Without another word, things carry on. The darkness stretches, the red-veined path winding and seemingly endless. Soon, the blackness turns to rubble at his feet. Distant sounds of combat echo across the skies.

Only there are no skies. It's the cave again, bearing down the long street riddled with mechanical wreckage. Remains of the synthetic foes fought during the weeks of the Null's full on assault are scattered around the street, as though an entire battalion had swept through here.

Instead, it's only one woman, propped up against the wall farthest back. As Nick follows the trail of trashed synthetics, he will find her in a shop, where a Null had crashed through the front entrance and left a trail of debris in its wake. The woman, however, is alive somehow, despite having taken several heavy blows. An eye is swollen shut and the other bloodshot, gaping wounds cover her body. She's alive, but obviously she shouldn't be.

"Figu҉r̴es,̢" she says through a watery cough. Blood spurts out of her mouth and dribbles down her jaw. Internal damage is just the worst, isn't it? "L͏o̧oks ̛li̴k̀ę.̛.͢. ̷you j̸us͏t ̢a͠b̷óut g҉e͞t t̕o ́ke͞ep ̷your̀ ͏pr͝òm͟i͏s͝e͘ ͘a̡fter a̸l͠l.͜.̶. ̨a͡sshơl̀e."

Who she's talking to, it's hard to say. Her gaze doesn't meet Nick -- rather, it's more like she's looking straight through him.