Chapter 21: Whispers Beneath Tavara

Underground Bio-Lab Ruins, Eastern Tavara Outskirts

The heavy metal hatch creaked open with a groan that echoed through the hollow concrete corridor. Dust spiraled in the beam of Nora's flashlight as she descended the corroded steps into the forgotten world beneath Tavara's outskirts.

She had followed the coordinates embedded in the encrypted message sent to her anonymous medical research inbox—a message that bore a cipher signature she hadn't seen in seven years. Only one man knew that code. And he was supposed to be dead.

Her fingers tightened around the small silver pendant at her neck, its surface glowing faintly under the intense spiritual energy bubbling beneath her skin. She was on edge. Not from fear. From the undeniable sense that she was walking straight into something ancient and calculated.

The deeper she went, the more the air shifted—sterile, like the aftermath of burnt chemicals and old blood. The walls bore faint markings of logos she recognized from classified medical projects. Projects tied to global syndicates that had disappeared without a trace.

"Human Regeneration Trials – Phase IX," Nora whispered, brushing dust off a sign.

Just then, the air behind her stirred. She turned sharply.

A hooded figure stepped into the faint light, masked and still. "Doctor N," he said in a gravel-coated voice, "We've been waiting."

Meanwhile…

Location: Damien's Private Estate, Tavara Highlands

Damien stood by the glass wall of his office, eyes fixed on the encrypted data flashing across his holo-tablet. The alert had come minutes ago—his Black Sector firewall had picked up a signal from Project Hollow Vein, a file that hadn't seen light since the Fall of Daskov Syndicate.

Only one person ever worked that closely on Hollow Vein.

Nora.

His fingers hovered over the holographic keyboard before he punched a command into his dark net mainframe. A hologram burst to life—an old blueprint of a forgotten underground complex in Eastern Tavara.

His jaw tightened. Someone was hunting her. Or worse—trying to awaken what should never be touched again.

"Tora," he said into his comm, "Get the jet prepped. I want eyes on Nora. Now."

From two corners of Tavara, secrets long buried were unraveling. The whispers beneath Tavara were growing louder. And somewhere deep in the shadows, a force neither Nora nor Damien could predict was awakening… with their names already written in its ledger.