The forest began to thin.
The air changed.
Colder.
Sharper.
Riley slowed his pace.
Not because he was tired—
But because he had arrived.
Ethan stepped up beside him, breathing slightly heavier now.
"…This is it?" he asked quietly.
Riley didn't answer immediately.
Ahead of them—
Past a line of dead trees and broken ground—
A structure revealed itself.
Old.
Worn.
Forgotten.
A station.
Half-collapsed roofing. Rusted metal beams. Faded walls that looked like they hadn't seen life in years.
But that wasn't what mattered.
What mattered was what *shouldn't* have been there.
Lights.
Faint.
Strategic.
Alive.
And beyond it—
A steep drop.
A valley.
Dark and endless, swallowing everything beneath it.
Ethan's expression hardened.
"…That place shouldn't have power."
Riley's eyes remained fixed on the structure.
"It doesn't," he said quietly.
"A place like that doesn't get power…"
A pause.
"…unless someone wants it to."
Silence fell between them.
