The heartbeat came again.
THUMP.
The sound rolled through the sanctuary.
Kael felt it beneath his boots.
The floor trembled.
Not violently.
Almost gently.
Like something deep below them had opened its eyes.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Elaris stood beside him, staring toward the darkness beyond the sanctuary. Thin green vines had pushed through the cracks in the stone around her feet. They moved slowly, curling over one another as if waking from a long sleep.
Xyren was still looking at his scanner.
The screen flickered.
Numbers appeared.
Vanished.
Then appeared again.
AURIXA had not moved at all.
Her eyes remained fixed on the corridor ahead.
Another heartbeat passed through the city.
THUMP.
A light appeared.
Far away.
A single pale green line ignited along the floor.
Kael watched it travel through the darkness.
It reached an ancient pillar.
The symbols carved into its surface flashed once.
Then—
another light appeared.
And another.
Soon thin streams of emerald and silver began racing through the roots woven into the walls.
Elaris took a slow step forward.
"It's spreading."
Kael followed her gaze.
The light moved away from the sanctuary.
Through broken corridors.
Across collapsed bridges.
Into parts of the city they had not yet explored.
Everywhere it passed, something answered.
A dead vine shivered.
Leaves unfolded.
A cracked wall pulled itself together as living roots slipped between the stone.
Somewhere in the darkness—
KRRRROOOM.
The ground shook.
Xyren looked up.
"What was that?"
Kael tightened his grip around Stormfang.
The crimson line beneath the blade pulsed once.
AURIXA finally moved.
She walked toward the sanctuary entrance.
Slowly.
Almost cautiously.
"Come."
Kael glanced at her.
"Where?"
She didn't turn around.
"I don't know."
That made Xyren blink.
"You don't know?"
AURIXA stopped.
For the first time since they had met her, something in her expression looked almost uncertain.
"Virelith has been silent for a very long time."
Her voice dropped.
"I would like to see what it remembers."
No one argued.
They followed her.
The corridor outside the sanctuary no longer looked dead.
When they had first entered it, the walls had been covered in dark roots and broken machinery.
Now—
light moved beneath the roots.
Thin veins of emerald energy pulsed through them.
Kael reached out as they passed.
The moment his fingers touched one of the vines—
it moved.
He pulled his hand back.
The vine curled around his wrist.
Elaris immediately stepped closer.
"Kael."
"It's fine."
The vine didn't tighten.
Instead, it rested against his skin for one second.
Then slowly released him.
It disappeared back into the wall.
Xyren stared.
"Did the city just touch you?"
Kael looked at his wrist.
"I think so."
Xyren raised his scanner.
"I'm adding that to the list of things I don't understand."
"That list must be getting crowded," Elaris said.
"It stopped being a list three ruins ago."
Kael almost smiled.
Then the corridor shook again.
This time—
the wall ahead split apart.
Elaris immediately raised her hand.
Roots burst from the ground around her.
Stormfang flashed blue and crimson.
Xyren stepped backward.
AURIXA didn't move.
Stone groaned.
Dust fell from above.
A massive section of the wall slowly opened inward.
Behind it—
a chamber waited.
Kael stared.
The room had been completely dark when they passed it before.
Now dozens of vertical structures stood inside.
Tall.
Smooth.
Their surfaces looked almost like glass.
One by one—
lights awakened inside them.
FSSSSHHH.
A pale mist spilled across the floor.
Xyren lowered his scanner.
"What are those?"
AURIXA stepped into the chamber.
Her eyes moved from one structure to another.
"Medical chambers."
Elaris looked through the nearest transparent surface.
Something metallic rested inside.
No.
Not metallic.
It moved.
Thin mechanical arms unfolded from its body.
Green lines travelled beneath a translucent surface that looked almost like skin.
Xyren slowly approached.
"That's not a machine."
The thing inside opened its eyes.
Elaris stepped back.
Kael lifted Stormfang.
The creature looked at them.
Then at AURIXA.
A soft tone filled the chamber.
AURIXA froze.
The machine lowered its head.
Xyren looked between them.
"...Did it just bow?"
AURIXA didn't answer immediately.
Her hand slowly rose.
She placed it against the surface of the chamber.
Inside, the bio-machine raised one of its own hands.
Its fingers touched the glass from the other side.
For a moment—
neither moved.
Then AURIXA whispered,
"Hello."
The chamber filled with silence.
Kael looked away.
He didn't know what to say.
So he said nothing.
The medical chamber opened.
Mist poured outward.
The bio-machine stepped onto the floor.
Its movements were unsteady.
It looked around.
At the ruined walls.
At the darkness beyond the room.
Then back at AURIXA.
A sound came from its chest.
Not language.
Not exactly.
AURIXA closed her eyes.
Xyren lowered his scanner.
"What did it say?"
Her eyes opened.
"It asked how long it slept."
No one answered.
The machine looked around the chamber again.
Then it turned toward the corridor.
As if searching for something.
Something that wasn't there.
Its shoulders lowered.
AURIXA's voice became quieter.
"Keep moving."
They emerged onto one of the upper pathways.
Kael stopped.
So did everyone else.
The city stretched beneath them.
Virelith was waking.
Far below, enormous roots rose between the ruins.
Their branches carried glowing leaves that had not existed minutes before.
Ancient towers stood across the underground horizon.
One by one—
their sealed surfaces split open.
Light poured from inside.
THUMP.
Another heartbeat.
A bridge in the distance shifted.
Stone folded inward.
Beneath it, a narrow structure emerged from the darkness.
Xyren stared.
"...Is that a railway?"
Kael followed his gaze.
A long living track curved through the city.
Roots and metal twisted around each other, forming two silver lines that disappeared into distant tunnels.
A low hum filled the air.
Then something moved.
A sleek shape rushed along the track.
Light flashed across its surface.
It vanished into the darkness.
Xyren took a step toward the edge.
"That was definitely transportation."
Elaris glanced at him.
"You sound disappointed."
"I'm a scientist. Being correct is one of my few remaining pleasures."
A loud metallic sound interrupted him.
CLANG.
Every one of them looked up.
High above, another tower opened.
Then another.
Hundreds of small lights appeared across the city.
The darkness slowly retreated.
Kael stood at the edge of the pathway.
The sight should have felt impossible.
But after everything they had seen...
It felt like the city had simply been waiting for permission.
Stormfang hummed quietly in his hand.
The crimson line beneath its surface pulsed.
AURIXA stood beside him.
She was staring at the city.
Her expression was impossible to read.
Kael glanced at her.
"You knew it could do this?"
"No."
That answer surprised him.
She looked toward the distant towers.
"I knew what Virelith was."
A pause.
"But I had forgotten what it looked like when it was alive."
For a moment, Kael said nothing.
Then—
Xyren's scanner screamed.
Everyone turned.
He nearly dropped it.
"What the—"
The screen lit up.
A rapid stream of symbols appeared.
Not one of them touched the device.
Xyren frowned and pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
"I didn't turn that on."
The scanner beeped again.
A line appeared.
UNKNOWN NETWORK DETECTED
Xyren's expression changed.
He tapped the screen.
"What network?"
The device responded before he could touch anything else.
CONNECTION REQUEST—
The words vanished.
The screen went black.
Silence.
Elaris looked at him.
"Is that normal?"
Xyren stared at the scanner.
"Do I look normal?"
Kael glanced toward the city.
"Maybe it's interference."
Xyren turned the device over in his hands.
"Yeah."
He forced a shrug.
"Ancient city wakes up. Every machine starts screaming. Probably nothing."
AURIXA looked at him.
Only for a second.
Then she turned away.
"Probably."
But Kael noticed something.
She hadn't sounded convinced.
A new sound rolled across Virelith.
Low.
Deep.
Different from the heartbeat.
AURIXA stopped walking.
Kael immediately noticed.
"What is it?"
She didn't answer.
Her eyes had gone still.
As though she were listening to something far beyond the city.
Xyren frowned.
"AURIXA?"
Her gaze slowly lifted.
Up.
Toward the ceiling of the underground world.
Kael followed her eyes.
Dark stone.
Ancient roots.
Nothing else.
Then AURIXA spoke.
"Something felt it."
Kael looked at her.
"What?"
For several seconds, she remained silent.
Then she turned toward him.
Her expression had changed.
The warmth from before was gone.
Only concern remained.
She looked upward again.
And quietly said—
"Virelith waking up."
Far above the lost city...
Somewhere beyond the ancient forest...
Something answered.