BatIM Five Trials

Chapter Nineteen

"Give me back my Boris!" Alice's voice faintly echoed through Jade's mind as she started to stir once more. Everything still ached and her entire body felt heavy with exhaustion. It took a bit of effort for Jade to finally be able to open her eyes. At first for a few moments she had forgotten what had happened, but then it all came rushing back like a speeding train of panic and alarm.

Boris! I've gotta save him! She used the wall of the now crumbling and broken lift to help her get back up on her two feet. After taking a couple seconds to make sure she was steady, she bolted down the hall she recalled seeing Boris taken away to, snagging her bag as she went. The Trial Four sign was barely even spared a glance. She was quickly approaching the end of the hall when suddenly. . .

"Ahhh!" Jade screamed in fright when the ground collapsed from under her for a second time within the studio's walls. She hadn't fallen for long when she landed on an ink-covered surface, presumably wood, and the air had forced itself out of her body. She had no time to recover her breath, however, as she started sliding down the slippery ink covered slope.

No no no! Stop! Jade thought frantically, trying to gain some kind of traction on the slide. Her efforts were futile, she did nothing in terms of stopping, in fact, she got faster. Suddenly the slide came to a stop, launching her into a free fall. With widened eyes, she tried turning to reach for the slide, but her efforts again were fruitless as she heard the air rushing by her ears. She watched where she had come from getting further away as she fell, still desperately trying to reach for it, but became more pathetic the further she fell.

Suddenly the sound of air was all gone and was replaced with the suffocation of ink. Torturous pain engulfed her open injuries like an inferno on gasoline, and Jade couldn't suppress an attempted scream, losing some of the already limited air she had. Voices surrounded her under the dark liquid, there were so many and all of them seemed like they were screaming. It was almost deafening and only got louder as she sank through the translucent darkness. The light was fading the further she went down into bleak nothingness.

I've gotta get outta this! Otherwise, I'll- her thoughts were cut off as she felt hands within the inky pool starting to drag her further down. In a panic, she struggled to get out of their grasp, but every move sent more pain shooting through her injuries. Let me go! Jade thought frantically, attempting to scream in the ink herself. Her only success was more of her limited air supply escaping and her accidentally swallowing some of the vile substance. It burned her throat like fire as it entered her system, making her want to cry out in pain, but she didn't because it would worsen the problem. Finally, she felt the hands letting go after what felt like an eternity of being pulled down. Everything hurt, much worse now than it had before. Her lungs were starting to burn, signifying that she needed air, fast, if she was going to live.

It all hurts so much. . . it'd be easier to just give up. . . Jade thought to herself, looking with dull eyes into the darkness. Then suddenly, her hopeless look turned into a glare of raging anger and determination. No, I can't. I can't give up on Boris, he needs me! Jade turned and started to swim back the way the hands had pulled. Her movements only made the inferno of pain only get worse, but that didn't stop her. If she was going to save Boris, she'd have to pull through every ounce of exhaustion, pain, and despair. She was willing to risk everything to save a friend, for he was one of the only ones she had.

The light got brighter and ever more present above her until finally, she broke the surface. She took the largest gasp she had ever taken in her life, then proceeding to cough rather hard as she started to tread the surface. She used one of her hands, despite it being covered in ink, to wipe off the area over her eyes. To her surprise, it actually worked and the ink came off. She panted heavily, doing her best to keep her injuries out of the water, but one was much easier than the other.

I need to get out of here before whatever that was tries to drag me back down, I might not have the strength or energy to get back up a second time. Looking around provided her eyes with the sights of one singular exit, so with a hurried swim, she swam to it. There was no form of ladder or stairs, so she had to drag herself out. That process was excruciatingly painful since she had to put weight on her injured shoulder, which already hurt quite a lot due to being submerged in ink for who knows how long, in addition to Trial Three's near constant demand for its use.

She laid on the ground for a moment or two after the agony of dragging herself out of the ink, said substance seeming to mostly come right off of her for one reason or another, just leaving a puddle on the ground. The only parts of the substance that lingered on Jade were her feet and ankles, and the area on her clothing which had blood stains. This was mainly her shoulder. Looking at the injury on said shoulder, it was the same color as the ink she had come from. Dark and dull gray.

This isn't good. . . is it? Jade thought to herself, looking concerned about her still aching shoulder. After only a minute of resting to recover, she got back up and continued walking forward into the new hallway ahead of her, shivering as she felt the cold in the air. It was much colder down here than back up in Trial Three. The large sign at the end revealed that she was on Level S, which was supposed to be for accounting. Grant Cohen was supposed to have been here, which was an unfamiliar name to Jade. There were two ways to go according to the end of the hall, and the door missing a valve on the left soon turned that two ways into just one.

She went to the right since that was the only remaining way to go. There were two doors, and one proved to be locked. Opening the other revealed a chilling sight.

Ink was written all over the walls, jumbled together so she couldn't read a single word in the scrambled scrawls of darkness. Whispers resonated around her as she took a step into the room. The already cold air was even chillier inside of this room, causing her to shudder. Even if the ink was off of her, the feeling of being wet and the heaviness of her now flat hair still lingered.

The fact that a recording existed within the room soon revealed itself when she saw it upon the desk in the room. Approaching it, she noticed the label was blotted out. She took a seat, expecting to hear something useful, or at least, something much different than what she got. There was screaming, in fear or agony, she could not tell. Most likely both. It was giving Jade the shivers of a new kind of fear rising inside of her as the struggle saved by the recording continued on. Glass smashed as the cries of terrorized suffering continued. Finally, the loudest scream of them all came from the recording before being replaced with the sound of liquid dripping and the sounds of snarls resonated through the room.

Jade was horrified, more so now than from any recording she'd heard before now. The only thing that snapped her out of her terror was the feeling of cold liquid running agonizingly slowly down her arms. Looking at them, she noticed ink had somehow gotten on her arms and was slowly moving down toward her hands. It stopped upon her eye contact, almost like a child who was caught sneaking and doing things they shouldn't. What?! How did this get there? Almost instinctively she tried to wipe it off, but it didn't work. It clung there as if it were supposed to be there. Her eyes widened out of a bit of sudden fear, causing the ink to start moving back down her arm a bit faster.

Calm down Jade, you should think rationally now, like on ways to save Boris. Don't focus on that, focus on your friend. She took deep breaths as she got back up, calming down while doing so and looking for some way to move forward. There were no other doors in this room that she could proceed forward in, so she knew now that she had to find a way through one of the locked doors. As she looked around, she could feel the cold liquid moving back up her arms, which would mean from her current standpoint that it was somehow defying gravity. She paid it no mind because she knew if she did, it'd just freak her out more.

Soon she did find a valve lodged between two pipes near the back of the room, she quickly picked it up and ran toward the door missing its valve. She pushed it in and turned it, creating only more agony for her shoulder as the valve gave trouble to the one trying to rotate it. Finally, it did, and the door opened, revealing a large room with inky almost human looking statues. . . or the visual impression revealed statues. They seemed to be begging to some kind of large Bendy stature, above it being a large tattered banner reading HE WILL SET US FREE.

What on Earth is this place hiding? What sort of darkness has been kept away from society's eyes, if there wasn't a larger warning than "people just go missing?" Am I going to have to find out?