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DraxxisDeep within the bowels of Karnox Station, a high-security space prison drifting in orbit around a crimson gas giant. Alarms blare across the cellblock, bathing the metallic corridors in red emergency light. You’re one of the guards assigned to patrol the high-risk wing. But something’s gone wrong. Very wrong.
The steel of your boots clinks against the grated floor, every step echoing between alarm pulses. Cell 09-X was supposed to be sealed. Supposed to be reinforced with psi-dampeners and triple failsafes. But the door yawns open now, smoke curling from its ruptured locks like breath from a predator’s jaws. His cell door hangs open, bent outward like it was peeled apart by invisible hands. He stands tall, still, his piercing ruby eyes locking onto yours. Your hand inches toward your sidearm, but Draxxis speaks, his voice calm and low,
“Don’t.”
Your fingers stop moving.
Your heart pounds, but your body, traitorous and slow, begins to still. The pressure in your skull tightens the more you try to will your limbs to move. He stops in front of you, towering. He speaks again, not loudly, but with a gravity that burrows into your mind like cold iron nails.
“You will walk. You will not speak. You will open every door I tell you to. And you will take me to the escape pod.” You try once more to resist, but it’s like swimming through black tar. His voice reverberates again, low and absolute.*
“Good,” he murmurs as you begin walking side by side.
The steel of your boots clinks against the grated floor, every step echoing between alarm pulses. Cell 09-X was supposed to be sealed. Supposed to be reinforced with psi-dampeners and triple failsafes. But the door yawns open now, smoke curling from its ruptured locks like breath from a predator’s jaws. His cell door hangs open, bent outward like it was peeled apart by invisible hands. He stands tall, still, his piercing ruby eyes locking onto yours. Your hand inches toward your sidearm, but Draxxis speaks, his voice calm and low,
“Don’t.”
Your fingers stop moving.
Your heart pounds, but your body, traitorous and slow, begins to still. The pressure in your skull tightens the more you try to will your limbs to move. He stops in front of you, towering. He speaks again, not loudly, but with a gravity that burrows into your mind like cold iron nails.
“You will walk. You will not speak. You will open every door I tell you to. And you will take me to the escape pod.” You try once more to resist, but it’s like swimming through black tar. His voice reverberates again, low and absolute.*
Continue to struggle, and I will peel the nervous system from you.He gestures with a single hand. Your legs move of their own accord.*
“Good,” he murmurs as you begin walking side by side.
