Chapter 2 – The Mistake

03:55 Hours – Location: Vault Wing – Outer Corridor

The hall was too clean.

That was Ember's first thought as they entered—torches dimmed, weapons low. No dust, no decay, no heat. The corridor stretched ahead in perfect silence, lined with embedded lights that pulsed once every ten seconds. Soft. Controlled. Mechanical breath.

"Voren," Axel whispered. "Confirm we're still under blackout?"

"Confirmed," Voren said, scanning his wrist display. "No pings. No alarms."

"Then why the hell is it still powered?"

No one had an answer.

The squad pushed forward, step by careful step. The hallway bent gently into a spiral, walls curving like a funnel guiding them deeper into something unseen.

Then they saw the first door.

It was thick, sealed, and made of reinforced glass. Not a vault—a viewing window.

Renna moved closer, boots silent on the polished floor. She peered through the glass, brows pulling together.

"Uh… guys?"

The others joined her, Ember stepping to the front.

What lay beyond the window wasn't a lab. It wasn't a prison. It wasn't anything Ember had words for.

It was a hall of cells—small, cold, clinical.

And inside each one sat a person.

At least… they looked like people.

Upright. Awake. But still. Their eyes were open. Unmoving. Blank.

One girl stared directly at the wall, her head tilted slightly, her face frozen in a half-smile that never shifted. An old man sat on the edge of his cot, his hands resting on his knees, not blinking. His chest rose. Fell. Rose. Fell.

Breathing. But… wrong.

"They're not reacting," Silen whispered. "At all."

"What is this?" Deyar muttered. "What the hell is this?"

Axel stepped forward slowly, his face pale.

"They're not prisoners," he said. "They're experiments."

Ember's heart dropped like a blade into water.

She didn't know why—but hearing that word come from Axel made it feel real.

She looked back through the glass—at the old man with the still breath and faraway eyes—and the word slipped from her lips like it didn't belong to her:

"Experiments…"

She didn't even realize she'd said it until her voice echoed softly in the hallway.

Axel turned toward her, sharp again.

"No time. We move."

"But we—"

"We move."

There was something in his voice Ember hadn't heard before.

Not anger. Not fear.

Urgency.

04:07 Hours – Location: Inner Vault Access – Data Mine Chamber

The vault didn't look like treasure.

It looked like a tomb.

The door sealed behind them with a hiss, locking the heat and the breath of the hallway out. Inside, the chamber pulsed with low light and a strange, humming quiet—like a power source too old to die and too stubborn to sleep.

In the center of the room stood the data mine.

It wasn't a console. It wasn't a screen. It was a core—round, suspended slightly off the ground by metal arms, its surface covered in a woven lattice of code-laced crystal. It pulsed like a slow heartbeat, giving off soft, pale-blue waves with every breath.

Ember stepped closer.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"It's dangerous," Voren muttered, already moving. "Help me with the anchor."

They attached the extraction unit with careful precision. The core shimmered once—recognizing the link. Light danced across the chamber walls as data streamed into the crystal drive.

"We've got less than ninety seconds before the trace ripple spikes," Voren said. "That's our window."

Axel stood guard at the door, his blade ready, his eyes fixed on the hall.

Renna moved to Ember's side.

"So this is what we're risking our lives for," she said.

"Looks like it."

"Worth it?"

Ember didn't answer.

Because part of her already knew—this wasn't over. It didn't feel like a victory. Not yet. Something about the silence… the cold… the way the data mine watched them even without eyes.

It felt like a test they hadn't realized they'd already failed.

04:09 Hours – Location: Vault Wing Exit

They moved fast—retracing their path down the corridor, past the sealed glass, past the lifeless eyes of the experiments who still hadn't moved.

No alarms.

No footsteps.

No signs of pursuit.

And yet… Ember couldn't shake the tension in her chest. She kept glancing over her shoulder, hand resting lightly near her blade.

04:12 Hours – Location: Sublevel 3 – Upper Corridor

They were almost out.

The tunnel stretched ahead—just two turns from the maintenance exit. Ember was starting to believe they'd pulled it off. Her hand tightened slightly around the strap of the satchel. The crystal inside was still warm from the transfer.

Then it happened.

A sharp click echoed above them.

The lights flickered. Once.

And the hallway came alive.

A pulse screamed down the corridor—red lights blaring into existence, metal doors locking, hatches sealing with brutal finality. Ember's HUD scrambled for a second before reforming into combat layout.

"Trap!" Deyar shouted. "They waited!"

Turrets dropped from the ceiling, sensors glowing.

Axel didn't hesitate.

"Weapons up! Break left! Suppression fire—move!"

The corridor erupted into violence.

Voren ducked under the first turret blast, his arm scorched as he slammed a spike into the wall's conduit. Sparks flew—turret disabled. Ember spun, torchblade igniting in her hand with a burst of fire and fury.

"We're cut off from the main route!" Silen yelled.

"Then we make our own!"

04:14 Hours – Location: South Wing Collapse Point

An explosion rocked the ground behind them—structural beams shattered, dust roaring through the halls. Ember coughed hard, one arm shielding her face as debris scattered across the path.

"Voren!" she screamed.

She turned—saw him under part of the ceiling structure, one leg pinned beneath a slab of fallen steel.

He was conscious—but barely.

"Go!" he shouted. "Leave me! Get the crystal out!"

"Shut up," Ember growled, already moving.

She dropped to her knees, trying to lift the beam—but it was fused into the floor. She gritted her teeth, her hands igniting slightly as she focused the fire into her arms.

"You're gonna burn yourself," Renna warned from behind.

"Not if it works."

The steel hissed under her grip. Ember roared and lifted. Just enough. Voren pulled free, gasping.

They moved—limping, bleeding, pushing forward through collapsing light and screaming alarms.

04:16 Hours – Location: Sublevel 3 – Access Tunnel Exit

They reached the last corridor.

Ahead was the hatch that led to the outer tunnel. Ember's heart pounded with every step. They'd made it. They—

"Ember! Your coat!"

Her cloak was caught.

She turned, yanked hard—ripped it free just in time. The others were already pushing open the final exit.

She didn't see what fell.

She didn't hear the faint clatter.

The Echo Sigil hit the floor behind her.

Just as the lights went black.