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Chapter ninety - one
Morning in the underground city arrived with a shift which Eli felt before he opened his eyes— the subtle recalibration of the room’s hum, the temperature easing upward by a fraction of a degree, the light transitioning from twilight blue to something warmer and more alert. Like the city clearing its throat.He lay still, staring at the ceiling as faint geometric patterns drifted across it, rearranging themselves slowly, patiently. His mind was already awake. Not that it had a chance to sleep the night before.Tomorrow, he’d thought.Now it was tomorrow.Carlos snored softly from the other bed, half-wrapped in a blanket that had molded itself around him sometime in the night. Eli sat up, the floor warming instantly beneath his bare feet as if anticipating the movement.He didn’t waste time.No breakfast. No lingering. No pretending he wasn’t going straight back to the research hall the moment he stepped outside the room.The door slid open at his approach.The corridor beyond looked
Chapter ninety
They finished eating slowly—well, Eli ate slowly. Carlos inhaled the last of his food with the enthusiasm of a man who had just survived fifteen near-death experiences in a row and believed this meal would undo at least thirteen of them.The table hummed faintly under their plates, the faint vibrations making the stone feel warm, almost comforting. Eli set his empty bowl down, and for a moment the world around him felt… quieter. Like the city had taken a breath.Carlos let out a satisfied groan. “I swear that food rewired my soul. I think I’m ready to run a marathon. A really short one. With breaks.”Eli stood.Carlos blinked. “What are you doing?”“Going back,” Eli said, already turning toward the exit.“No,” Carlos said immediately. “Absolutely not. Sit. Digest. Reconsider your life choices.”Eli didn’t slow. There was still too much noise in his head—looping questions, closed files, the blank pages, the Meridian Circle symbol that felt like it had been carved into his bones since c
Chapter Eighty - nine
Eli moved deeper into the hall, the weight of the dossier still clinging to his fingers even after he’d put it back. The rows of shelves seemed endless from this angle—stacked with relics, tech-slabs, shimmering pages, data-crystals—each one whispering the same silent promise: Ask, and you will know.Except none of them wanted to tell him the thing he needed most.The air felt colder here. Thinner. Like the city didn’t want him walking this far, and yet couldn’t quite stop him.Carlos dragged his palm along the edge of a shelf, eyes wide and restless. “Okay, not that I’m complaining, but why does every part of this city look like it was built by an ancient wizard who also majored in robotics?”The shelves didn’t answer.Neither did Eli.He stopped beside the next row and pulled out a thick, stone-like book that hummed faintly when touched. Its cover shifted languages twice before settling on one he recognized.SUBJECT KHAOS— DEVELOPMENTAL LOGBOOK —The breath punched out of him.Fina
Chapter Eighty - eight
The silence in the room clung to Eli the moment he turned away from the fading machine. A thick humming sort that carried aftershocks, Not the quiet kind that usually came with peace and calm. The chamber behind him still pulsed faintly, as if the walls remembered what the machine had said even when it no longer had the strength to speak.Carlos stayed close, hands hovering around Eli’s shoulders as if he wasn’t sure whether to steady him or grab him and run.“Okay,” Carlos muttered, glancing back repeatedly, “I know I said this earlier, but I really, really think we should leave before the walls start giving out life advice.”Eli didn’t answer.He wasn’t sure if he even heard him. His head felt too full—like the machine’s voice was still ricocheting inside his skull.Coexistence… or succession.Victor. V1. Engineered. Diverged.Backup son.He wanted to laugh. Or scream. Or sit on the floor and refuse to move until the city gave him the real answers instead of riddles wrapped in crypt
Chapter Eighty -seven
The pod chamber hummed softly, as if drawing breath again.Eli stood rooted to the floor, pulse hammering, Carlos still wheezing beside him with his hands braced on his knees. The silence after the Watchers vanished pressed down on them like weight, thick and unnerving, as if the walls themselves were listening.Carlos straightened slowly. “Okay. Okay. They’re gone. They’re actually gone. Eli, please tell me they’re gone and not just… camouflaging like morally confused chameleons.”Eli didn’t answer.He couldn’t.The device in his hand was still warm—like it recognized him, like it recognized what he was. That thought alone made his stomach twist. The Watchers had followed its command, or his command, or the city’s command. He didn’t know anymore.The machine behind them flickered, glyphs pulsing faintly.Carlos groaned. “Oh great. Round two of cosmic trauma.”Eli forced his feet to move. “We’re not leaving until I know what it meant.”“Eli,” Carlos whispered harshly, grabbing his sle
Eighty - six
The white light swallowed the corridor.Carlos threw his arms over his face with a noise that didn’t belong to any mammal on Earth. Eli blinked fast, vision burning, but the brightness wasn’t just light. It carried a certain kind of pressure that threatened to crush his skull. Information crashing into his senses as if something older than language had just opened its eyes and decided to look back at him.When the glare thinned, Eli realized the light wasn’t coming from the ceiling or the walls—it was coming from the synthetic construct that had just spoken to them. Him.It pulsed.Once.Twice.Then the entire chamber lit in concentric rings, as if the machine were remembering it had a heartbeat.Carlos whimpered. “No. Nope. Machines that weren’t glowing five seconds ago should NOT glow. That’s a universal rule.”Eli didn’t answer.Because a voice, different from what had spoken earlier—thin, metallic, layered and broken like it had aged a thousand years —echoed through the chamber.“
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