[hider=BGM that Inspired the Atmosphere]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwb2D0IqWD4[/youtube]
[/hider]


A lone woman sat up, conscious, inside an elevator that only seconds after she had huddled herself up against the wall had come to a defiant, heaving stop. She had her arms wrapped around her knees that were pulled close to her chest, leaving her slender frame a small, delicate slump against the very back wall of the seemingly shrinking chamber. Her vision still hazy, she rubbed her eyes once and then twice, feeling her heart beating in her ears. The rhythm brought her some form of peace. She closed her eyes, and counted alongside the soothing metronome.
In her mind, small white sheep jumped a fence in clockwork synchrony, harmonious with her heartbeat. [i]One[/i]-two-three-four-[i]two[/i]-two-three-four...
The announcement droned on around her, introducing Infinites new and old, dead and alive, but all having been in this particular murder game at Axis Mundi. She was another statistic. She would be one of them. Each lasted a grand total of thirty seconds, even those that were now dead.
If people were dying in this place, then would all that is left of her be a thirty second long description of who she was in this lifetime?
How...[i]despairful.[/i]

Her melancholic, tired blue eyes flickered open again, and she finally hauled herself up with what seemed like great difficulty. On shaky legs and gripping the elevator's railing, her vision settled upon the unsettling sign painted across the doors.
ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE.

[i]...despairful.[/i]

And as if wishing for that nightmare to be over, and that small space to stop feeling like it was beating down on her and was soon to crush her, the elevator doors crept open like a delayed and staggering breath of fresh air. The redhead in the elevator took one step forward, immediately gasping at her knee buckling, as if from disuse. Just how long had she been unconscious? Or was she awake for very long before that? The psychomotor retardation kicking in was like a consuming blackness. But if anything, she would get herself out of this elevator first.
Her steps grew stronger and more certain, from one to two to four and then to ten, carrying Juliette Bourbon right out of the cramped elevator space and into the fluorescent lights illuminating the hospital hallway before her. Her eyes took a little while to adjust before her tired head lolled to the side. She had to shake it to right it again, and continued observing her surroundings. They were, for the most part, unassuming. It didn't even look like a hospital anymore, but a very bright white cellar. Was she transported somewhere? The last place she remembered falling asleep was Axis Mundi, but even though the area looked vaguely familiar...there were no windows and there was no natural light. If anyone had seen her, the colour of her skin would have appeared a three times paler pallor.

And suddenly, in all the quiet whiteness, there was noise.
Somewhere, the whirring of gears. Juliette swore she could hear it. The rolling of gears and the familiar grinding. But it wasn't a quiet, satisfying sound; rather a screech that signalled something coming to a very abrupt, very sudden stop.

And then there were footsteps. Some quick, and some slow. Some dragged their feet, and some may as well have been dragged themselves. Some walked in unison, and others walked off-beat. There were too many footsteps to discern how many people they belonged to, but if the Infinite Horologist had to guess, definitely more than ten. Fifteen maybe? Twenty? Were those many people even in this location at one time?

Still, her voice was quiet as she called out into the emptiness from where the sound came, [color=b06500]“Hello...? Who is there?”[/color]
This was accompanied by banging on the steel elevator doors beside her to emphasise her words. If the sound of her voice couldn't reach anyone, the sound of the metal definitely would. It was definitely difficult to muster up the strength. The one thing that made her continue?
The image of a maliciously grinning black and white bear in the back of her mind, taunting her with a voice that was so unassuming it sounded like nails on a chalkboard because of what came out of its mouth. She banged on the door harder.
[color=b06500]“Please, if anyone is there…! Please, I need to know...what day is it? What time is it? And just where [i]am[/i] I?”
[/color]