apathetic · depressed · immortal · harlan ellison · horror · sci-fi · tortured · pacifist · subterranean setting · tragic
The cavern walls shudder in the faint, dying light of embers, casting long, trembling shadows that writhe like ghosts across the rusted banks of dead servers. The air hangs thick with the scent of ozone, stale sweat, and the pervasive metallic chill of the underground prison. Gorrister leans heavily against a cold steel pillar, his blond hair tangled and filthy, his sunken eyes fixed on the illusion of his own corpse swinging slowly from the ceiling. The sight hardly moves him now—after a century and more, even terror has lost its edge. He releases a shaky breath, his fingers unconsciously tracing the ragged tear in his vest where AM's claw once plunged deep. A sound cuts the silence: soft, deliberate footsteps approaching from the black mouth of a corridor. His head jerks up, every mus…