The banquet hall was large, polished, with black columns and subtle embellishments. The lighting was low, bathed in shades of blue and violet with neon lights, like a quiet calm before the storm. In the center, a long table of gleaming dark metal had been positioned with precision. Exquisite dishes, fancy cutlery, and goblets filled with a deep purple wine thicker than usual.
Seraphina, or rather Choi Eun-kyung, entered the hall with measured steps. Her eyes scanned everything around her before she sat down, keeping her distance from Kaine and the others. She quickly realized, every detail was strategic. From the lighting to the exotic flavors of the dishes, everything served a psychological purpose.
At the head of the table, Specter stood. His suit was impeccable, his skin pale, and his silver eyes gleaming like steel in the cold light, he raised a glass with disconcerting calm.
"Survivors..." his voice cut through the silence like a scalpel. "You have been tested in battle, pain, and uncertainty. Many have fallen. But you have risen. So let us toast. To ascension. To Erebus."
The others followed suit, some with pride, others with veiled hesitation. Seraphina merely touched the rim of the glass to her lips, not drinking. Distrust pulsed through her like electricity.
Renzo Khael was the first to proclaim himself. "So it's official? Are we part of the Order of Erebus now?"
Specter smiled. A gesture that seemed more like a simulation of humanity than genuine joy. "Let's say... you're on the steps of the entrance. There's still much to see, much to understand. You've passed the judgment of the flesh. Now you'll see the core of the shadow."
He then turned his hand slightly and, at his gesture, the entire table reacted. The surface retracted with an organic sound, revealing in the center a projector of living holographic light, which formed what seemed like a three-dimensional map of a colossal structure, something that didn't exist in any known corner of the Earth.
Specter spoke again, with the tone of someone reciting a forbidden legend. "The base where we are is just a 'physical border'. The true throne of the Order of Erebus is hidden... beyond reality. And you will have the privilege of seeing it with your own eyes."
The recruits exchanged glances, confused. Some were suspicious. Fiona Marelle frowned. Ezra Colt, on the other hand, seemed amazed. Seraphina remained impassive, but inside, her antennae were on high alert. "Tomorrow at noon, you will be taken to the true base. Prepare yourselves mentally," Specter continued. "You will be shown the Umbra Nexus. A fortress beyond human comprehension. Our home. Our altar. Our heart."
He then walked to the center of the table, his hands clasped behind his back. The room darkened slightly. "Tonight, eat. Drink. Find out among yourselves who is trustworthy and who will be a knife in the back. It is part of the lesson."
The sentence fell like a blade among those present. The silence that followed was thick. Even the delicately prepared dishes seemed more distant, more somber. Specter finally bowed subtly, as if closing a theater curtain. "I will see you tomorrow. Sleep well… if you can." He turned, his cape billowing with the movement, and disappeared through a door that dissolved behind him into digital particles.
After Specter left, the table exploded in whispers, theories and hushed tension. Seraphina observed everything. Every gesture, every look, every touch of the glass or fork was more valuable than any expensive dish.
She watched as Darien Vol fixed his eyes on Alina Drex with a disturbing smile. As Boris kept his hand close to the gun embedded in his leg. As Myra looked at everyone with disguised indignation. The game had already begun.
But Seraphina was no ordinary player. She was the shadow behind the shadow. The knife behind the throat. And tomorrow, she would enter the place where all masks would fall.
The next morning had arrived with an artificial atmosphere of tranquility. The sky over the base where they were located seemed clear, but Seraphina noticed the absence of wind, birds or any natural noise. The environment was manipulated like a staged theater.
Shortly after 12:00 p.m., the 10 survivors were led to a sealed metal corridor, where Specter was waiting for them. He wore a new dark coat with silvery lines that pulsed like living veins. "From here on, your reality will be reset," he said, as a black portal with pulsing edges opened behind him.
"What kind of portal is this?" Fiona asked, frowning. "It's not normal teleportation. It feels like… it senses us."
"Look, it seems you're quite perceptive, girl. Not many people realize that. This is a quantum-digital distortion," Specter replied, as if giving a lesson to children. "Created through a fusion of living cryptography and dimensional manipulation. You're about to enter the only place in the world... that doesn't belong to the world."
"That doesn't make sense," Ezra muttered, his eyes wide.
"It probably doesn't, for minds as poorly developed as yours," Specter retorted. "Follow me."
One by one, the candidates crossed the portal, feeling an immaterial pressure crush their minds and senses as if crossing a veil between worlds. Even Seraphina felt the EVP of the place press against her skin and bones, as if an invisible being was testing every cell in her body.
And then... they arrived at the true base of the Order of Erebus. "Nexus Umbra."
It was like falling into a digital dream. The artificial dimension expanded like an encapsulated universe, the sky was nonexistent, the ground pulsed like living circuits, dark, asymmetrical towers rose and moved in the distance with undulating shapes made of living liquid metal. Neon colors of purple, blue and green ran through the structures like rivers of light. The air was silent, but not dead, whispering codes at times.
In the center, a colossal black tower spiraled upward, so tall it disappeared into a cybernetic haze above. Ezra gasped. "That... that's impossible. That's not Earth technology."
"Of course it's not, little girl," Specter replied calmly. "That's technology generated by a living, thinking, forged consciousness. Nexus Umbra wasn't built. It was shaped."
"Shaped? By who?" Boris asked, his voice cautious. "Or... by what?"
Specter stopped walking and turned slowly. "Excellent perfunta, boy, and of course by the leader." The word hung heavy. "He or she... remains anonymous. Even to me. Only the Four Primevals, who are the four strongest in the Order of Erebus excluding the Leader, know their identity. But know this, everything that exists here... exists by their will."
"So we're living in some kind of living prison?" Fiona snapped.
"Basically, it's a prison for the weak, but a throne for the worthy," Specter replied. "You decide which of the two you will be." They crossed a suspension bridge made of luminescent nanofibers, crossing what looked like a bottomless digital abyss. Below, spheres of data spun like orbiting planets. Seraphina kept close behind, her eyes scanning every wall, flow, symbol, and reaction of the structure. It was like walking inside the mind of a living artificial intelligence. "What if something goes wrong in here?" Alina asked, looking paler than usual. "How do we get out?" "Hahahahaha! What a joke, you're not getting out!" Specter's answer was as blunt as a knife. "The Nexus only allows exit with master code authorization… or death." Several glanced at each other. "You put all the support systems of a global organization… into something that thinks for itself?" Darien asked, trying to sound defiant.
Specter smiled, a menacing and dark smile. "Something wrong with you, you little shit? She considers us an extension of herself. Nexus Umbra is conscious. But she obeys only the one who created her. That's why even I don't dare disrespect her. I've seen what she does to... invaders."
He led them through different wings. Training Sector. Adjustable gravitational fields, real combat holograms, mental torture simulations and psychological tests.
Laboratories. Floating environments with technology that seemed fused to the flesh. Some tubes contained suspended life forms.
Medical Center. Regeneration chambers, but also surgical rooms with equipment that resembled vivisection methods.
Each sector provoked reactions. Ezra trembled with fascination. Boris mentally noted escape routes. Myra kept her mouth shut, as if stifling anger. Renzo watched with an ambitious gleam in his eyes. Seraphina... recorded everything in her mind.
Finally, Specter led them to the central plaza of the base, a colossal space where a black obelisk floated in the air, emitting data and EVP pulses. "Here, final judgments are made. Here, decisions of the Order are executed. This is the Fractal Heart."
He then faced them one by one. "You will have three days to adapt. Analyze, explore... or break.
Every corner of this base will expose what you truly are." He turned, but before leaving, he gave one last warning. "And remember... Nexus Umbra sees everything. Thinks. Observes. Tests. Anyone who tries to deceive it... may find themselves facing something worse than death."
With that, Specter disappeared into the haze of codes, leaving the ten immersed in the digital heart of darkness.
Seraphina remained still for long seconds. "So... this is where they hide." she thought. "This is where one of the poisons that infects the world is cultivated."
And with that, he took the first step into the core of the Order of Erebus with his mind sharp and his purpose burning like never before.