The transport left at dawn.
Grey light filtered through the narrow windows, stretching across the cabin. No one spoke.
Arin sat with his back against the wall, the tablet resting on his knee. Coordinates. Broken maps. Empty zones. It didn't feel like a destination.
It felt like a direction.
Hana sat across from him, eyes closed, her breathing steady but tense. Ren watched the ground below. Maya checked her kit again and again. Dmitri stood still, like a wall.
They were already inside something they didn't understand.
The transport landed with a dull impact.
Dust rose, then settled.
Silence returned.
Ren stepped out first, hand near his katana, scanning the ruins. After a moment, he nodded.
Arin stepped out.
The air was colder than the first site.
Older.
The buildings weren't just abandoned. They felt finished, like nothing was meant to return here.
Hana stepped beside him.
"I feel it," she said.
"The signal?" Arin asked.
She shook her head slowly.
"No. Something else."
She looked ahead into the broken structures where light didn't reach.
"Like an echo."
They moved forward.
The path narrowed quickly. Collapsed walls leaned inward, blocking out the sky. Every step echoed too far.
Ren stopped and crouched.
"Tracks."
Arin moved beside him.
The marks were deeper than before. Wider. More than one vehicle.
"They brought more people here," Maya said quietly.
Hana's face tightened.
"I can feel them. Faint. A lot of them."
"How many?" Ren asked.
Hana didn't answer.
That was enough.
The structure appeared slowly.
Low. Wide. Half-buried in debris.
The entrance was blocked, but the door behind it was not.
New.
Sealed.
Arin placed his hand on it.
Cold metal.
Still.
But inside, something pressed back.
The hum in his chest stirred. Not pulling him forward.
Warning him.
"There's something in there," he said.
Hana stepped back slightly.
"I can't read it. It feels like… pressure."
Dmitri raised his arms.
"Open?"
Arin nodded.
The door resisted at first.
Then bent.
Then gave way with a heavy sound.
Darkness waited on the other side.
Not empty.
Waiting.
Arin stepped in first.
The space opened around him.
It was massive.
Columns rose into shadow, smooth and unnatural. The floor was clean. Too clean.
Nothing was left behind.
Ren raised his light.
And the room came into view.
Chairs.
Rows of them.
Arranged in circles.
Each one fitted with restraints. Wires. Tubes.
All empty.
Maya stopped.
"…Where are they?"
Hana moved forward, touching one of the restraints.
"They were here," she whispered. "Recently."
Arin looked at the center of the room.
Wires stretched from every chair, converging into a single massive column.
Its surface was marked with patterns he didn't recognize.
Not symbols.
Not language.
Something else.
"This was the next stage," he said quietly.
Hana looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"They were bringing them here. All of them."
He looked at the empty chairs.
"At once."
Ren stepped closer to the column, studying it.
"There's a path out of here," he said. "They didn't stop here."
They found the exit at the far wall.
A smaller door.
Already open.
Arin moved toward it.
Hana grabbed his arm.
"Wait."
He stopped.
"There's something ahead," she said. "But it's not moving."
"Alive?" Ren asked.
"I don't know."
The corridor beyond was narrow.
The walls were smooth, like the columns. No lights. Their footsteps echoed too loudly.
Arin moved forward.
Hana stayed close, her grip still tight on his arm.
They reached the end.
A small room.
Circular.
One chair in the center.
Occupied.
The figure sat slumped forward.
Wires ran into its body. Arms. Chest. Neck.
Still.
Maya stepped closer. "It's alive. I can feel—"
The figure's head lifted.
Its eyes opened.
Clouded. Unfocused.
Then they locked onto Arin.
And stopped.
Its body went completely still.
Not frozen.
Aware.
Then slowly, it began to pull back.
Its arms strained against the restraints. Not to attack.
To get away.
Hana's voice dropped.
"…Arin."
The figure's mouth opened.
No sound came out.
Its breathing became sharp. Broken.
Its body trembled.
Fear.
Pure instinct.
Then suddenly, its body jerked violently.
Once.
Twice.
The dark veins under its skin flared.
Its back arched.
Hana pulled Arin back. "Something's wrong."
The figure seized again.
Then collapsed.
Still.
The wires went dark.
Silence filled the room.
Ren stepped forward and checked its pulse.
"…Gone."
Maya shook her head. "That wasn't normal. It didn't just die."
Hana stared at the body.
"It recognized him."
Arin didn't respond.
He was still looking at the place where it had tried to move away.
"Something's wrong here," he said quietly.
"We need to move."
They returned to the main chamber.
Something had changed.
The air felt heavier.
The column in the center now pulsed faintly.
A low vibration spread through the floor.
Ren reached the entrance first.
He stopped.
Arin saw it a moment later.
The door they had entered through was closed.
Dmitri moved forward and pushed.
It didn't move.
"Locked."
Hana stepped closer, placing her hand against it.
Her face went pale.
"There's something on the other side."
"Moving?" Maya asked.
Hana shook her head.
"No."
A pause.
"It's just… there."
Arin turned back toward the chamber.
The empty chairs.
The glowing column.
The silence.
"They knew we were coming."
Ren drew his katana.
"Then we don't go back the way we came."
The low hum deepened.
Not from the walls.
Not from the floor.
From the column.
From everywhere.
Arin felt it in his chest.
Not calm.
Not controlled.
Awake.