Vale VII

The pod slowed, alarms flashing softly as they reached the final docking point. The doors hissed open—

—and nothing greeted them.

No gunfire.

No traps.

Just a long, empty hallway coated in ash and red glow.

Aris stepped out first, baton extended.

The floor beneath them pulsed—not with rhythm.

With heartbeat.

Kael's voice was a whisper now. "This floor isn't broken. It's alive."

Floor 379 – Entry Sector

Once, this floor had been a tempo calibration zone—used to test new rhythm-based stabilizers. But now, every surface had been rewritten.

The walls hummed with faint, vocal whispers. A steady string of tones played—five notes, again and again.

"That's not noise," Roselia murmured. "It's a signal."

They walked deeper.

And then they saw them.

Figures standing upright—silent, unmoving. At first glance, they looked like Choir constructs. But as Aris approached one, she saw the truth.