Chapter 27 - A Journey Begins - III

With a deafening roar, the creature charged toward him, its eyes fixed on the fragment in his hands. With a weird instinct guiding him, Zypher clutched it fast. He stood there holding the fragment, and its power flared to life as he channeled it into himself. The creature halted, its metal limbs shuddering, as if torn between rage and submission.

With one final attempt, Zypher tapped the power of the fragment, sending a blinding pulse around the room. A scream let out as the creature's form began to disintegrate into particles of metal and light, like mist on the breeze.

The lab fell quiet. The team caught their breath, their eyes scanning what had been done. Zypher held the fragment close, feeling the chill energy sink into his very core. He knew now; each fragment wasn't a tool. It was a part of godly essence, a fragment of divinity, carrying with it an age stretching across aeons.

Kiera walked over, her eyes fixed on the shard with a mixture of awe and respect. "Every time we get one, it feels. different. Like we're drawing closer to something we're not meant to touch."

Zypher nodded gravely, understanding the weight of her words. "The Divinitas wasn't just a weapon. It was their way of leaving a part of themselves behind-a legacy, maybe, or a warning.".

Orion sheathed his sword, shaking his head with a grin. "If this is what we're facing for every fragment, then it's going to be one hell of a journey,

With the fragment in their possession, they turned back, having been given strength and tested trials they had to overcome. No longer were they just a gang of hooligans piecing together some forgotten weapon; they now carried the might of the gods and had been offered a choice of fate over Neo-ilka's future.

As he emerged out of the rubble, Zypher felt a strong sense of feeling watched over by the gods, their eyes on him now, preparing for whatever step lay forward in a journey that was hardly just coming into its scope.

Neo-ilka pulsed with a heartbeat none else had ever known. It was as if Zypher and his team had crossed into another world as they entered the heart of the city, not the outskirts littered with dust and decay. Here, air was alive, thick with a fog of data streams and neon lights lighting up high-rise towers in electric blue and crimson. The energy here was intoxicating, seductive—unmistakable in all its raw power and wealth ruling this world.

Around them, holograms and advertisements flashed with brilliant colors, each competing for attention, each whispering promises of immortality and pleasure. Zypher could feel the Divinitas fragments in his pack resonating almost as if they were responding to the technology-infused aura of Neo-ilka's heart. But beneath the glitter and shine, there was a undertone-a darker feeling that something was rotting at the city's core.

This is it," Kiera said quietly, drinking in the panorama of skyscrapers around them like silent gods. "The heart of Neo-ilka, where all power is concentrated. Where the gods have always had their eyes set."

Orion snorted, his jaw clenched. "It's just a gilded cage. People in these towers think they're above it all, but they're prisoners to the very tech they worship.".

Zypher couldn't argue. It was the heart of the city, yes-but the center of control the gods and corporations held over all things. Lives could be bought and sold in one swipe here; this was where the divide between divine and digital blurred to the point that it was hard to tell where one started and the other lost any sense of self.

Their destination lay in the shadow of the tallest skyscraper, the Monolith. The Monolith was the pinnacle of Neo-ilka's ambition, a huge building said to hold secrets even the gods themselves feared to reveal. Zypher and his crew had come here to access the heart of the Divinitas network: to glimpse the secrets the gods had hidden deep within the city's neural core.

As she shuffled through the packed streets, Nyra flipped open her console, working with a blur of fingers to hack herself into the outer defenses of the Monolith. "This is no network I've ever laid eyes on," she breathed in wonder. "Not just tech, what they use for security. Layers, layers, some things I could have sworn were magic symbols. Something's actually watching me, here."

"A god?" Kiera pressed to her, voice tight.

Or something left behind by one, Nyra said to herself, her eyes fixed on the lines of code streaming across her console. Whatever it is, it's old and powerful.

As they draw closer to the Monolith, Zypher feels a faint vibration through the Divinitas fragments. It is almost as if they are calling to something within the towering structure, an echo of their own power resonating from within.

The great entrance loomed before them: massive steel doors humming low, ominous. A holographic figure appeared to stand across their way, translucent form flickering with static as it scanned across the group. Its face was blank, faceless, and yet Zypher felt it observing each one, processing their very intent.

"State your purpose," the figure intoned, its voice low, mechanical.

Zypher strode forward, holding up one of the fragments. "We bear the Divinitas. We come seeking access to the network at the center of the Monolith."

The figure halted, weighing its words, and then stepped aside, the great doors hissing open on their way. "Come forth, bearers of fragments of the gods. The Monolith awaits.

Inside, the Monolith was a breathtaking feat of engineering: walls lined with streaming information that pulsed like veins carrying light instead of blood. The floor was shiny, black as obsidian, and reflected every glow, every flicker of the ever-moving code that ran through the structure. It was stepping into the mind of a god, a digital temple where information was currency and every byte was sacred.

The thicker it got, the heavier air became, forcing them to struggle to breathe. The lights grew dull, the hiss of the data streams sounded deeper, and shadows crept out around them. Fragments of Divinitas pulsed with an otherworldly resonance, almost as if leading them further inward, and some unseen force pulled them along.