all he could manage at the moment. As his mind replayed each sentence, searching for hidden meaning or veiled intent, the metallic ding of the elevator announced their arrival.


The doors slid open slowly, revealing the corridor ahead, and one by one, everyone began to exit. The anomaly was the first to step forward, its firm strides exuding natural authority, while the almost inhuman grace of its movements compelled the others to follow instinctively.


The anomaly moved through the facility’s long corridors with an unsettling ease, as if it had been born there. Guards and scientists crossing its path showed no reaction—it was as if its very presence was erased from their minds the instant they saw it.


Their gazes emptied, expressions went blank, and then they resumed their routines without question. It was as if an invisible, silent, relentless force compelled them to ignore the impossible before them. By the end, what was already strange crossed the threshold of the bizarre, venturing into something nearly incomprehensible.


As they advanced through the narrow corridors, always moving straight without veering off, Emily and Laura’s theories about the identity behind the mysterious “She” mentioned by the anomaly grew increasingly solid—almost inevitable.


Their destination was the containment room that held only a single being—and not just any being, but the very one that, in recent months, seemed to attract unexplained incidents wherever it appeared.


Of course, if the anomaly could hear Emily’s thoughts, it would vehemently protest, finding such accusations deeply unfair. After all, from its perspective, everything it had done lately was as mundane as calmly enjoying an ice cream, causing no harm... at least not intentionally.


***


(POV – Protagonist)


For some reason, that familiar feeling had been growing inside me, becoming stronger and stronger, until I found myself, without even realizing it, staring through the glass of my room toward the corridor. What exactly did I expect to see appearing on the other side? Honestly, I had no idea.


Still, my eyes insisted on searching the shadows, as if there were some hidden reason, an instinctive need that forced me to look, even when logic said there was nothing there.


But for hours now, I’d been sensing a presence approaching the place where I was. I didn’t have any anomalous tracking or perception abilities beyond normal, yet the feeling persisted—uncomfortable and constant, like a premonition I couldn’t shake.


It was as if something... or someone, was slowly closing the distance between us. And for some reason I couldn’t explain, the stronger that feeling grew, the more my eyes were drawn almost instinctively to the glass in front of me.


Then, at that exact moment, something unusual happened—a phenomenon strange enough to confirm that something was truly approaching. Nekra, Althea, and Nyara, who had until then remained lost in their own thoughts, acting as if nothing around them mattered, suddenly reacted.


Without a word, all three shifted their gazes simultaneously, in perfect sync, fixing on a specific direction: the glass revealing the corridor ahead.


Before I could even comprehend what was happening, I found myself at the glass, staring out into the world beyond. The silence around felt heavy, almost suffocating. Then, seconds later, something unexpected happened—a silhouette began to take shape on the other side.


At first, it was just a shapeless shadow, but soon its contours became sharper. I remained still, watching that enigmatic presence, my eyes scanning every detail of its appearance, trying to discern whether it was real... or just a product of my imagination.


Its long silver hair fell in straight, flawless lines, like threads of liquid crystal shimmering softly under any trace of light, reflecting as if carrying fragments of stars.


The golden, hypnotic, and deep eyes were marked by geometrically rotating irises, like celestial gears turning in silent, inevitable rhythm.


At the center of its forehead, an ethereal symbol burned like a living mark, constantly reorganizing itself into circles, triangles, and hexagons, each shape emerging and dissolving with mathematical precision, maintaining a perfect, inhuman symmetry.


Its body was draped in an immaculate white cloak, fabric seeming to defy time itself, adorned with delicate golden details intertwined like sacred filigree.


An aura of absolute purity and relentless authority radiated from its presence, as if every movement were accompanied by a reverent silence, commanding respect and awe from anyone who dared behold it.


The longer my eyes stayed fixed on that figure before me, the more intense the whirlwind of strange sensations became, invading me. It was as if every second of eye contact ripped something from the depths of my mind—some forgotten fragment of memory, or perhaps something that had never belonged to me.


Before I could reason, analyze, or even process what was happening, that shapeless feeling condensed into something clear, something that felt like knowledge.


I knew it. There was no doubt. I knew exactly who she was. And without control, as if a reflex etched into my soul, a name escaped my lips.


Not spoken aloud, but whispered silently, echoing directly into the minds of everyone around me: (... Eryanis?)