Chapter 9: The Tunnel Between Lies
The Tunnel Between Lies
The map wasn't drawn in ink.
It was carved into skin.
Rael found it stitched into the chest of a dead courier left hanging in the sewers of Sector Three — flesh flayed, symbols burned, and a message carved beneath his ribcage:
"One leads to Six. Six leads to Nine. Follow the pulse beneath the stone."
Dust stared at it for a long time before speaking.
"This isn't just a code."
Rael nodded slowly. "It's a direction."
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The tunnel entrance was sealed behind a rusted elevator shaft in the Forgotten Tramyard — a place swallowed by the city's concrete decades ago.
Thread ran her fingers along the bricks. "This stone's newer than the rest."
With a snap of her threads, the bricks gave way — and the wall fell inward like a collapsed lung.
Behind it, darkness.
No light. No air. No sound.
Only the heavy breath of the past.
Rael stepped through first.
Ashraz hummed on his back.
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❖ The Dead Tunnels
They called them The Old Arteries.
Once, they moved soldiers. Now, they moved ghosts.
Long-forgotten transport rails carved beneath the Capitol — used before the First Collapse, before the City of Crownlight was built on bones.
Torchlight flickered on wet walls. Symbols. Names. Numbers.
Dust stopped. "That's noble script."
Rael read it aloud. "Zone Six. Do not enter."
Thread's breath caught. "This is it. One of the lost districts."
They moved slowly now.
The air grew cold — unnaturally so.
And on the walls… hands.
Not painted. Not carved.
Real hands. Pressed into the stone. Dried. Preserved. Reaching.
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❖ The Children of Rust Return
They weren't alone.
As the group crossed into the deeper section, a low whistle echoed down the rail.
Then a voice.
"Funny thing about truth…"
From the shadows stepped three figures in patchwork armor.
"…it gets heavier the deeper you dig."
It was her again — the stitched girl from before.
Her eyes reflected the torchlight like animal glass. With her were two others — a boy missing his jaw and a woman who walked like her bones were broken in every direction but still moved anyway.
"We followed the blade," the girl whispered. "It sings when it gets close to home."
Rael stepped forward. "This is where the 'Six' is, isn't it?"
The girl nodded. "Zone Six. Known to the Capitol as 'Facility Arum-6.' Known to us as the Nursery of Screams."
Dust muttered, "I hate this city."
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❖ Secrets of Zone Six
They passed an iron gate choked in vines and cables. Beyond it lay ruins.
A laboratory, burned and blackened.
Bed frames welded to walls.
Names scrawled in blood on the ceiling.
A control panel flashed once. Then died.
Thread stopped beside a decayed sign on the wall.
She wiped the soot away.
Words emerged.
PROJECT REVERENCE: STAGE SIX
Objective: Stimulate forced evolution through trauma-based memory fusion
Rael clenched his fists. "They made powers here."
"Not made," said the stitched girl. "Harvested."
A console screen sparked to life.
A single video file blinked.
Thread pressed play.
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❖ The Tape
Flickering images.
Children seated at desks, hooked to machines.
A voice speaking calmly:
"Subject 001-6: Resistance still high. Increase dosage."
A child screams. His hands melt into blades. His eyes burst.
"Subject 042-6: Exceeded threshold. Injecting pulse ink."
The child explodes from the inside.
Blood. Silence. Static.
And then—
A final line of text burned across the screen:
"Total survivors of Project Reverence, Phase 6: 3"
The power cut.
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❖ Rael's Skin Burns Again
Ashraz pulsed.
Rael stumbled.
His back burned — not with fire, but with memory.
On his shoulder, a symbol formed.
"6"
Not written.
Branded.
The girl stared at him in horror. "You're one of them."
"No," Rael gasped. "I'm not—I never—"
But in his mind, voices screamed.
A hand holding a syringe.
The smell of disinfectant.
The cry of someone he knew—but couldn't remember.
And the whisper…
"We numbered them to erase their names."
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❖ The Truth About 1 6 9
Thread pieced it together, voice trembling.
"Three facilities. Three zones. One child survived each."
Dust looked up. "You're saying—"
"Rael… is Subject Six."
Rael's breath caught.
"But then who's One? Who's Nine?"
Silence.
Then the stitched girl said softly, "We've seen the mark of Nine. The child with no voice and no shadow. They lead the Broken Choir."
"And One?" Rael asked.
She looked down. "The first survivor… is now a king."
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