Anomaly

My feet brushed against the grass, bringing with them a strange sensation, a subtle mix of ticklish pricks and cool freshness. The muffled sound of my footsteps echoed in perfect sync with those of Victor, Rupert, and Arthur, as well as the rest of the anomaly response team, forming an almost hypnotic rhythm in the darkness.
Ahead of us, visibility was incredibly limited. Most of the surroundings were swallowed by a dense shroud of shadows, while only a faint sliver of light granted us the privilege of seeing a few meager meters ahead.
Seeing what lay around us? An impossible request. We were practically surrounded by a curtain of thick darkness, so dense it rendered sight nearly useless. My eyes offered little help, it was like trying to see through a living, oppressive void.
Instead, I began to rely on my other senses. I sharpened my hearing for the slightest sound out of place, extended my gelatinous sense of touch to feel subtle vibrations in the environment, and let my sense of smell pick up on any change in the air, metallic, damp, or hostile.
Anything would do. Any minimal perception my amorphous body could provide, as long as it allowed me to anticipate an attack... or at least react at the exact moment it emerged.
Fortunately, nothing had happened so far. No grotesque anomaly leapt out of the darkness at us, nothing dropped from the ceiling without warning, and the ground remained solid beneath our feet, without suddenly turning into some kind of murderous quicksand. If luck stayed on our side, we might reach our objective in one piece.
Speaking of our objective, I continued moving in the direction from which Tenebrya’s presence seemed to emanate, or at least, that’s what I would have liked to say. The truth was far less straightforward. We had been walking for a little over an hour and a half, and still hadn’t reached the presence I had sensed so clearly at the beginning.
The path seemed to stretch on endlessly, as if the very terrain resisted our approach. Gradually, fatigue began to show among the group: slower steps, labored breathing, tense shoulders. That, of course, wasn’t a problem for me.
No matter how far I walked, exhaustion simply didn’t exist. The same couldn’t be said for the others. They were human, limited, fragile by comparison, and not anomalies like me.
After taking a few more steps, Victor’s voice echoed from behind me: “Wait...” he said quietly, his tone heavy with exhaustion, drawing my attention.
I stopped and turned to face him. Victor glanced away for a moment, sweeping his gaze over the others following us, and then truly noticed their condition: worn expressions, sweat freely streaming down their faces, legs trembling as if every step required an overwhelming effort.
“Let’s rest for a few minutes” he suggested, taking a deep breath: “Everyone’s exhausted. If something shows up... well, I don’t think we’d get very far”
I watched the almost pleading look on Victor’s face before shifting my attention to the other humans behind us. I analyzed the group in silence for a few seconds, weighing the situation, before finally nodding toward Victor in agreement.
Instantly, as if they had all been waiting for that moment, bodies collapsed onto the cool grass. Some fell flat on their backs, staring up at the dark sky, while others simply sat down, hunched over and gasping for air.
Overall, most of them looked as if they were on the brink of death, pale faces, half-closed eyes, chests rising and falling erratically, as though they had just finished an exhausting marathon. Which, technically, wasn’t far from the truth.
While most of the response team rested their bodies on the cool grass surrounding the area, Arthur, Victor, and Rupert approached me, their breathing still a bit heavy from the recent exertion.
Rupert stopped at my right side, steady and alert, while Victor and Arthur positioned themselves to my left. Without exchanging a word, the three of them turned their gaze toward the darkness ahead, dense and utterly silent. We remained like that for several moments.
Victor’s voice broke the silence a few seconds later, steady but edged with caution, voicing the obvious question given our situation: “Can you see what’s out there?”
Rupert and Arthur waited for my answer as well. I simply shook my head, not saying a word. Both of their eyes narrowed slightly as they stared into the darkness ahead, their focus sharpening.
Their hands tightened around their weapons, muscles tense, as if expecting something to leap from the shadows at any moment.
Arthur was the next to speak, pulling me from my brief distraction as I watched Rupert and Victor. I turned to him, letting curiosity show in my eyes: “How’s the search going? Do you think you can tell which direction your sister is in?”
I looked at Arthur, then let my gaze sweep across our surroundings. I couldn’t say I felt Tenebrya’s presence with absolute precision, but there was, without a doubt, a clear direction, almost like a subtle tug deep in my chest, guiding me forward.
I nodded in confirmation and pointed straight ahead, indicating the direction from which that sensation seemed to be emanating. Arthur and Rupert followed the gesture with a silent nod. Rupert, in particular, looked slightly relieved, as if the mere idea of not being trapped in that place, wandering aimlessly, was enough to ease some of the tension gripping him.
Victor narrowed his eyes in the direction I was pointing. From the way his brows furrowed, I guessed he couldn’t make out anything at all.
“I... I can’t see anything” he admitted, sweeping his gaze across the surroundings before staring back into the emptiness ahead. He took a deep breath, as if trying to organize his thoughts: “But compared to other places, it feels like there’s something there...” he went on, his voice lower: “Still, every instinct I have is screaming at me to turn around as fast as possible instead of moving forward” The last words slipped out in a barely audible murmur.
“Great” Rupert remarked, letting out a half-smile heavy with irony: “At least we’re not lost, which, considering everything, is already a pretty good sign. Now all we have to do is pray we make it there... wherever there is... in one piece” He made a vague gesture with his hand, as if listing unpleasant possibilities: “Preferably without any missing body parts. I’m rather attached to mine”
Arthur and Victor exchanged a brief look at Rupert’s comment, a silent understanding passing between them. I, on the other hand, ignored him completely and kept staring at the exact point from which the sensation of Tenebrya emanated, dense and oppressive, like an invisible weight pressing against my chest.
That was when my ears picked something up. Footsteps. Slow, deliberate... and strangely human. I turned toward the sound, my body tensing on instinct, but the moment I did, everything plunged into absolute silence. No sound. No echo.
Just the distant roar of the sea and the darkness ahead. I tilted my head slightly, and then the footsteps resumed, unmistakable now. They were definitely human.
Slow, measured... far too confident for an infernal place lost in the middle of the ocean. Whatever was hiding in the darkness could be literally anything... except an ordinary human.
“What?” was the only thing Emily managed to say, after her mind finally processed the entity’s words and translated them one by one, with uncomfortable slowness. The silence that followed hung heavy in the air as she tried to grasp the true meaning of what she had just heard.
Althea drifted around Emily in slow, deliberate circles, like a curious predator studying its prey. A mischievous smile, filled with amusement, played on her lips as her eyes gleamed with interest.
“Isn’t she your sister?” she asked, her voice far too soft to be innocent: “Strange... you both carry the same life aura around you. I assumed you were from the same family...” The entity then closed her mouth and lightly touched her lips with the tip of her fingers in an almost theatrical gesture, as if sealing a secret that didn’t exist. She spoke again moments later, the provocative smile never leaving her face: “Or am I mistaken?”
Emily parted her lips, but no words came out. The confusion in her mind was so overwhelming that she didn’t even know where to begin. Above all else, one question echoed relentlessly: why would that entity believe they were sisters? And more disturbingly, what did “life aura” even mean? None of it made sense.
Still, there was something that had to be said, something that couldn’t be left unspoken: “She’s not my sister” Emily declared, her voice firm and sharp, leaving no room for doubt: “That thing is just...” she continued, pausing briefly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts and reclaim a shred of clarity. When she opened them again, her gaze was resolute: “A product of this whole anomalous situation we’re dealing with. Nothing more. Nothing less”
Emily carefully watched every nuance of the floating entity’s expression. Even so, it was clear her words had had no effect whatsoever. The presence before her remained impassive, its face unmoving, as if emotions were a concept too distant to reach it.
Without showing haste or curiosity, the entity simply rotated in midair, turning toward the “Thing” that bore the unsettling resemblance to Emily’s sister. Her gaze lingered for an extra moment, cold and assessing, before she spoke. Her voice, stripped of any emotional inflection, broke the silence: “Well, that’s what she says... but what do you think about all this?”
Emily shot a sideways glance at the “thing” wearing her sister’s face. The creature merely shrugged, unconcerned, as if the matter were far too trivial to deserve attention. Its expression was oddly serene, almost indifferent.
“At this point, I’ve already gotten used to her stubbornness” it said with a restrained sigh: “It doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it did at first” There was a subtle weariness in its voice, mixed with resigned acceptance.
Emily narrowed her eyes slightly and rolled them before responding, letting out a sigh laced with irony. Her lips curled into a sharp half-smile as she said: “You mean at first, when you pestered me day and night, turning my daily life into a living hell?”
Raising her hands in surrender, Emily’s “sister” flashed a roguish, almost teasing grin before replying: “Hey, can you really blame me for acting that way? You ignored me all the time” She tilted her head slightly, as if seeking complicity: “What was I supposed to do? It’s not exactly fun being ignored by your own sister, you know?”
Emily rolled her eyes and let out a restrained sigh. Honestly, she had the distinct feeling that staying any longer in the presence of that supposed ghostly manifestation of her sister would eventually drive her insane.