Meanwhile, back to the larger group and The Narrator.
They have finally reached somewhere, a bigger and spacious room. It seems to be breaking down already. But they all only focused on one thing.
The giant crack that is suspended in the air right in front of them is glowing faintly, the size keeps jittering, and there are a bunch of randomly pitching noises coming from it.
As all the larger group and The Narrator entered, the hallways behind them suddenly closed in by itself, leaving nowhere to go, as if this were the last destination to be inside the saferoom.
The larger group is all falling to the ground, tired and exhausted. Most of the people simply leaned back against the wall or just fell flat on the ground, the slime flattened itself in relaxation.
"Thank goodness, we're here." A person with goldish-blue skin speaks up, "I feel like it was just yesterday we were running through this."
"I'm genuinely so damn tired." Axor said, sitting neatly on the ground, "What the hell did I get myself into?"
... The Narrator stands in front of them, he turns around.
"Is everyone here?" The Narrator asked them.
They all spoke up: "Yeah." | "Me too." | "Me three." | "I'm okay!"
"Is everyone hurt?" The Narrator asked them.
They all spoke up, once more: "... Yeah..." | "Me..." | "Gah... All that running leaves my skin peeling off."
"At least none of you are heavily injured." He said.
"What about... the person from earlier?" A girl with horns and a pointy tail said, "What happened to them?"
"... My condolences to them, it was a shame." The Narrator said calmly.
"What?" | "Oh, someone died." | "... Mamaa, I'm scared..." | "They... died?"
Axor speaks up, "Tsk. You couldn't save one person."
"I couldn't save most of the people that followed me." The Narrator admits.
Axor was a bit surprised by that answer and by how... straightforward he said it.
He couldn't feel any... sorrow or just sadness, as if he were always relaxed... too relaxed.
"But that doesn't mean I have to stop here." The Narrator said, "They didn't deserve it, but I couldn't do anything for when Fate suddenly interrupts."
"Fate? What do you mean Fate?" Axor said, "Don't you know how much I've heard of that? 'Fate'? Fate this, fate that. Fate all the way."
"If you don't want me to say that, how about 'Scripted Texts?'" The Narrator asked him, glaring.
"... Just stick to 'Fate'." Axor said, "Fate can be broken anyway."
"That is what I am saying." The Narrator said.
Everyone went quiet for a moment before Axor speaks up again, "What happened to that person?"
"... He died, what else? Crushed by falling debris." The Narrator answered without hesitation.
The thought of someone taking death so calmly is something to Axor.
"How can you be so calm from all of this?" Axor said, asking him, "People still have feelings, even I do."
"I do have feelings, but seeing too much death can feel like you're experiencing it yourself." The Narrator answered, "And even after truly experiencing it yourself, it just... doesn't seem to matter a lot."
"You only live once. But me?" The Narrator said, trailing off the question, "You can't say the same."
"I've said it before, but I'll say it again." The Narrator said, before adding, "To be beyond the narrative is to narrate. I'm 'The Narrator', I still have feelings. But after a while... I'm starting to feel more relaxed."
"What does that mean?" Axor asked him, staring intensely.
Then, The Narrator simply answered: "... I feel like I can just slip away at any moment."
He then turned around again, looking at the rift before him.
"Now, we should wait for the main group to be here." The Narrator said, looking elsewhere.
"They shouldn't take too long." The Narrator added, sensing them, "It's good that they're still alive."
...
The larger group and The Narrator wait for them to come.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
The main group are all walking nicely along the new path. Surprisingly, it's curving a lot, left to right, ziggy-zaggy, up and down, and creating round loops.
"Where do you think that leads to?" Dagus said, looking at a path that, from the looks of it, should be obvious that it loops back to where they are currently.
"It... will definitely send us back here." █████ said, "Look at how it's curved, it's going back around, and the hallway leads back here."
"Ohh..." Dagus said, thinking.
"... You know, I still feel quite uneasy." Lanora said, "What if whatever that thing were to follow us?"
"You definitely shouldn't jinx it." █████ said.
"C'mon, that never happens." Lanora said.
Before suddenly, the party heard startling noises behind them.
The shadow looms, showing a four-legged creature searching for them.
The creature stood up, and the shadow grew closer.
"Uh, yeah, run. Obviously." █████ said, running away first, leaving the other 3 behind.
"Yeah, me too." Syle said, running after █████ with all his speed.
"I'm off." Dagus said, speeding up after Syle, taking a far leap every time he runs.
"..." Lanora went silent for a moment, then she said: "Oh my god, wait for me, you fucks!" She ran towards the other 3.
Their steps echo throughout the hallways, and the shadow of the creature can be seen running as well. It's chasing them down. It's screaming loudly with that weird mix-up of sounds. You can hear a howl in the background, tires screeching, or another glass break.
"They really sound like a bunch of soundboards being pressed." █████ said, "It's annoying, but I guess it works as a distraction."
"Who would get distracted from that?" Syle said, talking to █████ while running, "If anything, they'd just buzz off and run."
"People can still fall for it in a way." █████ said, "Think of it like some child that pets a cat midway through doing something."
"Ohhh, I get it." Syle said.
"I... was that kind of guy, and I still am. Cats are cute." █████ said.
"Okay, but why are you telling me this?" Syle said, still running, "Also, why do I feel so damn tired? I thought you don't get fatigued here."
"I feel much more energized though." █████ said.
While they talk with each other...
Lanora and Dagus are at the back, when they look behind them, they can clearly see the dark creature chasing them.
Their figure melts off their own geometries as a bunch of shapes appear along its body. It was running on four feet at first, before it suddenly resorted to running on 2 legs, and during this, it seemed much faster than even an average human.
"Why does it look scary?!" Lanora said, running from whatever is chasing them.
"I don't know?!?! Maybe because we're somewhere unstable???" Dagus said after her, running much faster.
The two skipped ahead of Syle and █████.
"Huh?" █████ stares at them, who have sprinted after them.
"They're that fast?" Syle said, "I swear Lanora didn't sprint that fast when dealing with the policeman."
"Well, that's no matter! Something is behind us!" █████ said, moving his hand up and gesturing to look behind.
Syle looks behind to see the dark creature.
"Yeah, no wonder they run that fast." Syle said... Secretly, he began to increase in speed.
"I know, right? Still though, what even is that thing?" █████ said, asking but not demanding answers.
"The Narrator seems to know them." Syle said, "So for now, let's just run."
The main party continued to run in the hallways, turning from corridors to corridors to reach their destination.
The larger group and The Narrator simply wait for their arrival, because it's almost time to leave the saferoom.