The Iron Sanctuary groaned as systems long dormant surged with sudden life. Hidden conduits pulsed with spectral light, and data cables slithered from the walls like awakened serpents. At the center of the chamber, the prism in Elias's hand grew hotter, its liquid memory swirling faster with every heartbeat. The hum became a chorus—like whispers through water, urgent and ancient.
Elias stood perfectly still.
His breath fogged in the chilled air, and his hand trembled, but not with fear—with revelation. The image of Valen's scream replayed behind his eyes. Once more, the face of his brother, younger and filled with light, twisted into agony.
He clenched his jaw and turned toward the command podium rising from the chamber floor. It had not been there minutes ago. The podium was obsidian and etched with copper veins that flickered with dataflow. Arcane script scrolled down its surface like a living river. Elias placed the prism into its cradle, and the room responded like a beast stirring.
Above, machinery hissed open.
Monitors flared with memories—Valen as a boy beside a lake. Valen in a lab, smiling before vanishing in a burst of light. Valen, surrounded by a ring of glyphs, shouting words Elias couldn't hear. And then... static.
A single message blinked on the central screen: "Echelon-01: Soullock Mode. Initiate?"
Elias pressed his gloved fingers to the panel. "Do it."
Far above, the tower shook again.
Mireille had suited up.
Her armor shimmered in matte silver-blue tones, molded to her form but flexible, made for stealth and speed. Her boots were magnetized for vertical scale and soundless step. Around her wrists coiled two ribbon-blades—micro-thin edges that could extend and retract on command.
She stepped into the secure transit ring and barked, "Level Omega-Six. Direct descent."
The ring sealed, and a low-frequency thrum vibrated through her bones. Within seconds, she was gone.
Back in the Sanctuary, the projection shifted.
A three-dimensional simulation filled the air—a memory sphere of the last moments before Valen's disappearance. The room Elias saw was circular, filled with copper pillars and floating glyphstones. In its center stood Valen, robed in a sleeveless high-collared coat of sapphire and obsidian. His arms were covered in inked circuits, runes that glowed faintly.
Valen was speaking, but the sound had not survived.
Around him, something stirred—a tear in space, shimmering like broken glass. It was the Rift.
The image distorted.
"He was trying to seal it," Elias muttered. "Not escape through it."
Suddenly, the memory snapped.
The Sanctuary's walls dimmed, and the air turned metallic. A scent like burning copper filled Elias' lungs. The console hissed, and a voice—this time not a recording—spoke directly into his mind.
"Elias... they told you I died. But they lied."
He spun around.
Valen stood in the center of the room—or rather, a holographic remnant of him. It shimmered but was more solid than any projection he'd seen. His eyes were no longer soft. They glowed with a strange hue—a blend of gold and void.
"You're just a ghost," Elias whispered.
"Not yet. But soon. I was sealed inside this code to stop what I was becoming. They feared me. They locked me away like a weapon."
"And what are you now?"
Valen smiled.
"A choice. For you. For this world. Unlock me, and we change everything. Walk away, and the world stays blind—but safe."
Elias took a step closer. "You built this place."
"I built it to contain what I found. But now the containment is breaking. If you do nothing, the Rift will eat the city from beneath. I've seen it. I've lived the loops. You must wake me."
Elias reached out. The hologram flickered.
"You must finish what I started. Find the other keys. The memories. The fragments."
Then everything collapsed into white.
Mireille landed hard on the Sanctuary deck.
The descent tube hissed shut behind her. The walls trembled from an inner pulse. She smelled hot metal and ancient dust. Somewhere ahead, her comm pinged—locating Elias.
She moved fast, blades retracted, hair still damp from the atmospheric transition. Her breath misted.
And then she saw him—Elias, standing alone in a ring of levitating symbols, the prism floating before him, his eyes glowing faintly.
"Elias!" she shouted.
He turned, disoriented.
"Did it speak to you?" she asked, stepping into the light.
"It was him. Valen. He's alive in there. Not fully, but enough. He's asking for my help."
Mireille's expression darkened. "And you believe it?"
He looked into her eyes. "I want to."
Behind them, the prism dimmed. The glyphs etched across the walls began to shift, forming coordinates. One word glowed brighter than the rest:
"Fragment: LUX-SEVEN."
Elias stepped away from the platform, his voice low.
"This is only the beginning."
Mireille nodded. "Then let's begin it together."