The air grew colder with every step we took down the spiraling staircase. My eyes scanned the building making me wonder if I would ever know every faction in this building. Everything looked like a maze to me. The walls changed from polished alloy to rough stone, then back to reinforced titanium. It was as though we were descending through time—through different layers of whatever this compound truly was. Riku led the way, his footsteps silent, while Jeffrey stayed close behind me, his hand never straying far from the gun holstered beneath his coat. Yana didn’t speak. Her silence made me nervous. The deeper we went, the more the air felt charged, like it was humming—alive. Like it knew I was coming. At last, we reached the bottom. A sealed door barred our path, humming with a faint blue glow. Riku placed his palm on a scanner. A flash of light passed over his hand, then a voice rang out in a cold monotone: “Access granted. Clearance: Level Omega.” The door slid open, and a gust