"What is Threnos? And this place… what is this place?"
As soon as she landed these questions, everything began to feel more real. The number of things Ashe did not understand all started to gather simultaneously and with this realization she felt her breathing change rapidly.
"What is this place?" she repeated. "How can you see me? Where are you?"
As she spoke, she turned slowly, scanning the chamber, trying to understand how someone could be watching her when the only form of communication she could see were those markings on the walls.
For a few moments, the writing did not appear, as if the person on the other side was considering how to respond.
"I understand this is overwhelming," Seven replied after a while. "You should slow your breathing."
Ashe looked at the words in front of her and felt anger accumulating inside of her.
Who the fuck is saying it, she wanted to shout. What kind of sick scenario was this? Instead she managed to find the smallest amount of reason and asked, "How do I know any of this is real?"
For all she knew, the pod had damaged her mind in some way and these letters could simply be the aftereffect of whatever had been done to her inside that thing.
She turned away from the wall.
The markings had begun to feel like noise in her head, making the chamber harder to bear with each passing second.
"I need to leave this place," she said as if to actually convince herself of that.
She took a few unsteady steps toward one of the open passages leading out of the chamber. The shallow water rippled beneath her feet and the flowers near the base of the pod brushed lightly against her legs as she passed, grounding her.
Before she reached the corridor though, her suit emitted a soft series of beeps.
She stopped immediately as she realized the sound was coming from somewhere close against her body.
Then a sensation moved through her. It was like some sort of tingling along her spine spreading upward, running along her back and into her arms and legs.
She took another step.
The tingling sharpened in one of her legs so suddenly that she had to catch herself against a nearby support beam. She stayed there, using it to keep herself upright while she waited to see if the pain would subside.
"What is happening?" she asked, this time with less anger and more effort.
The writing appeared again across the side of the corridor entrance, as if it had moved with her.
"Since the moment the conduits detached from your suit, your vital condition has been declining," Seven wrote. "You are losing stability quickly."
Ashe stared at the words without responding immediately.
"I don't understand what that means," she said.
"It means you are dying."
The bluntness of the answer left the chamber quiet.
If Seven was trying to frighten her, it was certainly working at that point. And maybe Seven understood that as well because after a few more moments during which he might have assessed the effect of his bluntness, he continued.
"You don't yet understand your own condition," the writing replied. "The system that sustained you has been removed. Your body is now failing without a replacement support."
Ashe tightened her grip on the beam.
"If you know that," she said, "then tell me what I'm supposed to do."
"You need Harmonic Seeds."
One more thing that meant absolutely nothing to her.
She lowered her gaze briefly, focusing on the hand pressed against the beam. She was becoming aware of the cold now as well. It had been there for a while, but only now she was becoming aware of it.
"Where do I find them?" she asked.
"I can scan for the nearest source," Seven replied. "If you follow my guidance, I can direct you there."
The words on the wall should have provided some sort of relief, yet instead, everything inside her was prompting her to distrust them.
"Why would I trust you?"
"You don't need to trust me," Seven wrote. "You need to remain alive. You can question anything else later."
Ashe closed her eyes for a moment and decided.
"Tell me where to go, then" she said with her eyes still closed, still unsure whether she was making the right call.
"There is a corridor to your left once you leave the chamber," Seven wrote. "Take it. When you reach the split ahead, I will direct you further."
Ashe looked toward the indicated passage.
Then she looked back at the writing.
Then she let go of the beam and turned toward the opposite direction.
She couldn't dismiss the possibility that the writings were genuinely trying to help her. But if they weren't real, following them deeper into this place would be madness. In that moment, she would rather fail, or even die, if that was truly what was happening, than surrender her judgment to something she could not trust.
"I'll find my own way," she said quietly, once again as if convincing herself of her own decision.
She stepped through another opening leading out of the chamber and into the deeper facility.
She glanced back once from the edge of the passage, expecting for a few moments the writing to reappear and correct her in some way, warn her of some dangers lurking within this place. But nothing happened. The walls remained empty.
Maybe that had been the end of it.
Maybe the entire conversation had lived only inside her head.
She turned back and continued walking.