Chapter 100: The Presence Below

The tunnels stretched ahead, swallowed in darkness, the air thick with something old, stagnant, and watching. The Vanguard husks lay lifeless behind them, but the eerie silence that followed did nothing to ease the unease settling in Elias's gut.

They weren't alone down here.

Elias adjusted his gauntlet, cycling through his HUD scans, picking up faint heat signatures deeper in the tunnel. The unknown energy reading Marco had detected was still active, pulsing slowly—like the heartbeat of something waiting.

Lira's voice was barely above a whisper. "Tell me we're not walking into another death trap."

Marco frowned at his datapad. "I'd love to, but my readings are all over the place. Whatever this thing is, it's not registering like a normal power source."

Ivy tightened her grip on her bow. "Then what does it feel like?"

Marco hesitated. "Like… it's alive."

That sent a chill down the group's spine.

Cecilia exhaled. "Great. More creepy undead machinery?"

Reinhardt, ever the optimist, grinned. "Well, at least it's never boring."

Elias ignored the banter, focusing on the glowing symbols along the tunnel walls. They were different from the ones near the entrance—less of a warning, more of a directive.

They weren't telling people to stay out.

They were guiding something forward.

Varian studied the symbols as well. "These markings… They are not Vanguard script alone. There is something else mixed in."

Elias felt his breath slow. "What do you mean?"

Varian's eyes narrowed. "I recognize these shapes. They belong to the Forgotten."

A cold silence settled over the team.

Marco cursed. "No. No way. The Forgotten were never on this planet."

Varian's golden gaze didn't waver. "Then explain why their symbols are here."

Ivy pulled an arrow, scanning the shadows. "This just went from bad to worse."

Elias's mind raced. If the Forgotten had somehow been involved in whatever happened here, then that meant…

Project Genesis had failed before it even started.

He shook the thought away, focusing on the task ahead. One problem at a time. "We keep moving," he said. "Stay sharp. If this thing is active, we find out what it is before it finds us."

They pressed forward, deeper into the tunnel.

The air grew colder, the walls shifting from Vanguard metal plating to something darker, rougher, as if the tunnel itself had been reshaped over time.

Then—Elias saw the first bodies.

Not husks. Not Vanguard remains.

But Academy soldiers.

Lira stopped short, her breath hitching. "Oh, hell."

Scattered across the tunnel floor, half-buried in the dust, were at least a dozen corpses, their uniforms still recognizable despite the decay. Their armor was damaged—burned through, melted in places.

Ivy knelt beside one, inspecting the damage. "This wasn't weapons fire. These wounds are… unnatural."

Cecilia crouched next to another, flipping the body over with her blade. The soldier's face was frozen in terror, his jaw stretched wide, his skin blackened with something corrosive.

Marco checked his scanner. "These guys have been dead for months. Maybe longer."

Reinhardt frowned. "The Academy was down here?"

Varian's expression darkened. "And they were wiped out before they could leave."

Elias stood, his hands clenched. "Then whatever did this might still be here."

A low, guttural sound echoed through the tunnel.

Everyone froze.

It wasn't a growl.

It wasn't mechanical.

It was something else.

Elias's HUD flared red, detecting movement ahead. His heart pounded as his visor adjusted to low-light vision, locking onto a shadow shifting in the darkness.

Then—it stepped into the light.

A figure—tall, thin, twisted. Its body was stretched unnaturally, bones too long, fingers too sharp, its skin ashen and cracked with glowing blue veins running along its arms and legs. Its head tilted as if examining them, but its eyes—its eyes were hollow voids, endless pits of darkness.

Ivy slowly drew her bow. "What the hell is that?"

Marco's voice was a whisper. "It's not in any database."

The creature moved—a flicker, faster than it should have been, shifting forward in a blur.

Reinhardt swung his hammer. "Not waiting to find out!"

His weapon connected—but instead of breaking, the creature's body twisted around the blow, bending unnaturally before it snapped back into place.

Then it screamed.

A raw, inhuman wail that vibrated through the tunnel, shaking the walls.

Lira stumbled back. "Oh, that's a no from me—"

The creature lunged.

Elias fired his thrusters, slamming into it mid-air, driving his gauntlet into its chest. The impact sent a shockwave through the tunnel, but—the creature barely reacted. It let out another wail, twisting in his grasp, clawing at his visor.

Elias gritted his teeth, shifting his energy into his gauntlet, charging up an EMP pulse. "Let's see how you like this—"

He activated the shockwave—but instead of flinching, the creature absorbed it.

Elias's suit systems glitched, his HUD flashing warnings.

"It's draining energy!" Marco yelled.

The realization hit too late. The creature's veins pulsed, and suddenly—it lashed out, sending Elias flying backward.

He slammed against the tunnel wall, his systems shorting for a brief second.

Ivy released an arrow, hitting the creature in the head, but it didn't stop—it rushed toward her next.

Cecilia blurred forward, cutting at its legs, but its body snapped in unnatural directions, dodging effortlessly.

Lira appeared behind it, driving her daggers into its spine. "Stay down!"

The creature jerked, a grotesque screech tearing from its throat. The moment Lira pulled her blades out, the wound closed instantly.

Reinhardt growled. "Okay, we have a problem."

Marco was typing frantically, trying to analyze the creature. His face turned pale. "Oh. Oh, gods—"

Elias forced himself to his feet. "Marco. Talk."

Marco's voice shook. "It's not Forgotten. It's not Vanguard." He swallowed hard.

"It's something worse."

The creature's head snapped toward Marco, as if recognizing his words. Then it moved faster than any of them could react, vanishing into the tunnel's darkness.

Silence.

Ivy was breathing hard. "It's still here."

Varian's jaw was clenched. "And it's watching us."

Elias gritted his teeth. They were no longer just infiltrating the Academy.

They had walked into something else.

Something that had been waiting for them.

His war armor hummed as he readied himself.

They had to keep moving.

And whatever was ahead was just getting started.