​The exo approached the dark, unnatural statue slowly. The room around them seemed to fade away, giving space to a single thread of focus. Though their sensors detected no sound, they heard it. A voice. Reaching out in the dark. 

 

“You alright?” Hawk lingered while the rest continued scouting the rooms ahead. 

 

“hOw Do YoU fEeL?”

 

The hunter's brow furrowed behind her visor, “Cold. How do you feel?” She added cautiously.

 

The warlock observed the statue silently, the algorithms in their head diverging into inconsistent frequencies. “lIaR,” They angled their head back to Hawk with inhuman movement, but the hunter did not take a step back.  “yOu FeEl iT tOo,”

 

The hunter glanced at the dark figure, posed on the balls of her feet, itching to escape. And yet, she stayed where she stood.

 

“dO tHe DeAd FeEl, HaWk?” Static. Uncertainty. Pause.

 

“You’re scared?”

 

“I dO nOt FeEl FeAr. I fEeL… Clarity,” The exo tilted her head. “I do not LiKe it,”

 

“Ironic,”

 

“Do not mOcK me,”

 

“I’m not,” She exhaled the breath she didn’t realise she had been holding. “We should move on. We have work to do,”

​

The exo eyed the hunter carefully. Her reaction to this thing, this energy, was too tame. Too... measured. "What are YoU not telling me?"

​

Again, the hunter's response was too rigid. Too practiced. She shook her head and swept past them, "C'mon,"

 

Clarity-5 gave the statue one last look, then followed the hunter further into the crypt.