Chapter 13-Vault 0

The hallway beyond the sealed door stretched into darkness, lit only by the dim flicker of Elara's wrist torch. The air smelled of rust, ozone, and something older—like the dry rot of ancient bones.

Reyes limped beside her, his rifle raised and his breath shallow. "What the hell was that thing?"

Elara didn't answer right away. She was still trying to process it—translucent flesh, self-healing tissue, segmented limbs. It was nothing like the Ascended they encountered in Titan Station.

"It wasn't like the others," she finally said. "This wasn't just infected. It was engineered."

"Engineered by who? The Strain?"

Elara shook her head. "By us."

They followed the corridor until they reached a junction marked with faded signs: MEDICAL WING, SECURITY ARMORY, and VAULT 0—etched deeper than the others, not printed but carved, like a warning.

Reyes pointed. "That way. Let's finish what Isaac started."

Elara swallowed and nodded. They turned toward the Vault.

The hallway changed as they moved. The walls became uneven, riddled with veins of dark crystal. Lights overhead blinked and buzzed, casting shadows that danced unnaturally across the floor.

A door hissed open on the left, revealing a glass observation room.

Inside: dozens of suspended pods. Cryogenic tanks.

Most were shattered.

Inside the remaining few, figures floated—emaciated, half-human things with elongated skulls, black eyes, and symbols carved into their flesh. Some were twitching.

Reyes grimaced. "These... are people."

"Test subjects," Elara whispered. "From the early phases of the Strain. They didn't die. They adapted... into something else."

As she approached the pod marked Subject 0A, the data console lit up.

Log Entry: Project Thanatos – Phase Omega

> "Subject 0A demonstrated full bio-symbiosis. Host accepted the Primordial Strain. Neural interface reached 93% assimilation. No visible decay after 47 days."

> "Attempted communication. Subject replied in multiple languages—some unknown."

> "Subject claims the Strain is not alien. Claims it originated in ancient Earth DNA—something buried, forgotten, reawakened by exposure to Europa's radiation."

> "God help us."

The screen flickered and went black.

Then Isaac's voice crackled through the comms again.

"You're not ready to see what it really is, Elara."

Reyes jumped. "That's him again."

"No, it's not," Elara said quietly, eyes wide. "It's using his voice now. It's inside the system. Watching."

As if in response, the pods behind them hissed—one shattering open. Cold mist rolled out.

A figure dropped to the ground.

It stood slowly. Seven feet tall. Human-shaped—but its skin was glassy, crystalline. Its face—an inhuman mimic of Elara's.

And it spoke.

"You are the last fragment. The final echo. Come see the truth."

They ran.

Down the hall, toward Vault 0. Alarms howled. The facility itself seemed to pulse with life.

The Vault's entrance loomed ahead: a thick titanium door with a bio-lock scanner.

"Back up!" Elara shouted, raising her hand. She removed a small vial from her belt—a sample Isaac had taken from the Core before the overload. It shimmered like liquid obsidian.

She jabbed the scanner with it.

The door trembled, groaned, and slowly opened.

Inside... was darkness.

The Vault

Vault 0 wasn't a room. It was a cavern.

A hollowed-out, cathedral-sized space beneath Europa's crust, supported by a web of glowing tendrils. Strange glyphs pulsed across the ceiling, and in the center—

—was a cocoon.

Fifty feet tall. Suspended mid-air by cables and roots.

And inside it... something was moving.

Reyes whispered, "What the hell is that?"

Elara stepped forward. "The origin."

Screens flickered to life around the perimeter of the vault. Holograms showed research footage—scientists working on the cocoon, measuring seismic activity, splicing genome data. One video showed a corpse being lowered into the cocoon. The voiceover explained:

> "Subject dissolved in seconds. Genetic material absorbed. Consciousness... remains?"

> "We are creating not just a weapon, but a god."

Elara stared at the cocoon. "They didn't find the Strain. They made it."

The cocoon shifted again. A pulse of energy swept through the vault, knocking them back.

The air vibrated. A deep, inhuman voice echoed—not through sound, but through thought.

"You opened the door. Now we become."

The cocoon split.

From within, a shape descended—floating, surrounded by arcs of black lightning. It looked human, at first. Male. Ageless. Its eyes glowed with memories that were not its own.

And it smiled at Elara.

"Isaac?" she whispered.

The being tilted its head.

Then, its voice layered with echoes: Isaac's... and something deeper.

> "I was Isaac. I was Subject 0. I was every failure. And now, I am beyond names."

> "You cannot kill me. Because I am already inside you."

Cliffhanger Ending:

The being raised its hand—and Reyes was flung across the vault, slamming into a wall.

Elara dropped to one knee, vision blurring. Her skin burned.

A symbol had appeared on her wrist.

The same one carved into the cocoon.

A mark.

Of what was coming.