Echoes of Time

Rakien stared at the symbols for a moment, gently sliding his fingers over them on the wall, as if entering a command. He made these movements almost subconsciously, as if guided by some unseen force. And as his fingers traced over the symbols, they emitted a faint blue light. Suddenly, with a deep click, the heavy metal door slowly opened, emitting an unsettling screech. Rakien and Kahn held their breath, gripping their weapons tightly, and exchanged a glance. The darkness beyond the door was like a massive beast, waiting for its prey to enter.

"Really opened! Shall we go in?" Kahn whispered, his voice tinged with tension.

Rakien nodded and stepped steadily into the darkness. The air was filled with the musty smell of decay, like a long-sealed secret finally being uncovered. The atmosphere in the room was peculiar, as if time had stood still here. The moment they crossed the threshold, the door behind them quietly closed, isolating them from the outside world.

The surroundings were silent, and Rakien raised his flashlight, its beam swaying through the darkness, revealing rows of rusted instruments and data terminals. It seemed to be some kind of control center, with walls covered in complex symbols and defunct screens. The floor was littered with tattered papers and file bags, and in the corner, several desiccated skeletons lay piled up, suggesting that the people here had experienced some catastrophic event.

At the end of the passage was a massive room, with an equally enormous machine parked in the center, and several passages leading off around the room. Kahn gently touched one of the nearby dilapidated terminals, "These devices look much more complex and massive than what we've seen before. What are they?"

Rakien didn't respond, his gaze captivated by the mysterious symbols on the wall. His heart raced, as if these symbols were awakening some ancient memory deep within him. He walked slowly towards one of the stone slabs engraved with symbols, his fingers trailing slowly over the etchings, as if these symbols were once a language he knew well.

At that moment, one of the symbols on the wall suddenly flickered, and then a soft light shone from behind the slab, projecting a three-dimensional holographic image into the air. Rakien and Kahn looked at each other in surprise, and the content displayed in the image made their hearts sink heavily—it was a massive city, shrouded in endless desolation and ruins, with an air thick with suffocating despair.

"Is this... a scene from before the nuclear war?" Kahn muttered, his eyes filled with confusion.

However, Rakien's gaze was fixed intently on a particular area within the holographic image, a pyramid-shaped building standing in the center of the city. Suddenly, a wave of intense dizziness hit him, and a vague memory flashed through Rakien's mind—he had stood there, commanding something... seemingly doing something of great importance.

Rakien clenched his fists, trying to piece together these fragmented memories, but his mind seemed to be shrouded in a thick fog, all the clues appearing disjointed and broken.

At that moment, the light of the holographic image suddenly became unstable, flickering with red alarm lights. Kahn rushed to the control panel, trying to shut off the alarms, only to find them useless. The entire room began to shake, and the symbols on the walls gradually dimmed, as if some ancient power was being awakened.

"Let's get out of here!" Kahn shouted anxiously, but Rakien still stood in front of the slab, eyes closed, as if sensing some indescribable force.

Suddenly, accompanied by a low hum, the entire room fell into a brief silence. Then, a strong vibration came from beneath the ground, as if some immense energy was surging.

Rakien suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with determination, "I think I know what this place is... This is... the convergence point of time."

"The convergence point of time? What are you talking about?"

"This is not just an experimental base, it is... a gateway to the past and the future." Rakien's voice was deep, yet carried an undeniable certainty.

His mind flashed with some vague fragments—those fragments seemed to come from his past life's memories. The young officer stood in front of a similar device, calmly issuing orders to a group of scientists. He vaguely remembered that it was a top-secret project, involving experiments with time and space... at that time, he wore medals on his chest, exuding unquestionable authority and coldness.

"It's... the time machine..." Rakien whispered, the shock inside him hard to express.

Kahn turned to him abruptly, "What did you say?"

"This might be... the time machine." Rakien's voice trembled slightly, as if he could hardly believe what he was saying. "I've seen it in my dreams, although those memories are incomplete, but this device... it doesn't belong to this era."

Kahn looked up at the complex giant time machine in the center of the room, his eyes flickering with doubt and curiosity. He slowly approached, tentatively walking around the device in a large circle, trying to find any clues that could explain it.

"Is this... technology from before the nuclear war? Is this something humans could have built? Or... alien technology?" The doubt and tension in his voice were unmistakable.

"This is not simple technology," Rakien murmured to himself, his voice barely audible. He closed his eyes, trying to sort out the intertwined memory fragments, but they were too chaotic, too scattered. He could feel their importance but couldn't grasp the threads.

Kahn stepped forward, interrupting his thoughts, "We can't linger here for too long, who knows what other dangers this place holds." He looked around, a hint of unease flashing in his eyes. "But this thing... we need to figure out what it is as soon as possible."

Rakien nodded, and the two continued to examine the giant time machine carefully, trying to find any text that could be operated or read. However, there were no obvious control panels or switches on the machine, as if it were merely a symbolic giant steel sculpture, waiting for some external force to awaken it.

"Maybe it needs some kind of startup password, or... some specific energy source?" Kahn frowned, his fingers lightly touching the surface of the machine.

At that moment, the wall of a passage opposite suddenly flickered with intense blue light, and the entire underground facility seemed to be briefly shaken by some force. The dust on the walls trembled and fell on their shoulders, and the air was filled with tension.

Kahn suddenly stood up, his expression on guard. "Something's not right... it feels like something is approaching."

The two exchanged a glance, a strong sense of foreboding rising in their hearts simultaneously.

"Let's get out of here quickly."

Although they hadn't figured out the function of the time machine, they no longer had time to explore further. The original door had closed, and they had to find another exit. They slung their backpacks filled with food over their shoulders and quickly rushed towards another passage in the hall.

From the depths of the passage behind them came a heavy muffled sound, as if something was drawing closer. Rakien and Kahn exchanged an uneasy look and spun around abruptly.