as Suki is about to address the creature again, the figure suddenly takes a step towards her, lifting one arm as if to grab her. Suki jerks back a little, but the creature seems to take this as an opportunity to continue to approach her.
"B-stay away! I'm warning you! I -..."
Her hand grips the gun a little tighter in her pocket.
"Come on ... hurry up and kill her ... I don't have all day ..."
Suki looks around frantically, and discovers Chitori, in the shape of the small, white cat, who sits a few meters away and grins at her in amusement.
The shadow starts to move silently, while Chitori's silent smile seems to dig into Suki's body like a knife. But all of a sudden she also feels an unbelievable anger inside. She hates that satisfied smile on Chitori's face and she hates feeling like a puppet around her. But most of all she hates this lousy cat for taking such pleasure in making other people sorry ... for what she did to Sey and even for Selena ... When the dark shadow is right in front of her and with his black hand reaches for her arm, Suki tries to fight back with all his might. She kicks and hits as hard as she can, but the figure doesn't let up as easily as she'd hoped.As a last resort, she pulls the sharp, small knife out of her pocket and stabs it without thinking too much, putting all her anger and hatred of Chitori into this one attack. To their surprise, the shadow-like being even offers resistance. The blade gets stuck deep in the figure's left shoulder ... even blood slowly begins to run down it ... Suki falls on his knees, partly relieved by her success and partly shocked by herself. Suddenly she is dizzy and colored lights flicker in front of her eyes. She can just roughly make out how the figure bends down to her before everything turns black before her eyes. But she doesn't have the feeling as if she were unconscious ... On the contrary, her senses suddenly seem sharper than before ... As if everything around her had been darkened by a veil that is now gradually clearing. She thinks she hears a voice far away calling her name. She looks familiar ...
"Hey! Suki! Come on ... open your eyes!"
She feels herself being gently shaken by the shoulders ...
"Listen to me, Suki, this is all just an illusion! You just have to open your eyes!"
The voice seems to be very close now ... Suki has the feeling of waking up from an incredibly deep sleep. With a low grumble, she finally squints in the dim twilight around her. She recognizes Sey directly in front of her, who, obviously relieved to see her awakening, wipes a few strands of hair from his face. He looks pretty pale to her and she can't help but wonder if he really was that worried about her ... When she regained her senses, she carefully straightened up.
"What happened?"
"Chitori ... she got us back ..."
Sey's serious expression suddenly turns into an exhausted grin.
"... I have to admit, you are a lot stronger than you look, Suki ... I've dealt with soldiers who haven't bothered me nearly as much as you do!"
Suki is slightly confused for a moment until she notices the reddish scratches on Sey's cheek. Just as she is about to ask what happened, her gaze falls on another wound, thanks to which she realizes for herself what had happened. Sey's shirt is soaked in blood and stuck in his shoulder, the small, dark metal knife that Suki had held in his hand a few minutes ago ... Sey's grin disappears immediately when he sees the look on her face.
"Hey ... that's not so bad ... don't worry about it .."
"But..."
Sey grits his teeth and tries to show as little as possible when he pulls the blade out with a quick jerk and lets it fall to the floor in front of him.
"You see, ... no problem ... That means -..."
He casts a concerned look at the metal knife in front of him. It has an unusual curvature and a tiny hole is impressed along its blade every few millimeters."You ... uh ... didn't happen to have that out of your pocket on the front right, did you?"
"Yes, I think so ... why do you ask?"
"Oh ... it doesn't matter ... let's just find a way out of here as soon as possible ..."
Suki looks around properly for the first time, and is amazed when she realizes that they are still in the gloomy labyrinth ... At least that doesn't seem to have been just her imagination. The two of them go the first on the right with luck and from then on always straight ahead. However, Suki cannot shake the feeling that they are looking in vain for the exit. She is also worried about Sey ... Even if he had already tried to calm her down several times, she cannot ignore the fact that he looks anything but fit ...
"Damn it! I just don't believe it!"
Suki turns to Sey, who is frustrated and collapses against the wall to their right.
"What is?"
Without looking up, he points with one arm to the ground in front of him. Suki can see some shiny red spots on the dark background.
"We ran in circles ..."
Suki sighs in despair and leans against the wall next to Sey.
"And what are we doing now?"
"I have no Idea..."
They stand next to each other in silence for a while, as if they were waiting for their problems to just solve themselves ...
"Do you hear the?"
Suki is startled from her thoughts and listens into the darkness at the other end of the hall. She thinks she hears the faint splashing of a fountain ... Sey pushes himself off the wall and walks towards the noise. Suki follows him hesitantly. When they turn left at the next intersection, they can see a tiny light some distance away, but when they passed here before it was definitely not there. When they are finally only a few meters away from the light source, she is quite sure that she can hear the gentle flow of water. And indeed, in the middle of the gray wall protrudes a stone gargoyle, reminiscent of an eagle and from whose beak a constant stream of clear water flows into a small basin directly below, from which some gentle clouds of steam rise, similar to a hot spring. On the wide edge of the pool there is a lonely candle that is about to go out for good. Without a word, Sey leans against the wall opposite the strange object, while Suki walks around it, hoping to discover something about it that at least partially points to an exit. But the only noticeable thing about the object is a small golden sign that says "No drinking water!"
Suki can't suppress a bitter laugh. For some reason she gets the feeling that the gargoyle is just trying to mock her with this completely unnecessary shield ... She gives the pool edge a kick and sighs.
"That thing is completely useless!I guess we should just keep walking ... "
Sey nods briefly to her, but when he detaches himself from the wall to run towards her, he begins to sway threateningly. Suki just manages to catch him to some extent, but his weight immediately makes her sink to her knees.
"Sey? Hey, Sey! What's wrong?"
He leans his head wearily on her shoulder.
"... The knife ... Normally, the poison on it would not harm me ... But I forgot ... that I ... this collar ..."
Suki carefully leans him against the next wall, unsure what to do next. Without thinking she reaches for the chain with the red stones, but just as her fingers touch the cool metal, she receives a violent electric shock. She tries a second time with the same result.
"I can't touch it! What should I do ?!"
She looks expectantly at Sey, but he does not react. Suki tries to wake him up again, but he just slides down one more piece of the wall. When she touches his cheek with the back of her hand, she jerks back slightly ... his skin is ice cold. Frantically she takes off her jacket and puts it over him in a makeshift way, only to look around in panic in the bare hallway for something useful. Your gaze falls on the hot spring below the gargoyle. With all her strength she tears off a long piece of fabric from the edge of her shirt and dips it into the hot water ... it is even a lot warmer than she expected. She quickly wring out the scrap, with a few splashes of water hitting the small candle at the edge of the pool, whereupon it goes out silently. Just as Suki turns back to Sey, she notices how the water inside the basin suddenly rises inexorably. After just a few moments it has reached the edge and finally splashes loudly into the corridor. The jet that comes out of the gargoyle suddenly increases a lot, and after a few minutes the entire ground around you is covered with water. Suki curses while trying desperately to pull Sey to her feet by one arm.
"Come on ... we have to get out of here ... please!"
The water is now shooting into the passage in unbelievable amounts, and although Suki expected it would have more than enough space to drain, it rises inch by inch higher. After a short time it reaches her knees. She has all hands to do with holding Sey upright. Suddenly your gaze falls on a narrow gold chain that falls into the water below the eagle. She leans Sey as straight as possible against the wall and fights her way through the water as fast as she can. After a few steps, she hits the edge of the pool with one foot, which is already well below the surface of the water. Panicked, she gropes for the end of the chain, even if she has basically lost almost all hope of ever getting out of here alive ... While she is looking, she looks around again at Sey, just as he slips to the side and away is swallowed by the masses of water.Her hand grasps the end of the chain and she pulls on it with all her might. She has never wished so much just to be at home ... just to be safe ...
A bright light shines from the water, directly under her feet, so bright that she has to look away. It almost seems to suck in the water, because the level sinks rapidly. The light spreads almost as quickly. When there is only a thin layer of water left, Suki rushes to Sey, who is lying motionless on the ground. She tries to feel his pulse but can't find one. As the light