20. Beneath the Mountain

The Tetra Mountains loomed larger than life, their icy peaks slicing the gray sky. Elara adjusted her visor as a flurry of snow pelted her cheeks. Behind her, Damien checked the stabilizers on Kira's suit while Lyne recalibrated the holographic map.

The team approached an old maintenance hatch carved into the mountain base. Hidden behind overgrown lichen and ice, the metal door bore the faded spiral insignia, this time, unmistakably the one from the photo.

"Found it," Lyne said. She keyed in an old biometric code. The panel blinked red, then green. The door groaned open.

A musty, sterile wind blew past them, tinged with something Elara couldn't name. Memory, maybe. Regret.

They stepped inside.

Cold fluorescent lights flickered as they walked deeper into the tunnels. Decades of dust clung to the sterile walls. Security doors sealed long ago had been rusted over or pried open.

"It's like time stopped," Kira whispered, eyes wide.