Water kept dripping on a shallow surface when Ashe finally regained awareness.
She remained still for a few moments, letting her breathing adjust while trying to understand what had happened. The fragments of memory returned slowly to her, not necessarily in the correct order so she had to reassemble them in her mind like pieces of a puzzle.
The room, the mass of energy, the chase, the collapse of the floor, and finally the fall.
She opened her eyes. A faint flash of red energy passed across her vision, though she felt nothing from it.
She looked up toward where she had fallen, making sure the entity had not followed. There were no signs of it anywhere so she assumed it must have remained somewhere in the upper level. She breathed a sigh of relief at that thought.
Then she slowly pushed herself to her feet and scanned this new place she found herself in.
The structure here appeared much less refined. There were pipes running along the walls and ceiling while large circular mechanisms, in the shape of immense cogs, were placed on different surfaces. They were heavily worn and discolored which must have meant they had not been used in a really long time.
Yet, even with this drastic environment change there were still no obvious signs of life here either.
"You're very stubborn."
The words appeared on the wall to her right, just as they had before. The sight of them did not startle Ashe this time, as they were becoming quite familiar.
"Yeah…" she said after a moment. "I guess I am."
"Your condition is rapidly declining," Seven continued. "You need Harmonic Seeds as soon as possible."
Again with that.
"If you had listened to me earlier, this would have been easier," Seven added. "Down here, it's much harder to identify a source. The structure is somehow interfering with the signal, and I can't get an accurate mapping. I'm working on finding an efficient route, but it may take some time."
"You keep mentioning these Harmonic Seeds," Ashe replied. "What are those?"
"There is a great deal to explain," Seven wrote. "And maybe right now is not the best time for you to hear this."
"Yeah, well, apparently we've got time."
Ashe already knew she was pushing herself, and that it wasn't doing her any favors.
"You've awakened in a place that is not built to support what you are."
"What exactly am I?" she asked after a moment. "You called me something earlier. An Emergent."
A brief silence followed. Even so, she couldn't bring herself to slow down. After all these strange things happening to her, she felt the world owed her at least that much. Everything had been redefined for her, and she was simply expected to accept it. Whoever Seven was on the other side of the signal, she told herself he would understand.
"What is known is that several years ago, many individuals began to awaken in this world under similar conditions. Neither of them had any recollection of who they were and what had happened to them. Much like yourself. We call them Emergents. To our knowledge, they all went through the same initial phase."
"What phase?"
"A state of instability," Seven replied. "During this phase, the organism is unable to sustain itself independently for long periods of time. So without an external stabilizing element, it begins to degrade."
Ashe's gaze lowered slightly.
"So this is where the famous Harmonic Seeds come into play. What are they exactly?"
"We don't have a complete picture of what they are either. They were around long before any of us were here. What we do know is that they contain HSM, a substance able to keep at bay certain types of microparticles which float around in the atmosphere at all times. Even now. They are fatal to a human body if exposed to them for long periods of time."
"'We'… you keep saying 'we'," Ashe remarked as she was reading Seven's explanations.
"I am the seventh to awake in my group. Hence my name," Seven explained.
"You have a group… Where are you… and your group?" Ashe asked, moving carefully through the rubble.
Then she remembered.
"It was Threnos, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Seven confirmed. "It's far from your current location though. We're researchers trying to understand this world and help others like you. That's how I found you. Emergents are rare now, but we still manage to locate some in time… and help them survive the initial phase."
The rocks and dust underneath Ashe's feet made crumpling sounds as she walked.
"So what happens after all of this? Where are the rest of the Emergents?" she asked.
"The ones lucky enough to have survived, located Harmonic Seeds. They adapted to what's left of the world and their condition stabilized over time."
"What if an Emergent is unable to find these godsent seeds in time?"
There was a longer silence this time, with no writing appearing anywhere. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Ashe knew the answer would be something she wasn't prepared for.
"Their bodies decay," Seven eventually wrote. "Until they transition into a different state."
Ashe stopped walking as she waited for the rest of the explanation.
"They become reactive matter," Seven continued. "Neither alive nor dead. They are no longer capable of reason."
Her mind instinctively returned to the mass of energy she had encountered earlier in the upper levels. The image of it popped into her mind like one of those shards she had experienced piercing her skin.
"So that thing back there…" she began.
"Yes," Seven replied. "That was likely an Emergent. At some point."
Ashe felt a subtle pressure in her chest.
"We know them as Drifts."
"Drift…" she repeated quietly.
It all felt like a weird board game, or a play arranged with high precision, as if every piece had been placed with a very specific purpose. Everything had its role, its consequence. And yet, for all its complexity, Ashe couldn't understand the most fundamental of its principles. What was it all for?
"Why?" she asked after a moment. "Why is this happening?"
This time though, there was no more response. The markings on the walls stopped appearing altogether.
"Seven?" she called.
Her voice echoed through the space but no answer came, it was only her and the confusion spinning in her mind.
"Great," she murmured. "I'm alone again."
She adjusted her posture and took a few more steps forward. The weakness in her body was still there, and every movement required double the effort, but she could still do it. To her that meant she still had a chance.
She ran her hand along the walls and mechanisms around her as if that would have somehow exposed hidden secrets within them. She couldn't help but wonder what this place was, who built it, what it had been intended for. Would Seven know? She regretted not having asked enough. Would he come back at all?
The dripping sound continued behind her.
Then, without warning, the markings reappeared.
"I have identified a route," Seven wrote. "There is a cluster of Harmonic Seeds close to where you are now."
Ashe focused entirely on that information.
"This time," Seven continued, "you must do as I say. You can't afford being stubborn again in your current condition. There will not be another opportunity."
She looked at the words for a moment.
"Alright," she said.
She took a breath and got ready for whatever would follow.
"You win."