Chapter 15 – The Corridor That Cannot Be Forgotten

Levan was staring at one of the buildings, his expression still, but his mind clearly elsewhere.

Romo noticed and whispered,

"Levan… are you okay?"

Levan replied, still not taking his eyes off the structure,

"I'm fine… I just feel like I… know this place, in a way I can't explain."

The team then began moving slowly toward the center of the city.

Romo pulled out the paper map again, traced the marked path with his eyes, and pointed to a large building on the western side.

"The X mark is on this building, in the back corner."

Ena looked at him without a word, then started walking through the rubble.

The paths were narrow, the walls crumbling, and the doors nearly stuck together from the strain of collapse. They moved cautiously, step by step.

Levan stayed behind. Every time they passed an alley or a crumbling wall, he would stop for a moment. Not because he was afraid… but because something unseen was making him tense.

Romo said as he approached the building's front,

"The front door's blocked. We'll need to enter from the back."

Ena added,

"Let's not force anything. Let's find a natural opening."

They reached a gap in the wall just wide enough to squeeze through. Romo went first, followed by Levan, then Ena.

Inside, the darkness wasn't complete, but thick enough to make every move deliberate. The only light slipped through a broken piece of the ceiling.

The space was a wide ground floor, filled with broken chairs, inactive devices, and torn signage.

Ena inspected one wall and said,

"This looks like an old facility… but it hasn't been used in ages."

Romo looked at remnants of a printed map on the wall and pointed,

"The basement… there's a staircase in that corner."

They all looked.

It was open, dark, and silent.

Levan was the first to approach it. He stopped at the first step, staring into the void.

He didn't move. His eyes were wide open and fixed, like he saw something in the darkness that couldn't be described.

He said in a low voice,

"The signal… is coming from below."

Ena asked,

"How do you know?"

He didn't answer. He just started descending.

The staircase leading down was narrow, covered in dust. The air grew heavier with every step.

Their footsteps echoed clearly, each step sounding like it was waking something up.

At the bottom, a small opening led them to a side corridor. The walls were pale and cracked in places, as if something once pushed outward from within.

Ena said,

"The signal is stronger here."

Romo nodded and began checking the rooms one by one. Most were empty, filled with metal scraps and dislodged panels.

Levan stopped at one broken door, looked inside, then walked in slowly.

In the center of the room, there was a small metallic box. It wasn't new… but it wasn't as dusty as the other things.

He approached it, but didn't touch it.

Ena came in behind him,

"What's that?"

Levan said quietly,

"I don't know… but something around it feels off."

Romo joined them, looked at the box, then said,

"Is that what we're here for? The artifact piece?"

Ena looked down at the floor beneath it,

"Look… the ground here is unstable."

Suddenly, the tiles beneath them shook slightly.

Levan stepped back and whispered,

"It's like the place… is waking up."

Before any of them could move, faint lights began glowing from cracks in the walls, as if lines beneath the ground were activating.

Ena gasped,

"This isn't normal."

Romo turned quickly toward the door,

"Should we leave?"

But Levan didn't move. His eyes were locked on the light.

He said quietly,

"No… this is the place."

At the threshold of a door that opened by itself, Levan stopped.

Then he stepped in steadily, with Romo and Ena following behind.

The room wasn't large.

Its walls were smooth, undecorated. But on the far side… something was different.

Three stone pillars stood side by side. Each carried a metal disc at the top and a small inscribed plaque beneath it.

Romo approached and said,

"This looks like a security system."

Ena pointed to the floor,

"There's a track from the door to the pillars."

Levan placed his hand on one of the symbols.

Nothing happened.

Romo read the words:

1-Core 2-Echo 3-Eye

Ena said,

"A riddle?"

Romo nodded,

"Maybe a sequence or a trigger."

Levan said,

"It's a sequence… but not spatial. It's emotional."

He touched: Core, Echo, Eye.

The pillars glowed… then went dim.

Ena:

"Wrong sequence."

Romo:

"At least it didn't lock us out. We get more tries."

Levan:

"To open the path… we have to remember what we're really looking for."

He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, like recalling something ancient.

He opened them slowly, touched Eye, then Echo, then Core.

As he touched the last symbol, the ground trembled slightly.

Soft light flowed from all the pillars.

The metal disks began to spin, letting out a low pulse.

The far wall cracked open slowly, revealing a narrow passage.

Romo murmured as he looked at Levan in astonishment:

"It... really opened."

Then, in a surprised tone, he added:

"How did you know the sequence?"

Levan smiled faintly and said:

"I don't know... it just... came to me in the moment."

Ena looked at him in disbelief, her brow furrowed, a drop of sweat trailing down her temple.

She then turned to Romo, visibly unsettled, whispering:

"He... didn't even hesitate."

Levan, now standing near the entrance of the newly opened passage, said calmly:

"I can't explain it... but this feels natural to me."

And with that, he stepped forward into the corridor, his back straight, his steps unwavering.

Romo and Ena exchanged a look—half fear, half awe—before silently following him in.