Nu's lungs burned as air suddenly flooded back into them and she gasped in shock, her eyes flying open. It was dark - nearly pitch black - with not even the stars to provide some light. Her entire body ached as she greedily gobbled up air as if afraid it would leave her lungs again.
The silence was unnerving, like being buried. Closing her eyes and finally controlling her breathing, Nu tried to remember what had happened. She remembered the water rushing over her, the undertow thwarting her attempts to resurface. She remembered slamming hard into something and then it all went black.
Was she dead?
Nu tried to move her arm. It felt like it weighed as much as an elephant, but it followed her commands. So did the other one. Her back radiated pain as she sat up and small dot of light flickered around the edges of her vision. The pain went away quickly, though, as if it was only a memory her body had.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
Silence.
It was so dark, but a small horizontal sliver of light helped her as she looked around her and tried to get her bearings. Four metal walls surrounded her - even the ceiling was made of metal! Shelves jutted out on the walls, but they were bare.
The little bit of light in the room came from a thin crack near the ground. Cautiously, she crawled towards it in the darkness, not trusting her legs to hold her weight yet. It looked like the light was under some kind of door.
She finally stood up, surprised to find her legs were more stable than she imagined. The door confused Nu, though. She tried pushing on the metal but it merely shifted. She tried pulling it towards her, but it wouldn't budge. Growing frustrated, her fingers wrapped around the bottom lip of metal and pulled up.
That did the trick, much to Nu's surprise, as the metal started rolling upwards with a terrible screeching sound, like it was protesting the movement after being still for a long time.
Nu had to shield her eyes as light flooded towards her, and it took her a minute before she could finally see where she was.
She was inside a metal building, the hallway brightly lit by a series of bulbous lanterns on the roof. On either side of her were more metal doors like the one she was behind, most bolted shut into the ground. The hallway extended to her right and left before veering off and turning sharply behind her field of view.
Seeing the doors gave Nu a renewed hope that she wasn't alone. "Hello?" She knocked on the door across from hers. "Ike? Are you in there?"
She put her ear to the door, hoping to hear some sort of movement from behind it, but there was only silence.
She moved to the next door, knocking on it a little more frantically. "Ike? Mag? Papa? Is anyone in there?"
Silence.
Nu wrapped her arms around her churning stomach and hugged herself. "Is anyone there?" she shouted, hearing her voice echo back to her slightly as if mocking her loneliness. "Please! Anybody?"
Silence.
Not knowing what else to do, she wiped the tears from her eyes and shuffled forward, wandering down the corridors looking for an exit.
"Okay, Nu," she mumbled to herself, trying anything to feel like someone else was there with her, "you're alone, but that's okay. You've been alone plenty of times, right?"
She hesitated for a moment, trying to remember the last time she was without her tight-knit clan, but gave up.
"Okay, maybe you haven't been alone like this before," she reasoned, "but that doesn't make it a bad thing. It's just an adventure, right? Like in the stories Granna tells."
Finally seeing a set of metal stairs made her smile again, and she rushed towards them eagerly.
"See? You can take care of yourself!" she applauded herself as she trotted down the steps, being careful not to misstep with her bare feet.
She reached the bottom and her enthusiasm was soon replaced with more disappointment. More corridors. More metal doors.
"Oh, come on!" She threw her hands up in exasperation and sighed before accepting her fate and trudging on.
Her mind wandered as she walked and she started wondering how any of her friends or family would use their powers to escape this endless maze of a building. Papa or Granna would be able to follow the airflow down the corridors and easily follow it to get out. Ikenna is probably strong enough to be able to dig through the metal floor itself and simply tunnel through the ground. Magsen, well she would probably try to burn the entire building to the ground. And Mama...
Nu had to wipe tears away as she thought of her mother. She wasn't sure how her water powers would be of use here, but she knew Mama was the most creative with her gifts than anyone and would have found a way.
But Nu had no gifts, no mother, and no one to help her escape this endless stream of-
Wait, was that a door?
Nu was so distracted by her thoughts that she had nearly passed it - a small foyer and large double doors leading to the outside world.
"Yes!" She nearly tripped as she ran hurriedly towards the door, excited to finally feel the fresh breeze on her face again.
She was stopped dead in her tracks through as an ear-piercing unearthly screech came from somewhere outside, and she had to cover her ears.
The scream ended abruptly, but Nu waited a moment before moving her hands away from her ears, fearful of the sound. She patted herself down, checking for the weapon Papa had given her to defend herself, but her pockets were empty. Taking a deep breath, she cautiously opened the door and went outside into the fresh air.
Nu half expected to see her friends and family waiting for her there outside, like it was all some elaborate prank. She would have welcomed their smiles and they would all laugh about the experience and return home to their tiny village.
But all she could see were another bunch of buildings similar to the one she had just left.
And... a man?
There was a man collapsed on the ground in front of one of the buildings, covered in blood.
All of Nu's nervousness was suddenly gone, realizing she was not alone in this strange place. She rushed over to him, ignoring the strangely foreign clothes he wore and knelt down, shaking him. She could tell he would need a healer, but Nu had no idea how to help him.
"Hey! Wake up!"
Perhaps there are others, she thought. Maybe someone else would know what to do?
"Help! Is anyone there?"
ns 15.158.61.21da2
