It had probably been two days since two lost travelers found themselves in the cave catacombs under the ice of Hascosay. Katya and Leo desperately tried to find an exit out, because they were frankly fed up enough with enclosed space underground. In order not to go crazy, the couple often tried to talk to each other on different topics. Secretly, he was glad to have Katya near him. Though, any company would be fine - he would not have stood the test of the dungeons alone. After the funny incident with the vertical ascent, Leo's organism protested against its owner and pitifully asked for a rest. Serre tried to say he was fine, but Katya refused to listen this time and forced him to sleep for a couple of hours – Leo gave up after threatening to get hit in the head if he won't stop resisting.
On the way, before some suspicious rise, they set up a small camp for the third time and slept together without fear of anything in the warmth and peace. Katya used to be strong before her friends and colleagues on Gran Canaria, but she had never been in an extreme situation there. Starting from planet Harris, Leo became her partner and bodyguard against his own will and this fact was disturbing for young ex-coalitioner. Even now she felt that she was a burden on the Order officer and it depressed her, but Katya wasn't sure enough to talk to him about her mental anxieties and fears. Fears of getting lost in the dark and dying.
With an effort, but the girl did fall asleep, not knowing that her negativity had already been noticed. Like snake venom, a whisper slowly poisoned her consciousness. Katya had a weird dream when she was alone in a dark place and heard a melodic voice:
“Treason...Deceive...Deceive is everywhere...We can give everything...No fears, no loneliness, no anxiety...Give me a hand, Ekaterina...”
In a fit of desperation, the girl was about to agree, but something in her subconscious told her that she would fall into a trap. Red light and warmth filled everything around and she couldn't hear or see anything...Except for an angry hiss coming from nothing.
Some time later, Leo woke up next to Katya – they were in another wide cave in front of a trail that climbed far up and agreed that they would rest and start climbing. In the faint light of the blue fire, Leo saw that the girl was sleeping unnaturally huddled in herself, and frowned. Equally strange was that the artifact beneath it glowed brighter than before and did not pulsate. Assuming the worst, Leo tried to carefully wake her up and he did it after several tries.
Katya almost jumped up and looked at the guy with green eyes full of fear. And she cried, falling face down on his chest.
- Katya! What happened to you? - Leo lost his temper at this turn of events, but Katya did not say anything and he stroked her head, trying to calm her down and understand what was wrong with her. - I-i d-don't wan-nt to st-t-tay here al-lone...Don't l-leave me, - the girl tried to say through tears, shocking Serre. - Why the hell do you think I wanted to leave you?
Leo opened their backpack, took a capacity with water and poured some cold water into his hand, and washed the girl's face. - Here, take a drink, you'll feel better now, - with these words, Katya drank a little and tried to catch her breath.
Realizing what just happened, she blushed but began to speak without sobbing.
- Something...Told me in my dreams you will deceive me and let me die in this horrible place. A strange whisper...I don't know what was that, but...I actually believed in this.
- What? Katya, you are a fool to think something like this! - Leo felt a little angry and even offended hearing this, - We came together, together we'll return home, and that's not even up for discussion, did you understand?
Rogozina looked at him with a mixture of mistrust and hope, but something was really bothering and Serre frowned again.
- You say a whisper was in your dream? When we fell here, I thought I was hallucinating when I heard the same thing, but now I realize that both can't be having the same hallucination. Something or someone is going into our heads and I don't like it...Tell me once you feel any better.
- Of course. Give me a few minutes to calm down.
Leo paced back and forth, thinking that they were in a very ominous place. He also thought of her strange words about how he was supposedly going to leave her here and couldn’t believe it was real. Such attitude was against his character and he would not have dared to do such a thing.
Meanwhile, Katya pulled herself together, checked her backpack, which was getting lighter, and tried to figure out how much more provision they had. Then they began to climb up the trail, which was long and often looped.
- Hey, Leo, you told me you heard the same voice. Do you have any ideas, what could it be? - Katya asked, cautiously avoiding the stones sticking out of the ground. - I suspect the worst. In my memory, there is only one species capable of causing illusions and that's the reason why we'd better get out of here as soon as possible. I have no wish to face the Nomads now.
