Amaterasu

“Go forth and set the world on fire”.

— Saint Ignatius of Loyola

According to the drones accompanying us, the final stretch of the road is a large hallway that connects with other two hallways at the point where the door to the Database Room is located. We are in the middle hallway, which looks like an “L” with a wider angle in between. We have gone through the first section of the hallway and are turning to cross the last section. As we make the turn we see the door to the Database Room at the end of the hallway and thank god that there is no one there. I was scared we would find anything to stop us but it seems we were lucky. Also, I've been running supporting myself solely on adrenaline and determination, yet I’m only human and the pain in my leg is starting to win the battle.

As we are close to 10 meters away from the door we see the worst possible thing coming from the opposite hallway towards the door, walking with complete calm. It was a group of eight; seven drones at the front and a 2,5 meters tall female figure at the back. The woman had shining golden skin, long black hair like silk and a face so bright I couldn’t make its details. She was “wearing” thick white mist around her body like if it was an ethereal kimono. My instincts fired immediately and before I could think or enter in shock I immediately shouted “GO!!!” with all my strength.

The two drones that were accompanying us rushed way past the Database Room’s door, aiming their guns at the opposing drones. I myself ran towards the door, carrying the gun I was given on one hand and the key to open the door on the other. For Marina it took a second or two after my scream to snap out of it and run behind me, wielding the axe on her hands.

Four of the drones accompanying Amaterasu moved in our direction. Initially they move only slightly faster than before without pulling out their guns from under their heads. A couple of seconds afterwards, they started rushing in our direction. Two of them pulled out their guns while the two others started burning and smoking from the inside. Still, they were too slow to take the initiative and our drones shot down the two drones preparing their guns before they could finish aiming.

At the same time the drones with guns were shot down I arrived at the door and frantically pressed the key against the card reader. A second afterwards it rang with an upbeat jingle indicating it accepted my ID and opened a keyboard with numbers, waiting for the code. Ignatius had warned me about this and shared the number with me, a 10 digit code. As I pressed the numbers in the keypad, careful to not make a mistake, I saw with my peripheral vision Marina arriving besides me. She didn’t stay by my side though, as soon as she reached me, Marina was already preparing to lounge against something beyond my peripheral sight. Then I heard the sound of a loud crash closer to me than I would’ve liked. A moment later a sharp, piercing clang followed by Marina shouting “GOT YOU!” reached my ears. Seems like taking the initiative gave us a huge advantage… but not enough for an absolute victory. As I finished entering the code I heard a soul-freezing shriek of pain coming from Marina. I turned to see what had happened and in horror saw her rolling on the ground consumed by flames. Besides Marina walked Amaterasu elegantly and not even acknowledging her, as if Marina was a fly she just waved away.

For a moment I panic, my mind is set blank with the image and sound of Marina’s suffering. Then I remember my conversation with Ignatius and I scream “MARINA!! It’s an illusion. She is hacking into your senses!!”. As I scream I am aware that even knowing this isn’t true, breaking away from her mirage is a tall order. I don’t even know if I would be able to do it myself. Please Marina either break from her illusion or endure it, I’ll try to stop her as quickly as I can but you have to brave it for now.

As I am turning my whole body towards the door I see the huge body of Amaterasu dashing against me at a surprisingly impressive speed. Something that big shouldn’t be able to move that fast. I prepare to jump inside the Database Room but just before I do so, my prosthetic limb turns off making me fall to the ground. Dammit, Amaterasu must have hacked into my leg!! I don’t care, I can still move even with this deadweight! Then my body is set ablaze.

I’m about to fall to my side, instinctively wanting to roll on the ground but I barely manage to stop myself. Still, that's all I’m able to do and I don’t know for how many seconds I’ll be able to hold myself together. Then, the sharp familiar pain of my prosthetic leg clears my mind. It is enough to allow me to focus on pushing myself with my arms and left leg at full strength.

Around 90% of my body has passed through the door when I fall to the ground, I now just need to drag myself a bit more and I’ll be inside. Terrifyingly for me, Amaterasu reaches the door and stands there looking down on me when I feel the intensity of the flames increasing and my mind going blank. Then, it all stops, the pain, the numbness of mind, all of it. I look towards Amaterasu and instead I see Marina and a weird drone with extra limbs and a metallic sphere on top of its head. The modified drone lies where Amaterasu was before and Marina has cleaved her axe in the weird sphere on top of it. Then I notice that the bandages on Marina’s missing eye are completely stained in blood and her face is more filled with anger than I have ever seen her. Before I can say anything else she kicks the drone and screams at me “DO IT!! Don’t worry about me and just finish this!” after which she lounges beyond my line of sight towards the Amaterasu drone.

After her scream wakes me up I manage to locate and crawl towards the emergency button while I hear Marina in the hallway, fighting for me. The moment I press the button, the doors shut down in an instant and the sound of several extra locks are heard being set up. Now even if Amaterasu uses an ID key she won’t be able to open this room. To do so she will need a physical key that is kept safe in the guards room here and at the base in the mainland. Now, I only need to run the program and this nightmare will be over.