Riven hadn't expected Anya to speak. Her voice barely rose above a whisper, thin and uncertain, but there was something in it that unsettled him, something he couldn't name. He looked at her, surprised. What was she? More than anyone realized, most likely, even more than Talia must have known herself. His mind raced with questions, but he kept them to himself.
He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything at all, the core buzzed sharply in his satchel. Its casing glowed faintly, and clear words appeared on the surface.
Follow the steps below. The basin below holds what you seek.
Soft lights pulsed along the floor, tracing a path toward a shadowed stairway at the edge of the chamber. Symbols pulsed softly, pointing the way forward.
Riven rose slowly, took Anya's hand, and together, they moved toward the descent. His footsteps echoed as he followed the glowing path down the stairs. The air grew cooler with every step. The chamber below spread out like a forgotten relic: it looked like a vast basin carved from stone and metal, empty now but still vibrating, emitting distant echoes.
The walls were lined with strange architecture: curved panels and worn engravings that hinted at a purpose long lost. He traced a finger along a cold ridge, trying to piece together what this place had been, what it was meant to hold. All he had was a vague memory of his sister mentioning places like this, once. Vast structures that might hold records or data, but that was too long ago.
Anya stayed close, silent as ever, her gaze glancing briefly to the shadows. She moved like a whisper, a luminous but ghostly presence.
They soon reached the lower levels. It was mostly dark, except where narrow beams of light slipped through, catching on panels and columns lined with all sorts of command consoles. In the center of the chamber, a platform glowed softly, casting long shadows over the strange shapes gathered around it.
As Riven stepped closer, the path that marked his next steps moved, rising gently beneath his feet as if inviting him forward. He hesitated, but eventually climbed onto the platform. He was expecting some reaction from it, but then... nothing happened. The light remained steady, the air still.
He turned slowly, scanning the circuitry and the architecture lining the basin's walls.
"Is anyone here?" Riven's voice broke the silence, his words echoing across the hollow space.
Suddenly, a series of mechanical hydraulic noises and low whirs stirred in the shadows. Without warning, tendrils of light, thin, almost organic, reached out from the walls and floor. They wrapped gently around Riven's wrists and arms, tightening around his body. He tensed, trying to pull away, but the grip was firm, inescapable.
"What… what do you want?" he said through clenched teeth.
The tendrils climbed along his body, winding around his chest and the back of his neck. His skin reacted instantly to it.
Suddenly, images exploded behind his eyes: fragments of memories both strange and familiar. Faces blurred rapidly while voices whispered in a way he couldn't fully understand. He caught glimpses of something called Glasswing, a name, a person, like a mystery waiting to be discovered. Among the images, a figure that resembled Anya appeared, but she faded before he could reach her at all.
After that, the grip around his body loosened slowly, the tendrils of light retreating back into the walls and floor as silently as they had appeared. The vibration that had filled the chamber faded. The glowing platform dimmed as well, sinking gently back into the floor. Its light faded until it was just a faint outline against the cold stone.
Riven stayed motionless, the sudden calm settling over him. Then his knees gave out. He dropped to the cold floor, the images from moments ago still playing behind his closed eyes. He struggled to catch his breath.
Beside him, Anya sat quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on a small object on the floor. Her silence stood out against the chaos in Riven's mind, and yet, for some reason, it was the only steady thing he could hold on to.
Suddenly, the core buzzed softly in his satchel, giving a gentle pulse of light. Riven reached for it once more. The faint glow along its casing pulsed, then words began to form.
Rest. Observe. I am with you.
The message was brief, almost soothing, but for Riven, it hit harder than he expected. He started to wonder if this could actually be the Lady's voice, or whatever remained of her, reaching out through the core. Could this be possible? It had never happened when his sister was alive. Now, something in it seemed to be reaching out, like a presence trying to connect through the noise.
"What was that?" Riven whispered. "These memories... Were those yours? What are you trying to show me?"
The core pulsed warmly, as if in answer.
But before Riven could press further, the communicator crackled violently in his coat. Static broke the line, then Cassian's voice came through, dry, even with the distortion.
"Riven, can you hear me?... If we're lucky, Talia is about to save our necks. Try not to trip on the way out down there, alright?"
A brief smile touched Riven's lips, easing the tension slightly.
Talia's voice followed soon after. "We're redirecting the energy now. Hold tight. It's unstable, but it's moving."
Riven looked at Anya. She took his hand and pulled him up gently. He didn't resist. What he'd seen still played through his mind, but they kept moving. There was no time to stop.
The stairs back up seemed longer this time. Shadows moved oddly along the walls, and a vibration of energy filled the space around them. As they approached the gate, the energy grew stronger. Long-dormant mechanisms began to move, gears grinding, cables sparking beneath panels, and beams of light tracing paths along the walls. Talia's plan was working. Riven watched as power quickly spread through the gate's console, and the frame began to part.
The gate slid open with a harsh groan, revealing a large control room beyond, very different from the quiet, empty chambers they had passed through earlier. The solar energy that Talia had somehow managed to redirect had powered the consoles, filling the room with blue light.
Riven stepped inside and quickly scanned the room. It wasn't an ordinary control center. Energy pulsed through it, almost like it was alive. At the center stood a low platform, stone-like in texture, with faint flow patterns etched across its surface. He moved past it to the central console, where data moved in looping streams across the display.
"Talia, what am I looking for?" Riven asked with a low but focused voice.
"Check the terrain remodeling status first," she replied. "It will give you the full picture of what's happening outside and how much time we really have. I'm pulling all the data I can, but it's limited."
Riven's fingers moved across the console as the main screen expanded, revealing a detailed 3D map. Large areas of land glowed red and orange, some already moving, others close to it. The valley routes and upper sectors were all marked with flashing warnings.
He swallowed hard and spoke into the comm. "This is worse than I thought. I think the remodeling is accelerating."
Cassian's voice cut in, breaking the tension. "Welcome back to the party, Riven. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten us down there."
The countdown clock appeared on the main display, showing thirty minutes left.
Riven turned back to the console and typed the commands Talia had given him. The screen responded right away, but not the way he wanted.
Access denied. Authorization required.
He paused, frowning. The system wanted something else, something he didn't have. A key. But what kind? A password? A physical device? A biometric scan? There was nothing pointing him in the right direction.
He hesitated with his fingers over the controls, while his mind ran through possibilities, replaying every detail Talia had given. But without the right key, nothing would work.
"Talia," he said with a tense voice, "I'm hitting a wall. It's asking for something… some kind of key."
Static crackled through the comm, and Talia's voice came strained, worn from hours of struggle. "I'm still working on a workaround. Hold tight."
Frustration built inside him. Everything in this place seemed to fight him, as if the outcome was already set. He slammed his fist on the console, and sparks jumped along the edges.
"Damn it! Why does everything have to be so cryptic around here?" His shout bounced off the metal walls.
Cassian's voice came in gently. "Easy there. You're not the only one losing their patience."
As the echo faded, the core pulsed sharply in his satchel, changing from its usual green to a steady, deep blue. Words appeared along its casing:
Pause. Observe. There is more than one path.
Riven's breathing slowed as the message settled. His mind went back to the images from that strange lower level. But then also to the moments before, when Anya moved through the collapsed corridors with certainty, as if she belonged. He remembered her moving around broken consoles, brushing her fingers on panels he barely dared touch. All the while, down there, she found paths where none seemed clear.
Those memories replayed in his mind like a puzzle he was just starting to understand. Slowly, the pieces came together.
Glasswing wasn't just a place, it was a person.
He turned sharply toward Anya. Her eyes met his, wide and steady, as if she had been waiting for him to see.