Chapter 99: The Calling
The forest was quiet.
Not the comforting kind of quiet.
Not the peaceful silence of birds resting after sunset.
This silence felt...
Wrong.
Kai slowly walked between towering trees, brushing aside vines that had claimed the ancient path long ago.
"...Andre's probably going crazy right now."
He chuckled to himself.
"If he's alive, he'll find me eventually."
That thought alone eased his mind.
Andre always found him.
No matter how ridiculous the situation.
No matter how impossible it seemed.
Kai continued walking.
He had no destination.
No map.
No road.
Just trees.
Endless trees.
"..."
Then—
He stopped.
"...Huh?"
Something felt...
Different.
Not a sound.
Not a smell.
Not even an instinct.
It was simply...
A feeling.
Like someone lightly tugging at the back of his shirt.
He looked around.
Nothing.
Only trees.
"...Guess I'll try this way."
He turned left.
The feeling remained.
One step.
Two.
Three.
As he walked, the strange sensation became slightly stronger.
Not painful.
Not urgent.
Simply...
Persistent.
As if something wanted him to keep going.
Kai frowned.
"This is either the dumbest decision I've ever made..."
"...or the best."
He followed it.
Minutes passed.
Or perhaps hours.
Time became difficult to judge beneath the dense canopy.
The deeper he ventured...
The quieter the forest became.
Even the insects disappeared.
No wind.
No birds.
Nothing.
Only the sound of his own footsteps.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Then—
The trees suddenly opened.
Kai blinked.
"...What?"
Before him stood something that clearly did not belong.
A structure.
Half buried beneath nature.
Massive roots crawled across cracked walls.
Thick vines wrapped around weathered stone.
Trees had grown through sections of the roof itself.
The building had lost its battle against time.
Yet...
It still stood.
Kai slowly approached.
"This..."
He placed a hand against one of the walls.
Cold.
Smooth.
Not ordinary stone.
Embedded within the walls were thin glowing lines.
They pulsed faintly.
Almost like veins.
"...Magic circuits?"
He wasn't certain.
He'd seen similar designs throughout Asphyxia.
Mostly inside its defensive walls.
But these...
These were different.
More intricate.
More refined.
Almost elegant.
"Asphyxia's don't look like this..."
He circled the structure.
No windows remained intact.
Most entrances had collapsed beneath fallen debris.
Nature had reclaimed almost everything.
Then—
The strange feeling returned.
Stronger.
Kai turned his head.
"There?"
Between two massive roots...
A rusted metal doorway protruded from the hillside.
Half concealed by moss.
Half swallowed by earth.
The strange sensation disappeared.
"...It stopped."
Kai stared at the doorway.
"...So this is what you wanted me to find."
For reasons he couldn't explain...
He felt strangely disappointed.
The mysterious feeling that had guided him this far had simply...
Vanished.
As if its job had been completed.
Kai grabbed several thick vines.
Pulled.
They snapped free.
He kicked away loose rocks.
Cleared away years of accumulated dirt.
Eventually—
The doorway became fully visible.
A faded symbol rested above it.
Most of it had eroded away.
Only fragments remained.
Kai couldn't recognize it.
"...Guess there's only one way to find out."
He pushed.
The door groaned.
Dust poured from its frame.
With a deafening scrape—
It slowly opened.
Darkness greeted him.
A stale breeze escaped from within.
It smelled ancient.
Not rotten.
Not damp.
Simply...
Old.
Kai hesitated.
Then stepped inside.
The temperature dropped immediately.
Outside, roots and vines ruled.
Inside...
Something else remained.
The corridor stretched into darkness.
The walls bore the same intricate glowing lines.
Faint.
Weak.
Yet somehow...
Still functioning.
Kai reached toward one.
His fingertips brushed the glowing pattern.
"...It's warm."
He pulled his hand back.
"How?"
This place should have been abandoned for centuries.
Nothing should still work.
He took another cautious step.
Then another.
The corridor branched repeatedly.
Rooms lined both sides.
Most doors hung open.
Some had collapsed entirely.
Broken furniture littered the floor.
Cabinets had long since fallen apart.
Papers crumbled into dust the moment air touched them.
Kai slowly walked past them.
"This doesn't feel like a house..."
He entered a larger room.
Metal tables.
Broken glass.
Strange equipment whose purpose he couldn't even guess.
Everything was coated in dust.
"...A workshop?"
He shook his head.
"No..."
Too clean.
Too organized.
Too many strange instruments.
He quietly left.
Further ahead—
A staircase descended into the darkness below.
Unlike the upper floor...
The faint glow became slightly brighter.
Kai stared downward.
"...Basement?"
He swallowed.
Then smiled nervously.
"I've made enough bad decisions already."
"...One more won't hurt."
He began descending.
Each step echoed.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
The deeper he went...
The stronger the faint humming became.
Not mechanical.
Not magical.
Something between the two.
As if countless tiny currents still flowed beneath the walls.
Kai reached the bottom.
Another corridor.
Longer.
Darker.
The glow along the walls pulsed gently.
Almost like breathing.
He had only taken a few steps—
When he heard it.
...
Squelch.
Kai froze.
The sound came again.
Wet.
Heavy.
Something dragging itself across the floor.
Squelch...
Squelch...
Squelch...
It wasn't close.
But it was getting closer.
Kai slowly leaned toward the corner ahead.
Just enough to peek.
His breathing stopped.
A massive yellow blob slowly slid across the hallway.
Nearly twice his height.
Its translucent body rippled with every movement.
Broken furniture, bones, and rusted metal floated within its gelatinous mass.
It had no visible eyes.
No mouth.
Yet somehow—
It stopped.
Its body quivered.
As if...
It had noticed something.
Kai immediately pulled his head back against the wall.
His heart pounded.
"...That..."
He whispered.
"...is definitely not a normal slime."
The corridor fell silent.
Neither moved.
Neither made a sound.
Then—
The slime began sliding once more.
Slowly.
Methodically.
Toward Kai's hallway.
Squelch...
Squelch...
Kai glanced behind him.
Only darkness.
Then back toward the approaching creature.
"...Yeah."
He quietly took one careful step backward.
"...I'm leaving."
The slime continued forward.
Unhurried.
As though it already knew...
Its visitor had nowhere else to go.