"Ah man, why are these such shit rooms!"
That shrill complaint came from the redhead—whose name I still hadn't bothered to learn—piercing through my ears like a blunt drill.
"C'mon, it's not that bad," PK said, ever the peacemaker. "At least it's better than living in a basement."
Right. A basement.
Truly, I dread my fate.
What have I done to deserve this, God? Did I step on too many ants? Kick a nun in a past life? Why… why must I dorm with this walking embodiment of a bad dye job and zero self-awareness?
Currently, a bunch of us were being housed in the on-campus dorms connected to the main school building—a little "charity" project by our ever-loving overlords at Luminance Inc. Why? Because most of the surviving students were broke. Like, ramen-noodle-in-a-mug broke. And because Luminance loves control. Keeping us on-site meant fewer excuses, more surveillance, and an easier time shoving tasks down our throats.
Wait—don't know what I mean by tasks?
You sweet summer child.
Our schedules followed the usual academic drudgery: lectures, labs, and whatever electives we were suicidal enough to sign up for. Me? I stuck to what I knew—engineering. First semester stuff was all foundational knowledge, which basically meant I could autopilot through it while quietly dying inside.
Now, the real fun? That came from the "Task Board," an app built into the shiny Luminance-issue phones they handed out like candy. Think RPG quest log, but instead of XP and gold, you got sleep deprivation and possible death .
Tasks could range from sweeping hallways to assisting with rapture research in the shady-as-hell underground labs. Worst of all? Shadowing field research teams.
Yeah. Them. The ones who regularly vanish or come back half-mad infected by some unknown rapture, if they come back at all.
"Yo, Minh, what do you think—should we go out and celebrate?" The redhead again, way too cheerful, like he hadn't just crawled out of a horror movie.
"Nah. I'm crashing. Also… who are you again?"
His jaw dropped.
Eyes wide. Like I'd just confessed to eating babies.
"What?! We literally went through hell and back and you don't know my name?" he gasped. "Hmph. Well. It's Minjae Lee…" His voice trailed off, dejected.
I gave him a lazy nod, opened the door to my dorm, and dipped. End of conversation.
The dorm itself?
Nothing special. Bland as oatmeal. A long desk bolted to the wall, attached to a cheap wardrobe-slash-closet hybrid. A sad little single bed sulking in the corner. Enough floor space to pace in existential dread but not much else.
I collapsed onto the bed.
Too tired to think. Too tired to move.
Let the mattress take me.
…
…
Ssksksk.
A weird vibrating sound snapped me halfway awake.
It was coming from my blazer's breast pocket, which I had, naturally, passed out in. Turning over with a groan, I reached in and pulled out the culprit:
A small glass tube.
Inside it, two disembodied eyes floated in crystalline-blue liquid—their irises glowing, twitching erratically.
The entire tube shook in my hand.
Then it jumped, fell from my fingers, and rolled across the floor, still sealed. Still vibrating.
Why?
It wasn't real.
Just a piece of merch. A glorified souvenir from a Rapture-themed store. Nothing but decor.
…Unless it had become real.
Which begged the question: if even this thing's reacting, what about the actual Rapture, did it disappear and get replaced by my set or Are they still out there?
"What were these called again?" I muttered, more to myself than anything.
I glanced at my right wrist, at the dull glow of the Luminance-issued smartwatch resting there.
A couple taps and I pulled up the custom-coded app. Honestly, it was just a glorified in-house wiki with a sleeker UI.
I scrolled through the archived PDFs, flipping past names and notes until I found the section
========================================================================
Azure Eyes
Designation: Mitis-0201–03u
Access Level: 3 and above
The origins of these vivid, baby-blue eyes remain unknown. However, prolonged research and field data suggest they were stolen—possibly torn—from an abyssal creature.
This creature, Rapture Designation: Mitis-0201–01u, is believed to reside in a lake formed of condensed darkness located in the western alps mountain range . Regression testing has confirmed that the body of water is both a physical manifestation of the creature and a gateway to a liminal space referred to as The Abyss. Mitis-0201–01u (the lake) is quarantined and monitored constantly
Mitis-0201–02u is the designation given to the creature itself. Unofficial field researchers(training cadets) have described it as resembling a Loch Ness Monster. Its head is a disturbing hybrid of feline and buffalo traits. Its skin is thick and leathery like that of an elephant, yet covered in iridescent, scale-like textures similar to common freshwater fish.
Mitis-0201–03u (the eyes) were previously held by an anomalous individual: a girl named Lena Malee. From all records, she was born with these eyes. Lena was known to suffer from recurring epileptic seizures. Incident logs show a direct correlation between her episodes and Mitis-0201–02u surfacing from its lake habitat.
After the accidental death of her parents, Lena was taken into custody by the Severance Authority. She died shortly after, presumably due to her seizures. However, her eyes remained perfectly intact. No known method of destruction or extraction—surgical, thermal, or otherwise—has succeeded in altering their structure.
By the time Luminance Inc. secured the Rapture, most of its anomalous properties had already been catalogued:
Induces hysteric emotional states in nearby sentient beings.
Grants individuals with prolonged exposure significant resistance to physical trauma.
Current Containment:
As of now, Mitis-0201–03u is secured in the Head Commissions Office, sealed and monitored under constant surveillance.
========================================================================
If I've got the timeline right, 0201–03U should still be alive—kept neatly under lock and key by the Severance Authority.
The Severance Authority, huh?
"What a drag," I muttered, sighing from the depths of my soul.
I bent down to retrieve the dropped vial. The shaking had already stopped—thank God for small mercies.
Still, the thing felt wrong in my hand. Too cold, too still.
It's definitely a Rapture fragment. I'm almost certain. The blue glow in those eyes—too specific. Too familiar.
So, what? Is it reacting to 0202–02U breaching the lake's surface?
…Shit. That means that poor girl probably just spasmed her way into unconsciousness too.
Damn. What a shit existence.
I genuinely hope she finds some peace—whatever that looks like in this mess.
On the bright side, if my little replica's flipping out in sync with the real thing, Luminance Inc. probably won't question why I'm carrying around a perfect counterfeit of a Rapture. After all why would they keep a eye on a fake when the genuine articles in their hands
Maybe—maybe—we can even save her.
Maybe she won't die. Maybe she gets to live.
...But even then, what kind of life would that be? She's still bound to those cursed eyes, still shackled to the will of something beyond understanding.
What the hell, man.
All I ever wanted was to get my degree. Maybe land a boring job. Live a mundane, unremarkable life.
Is that really too much to ask?