Time moved differently underground.
In the Resistance's sanctuary — hidden deep beneath the ancient roots of the forest — the air was thick with history and sweat, and every hallway hummed with quiet urgency. The walls whispered of old wars, of victories too small to be remembered and losses too heavy to forget. Rafael stood alone in the strategy chamber, a map spread before him like the skeleton of a dying world.
His eyes scanned it, tracing fault lines, supply routes, no-go zones. Cities that had vanished. Settlements that had become graveyards. The war had carved up the earth like a butcher's table.
Behind him, Kira entered silently. No salute. Just presence.
"We have a problem," she said without preamble.
"We have several," Rafael replied. "Which one are you bringing me now?"
Kira tapped the map. Her gloved finger landed on a mark in the southeast quadrant. A red circle that hadn't been there the day before.
"They moved a Null Division unit into Sector Twelve. Full strength."
Rafael frowned. "That zone was dead."
"It still is. That's the problem. There's nothing there... unless they're looking for something. Or someone."
He didn't speak. Didn't need to. The artifact beneath his coat began to throb — not with power, but with warning.
Kira noticed. "It's reacting. Again."
He nodded. "They know."
Later that night, Rafael found Liora in the archive vault — a room lit by dozens of flickering screens, some showing old news feeds, others displaying encrypted military codes from intercepts.
She sat cross-legged on the floor, a half-open book in her lap and a datapad in one hand.
"You look like someone who's about to ask me to do something stupid," she said without looking up.
"Would you do it?" he asked.
She smirked. "Depends on the flavor of stupid."
Rafael crouched beside her and showed her the map fragment from earlier.
"They sent a Null Division unit to a grave zone. No intel. No known survivors."
"Unless there's something buried there they don't want us to find."
"Or something alive," Rafael added.
That made her pause.
"You think it's connected to the artifact?"
"I think everything is. I think we're missing half the puzzle."
Liora looked at him carefully. "And you want to go into the dead zone."
"We leave at dawn. Quietly."
The next morning, they moved with stealth and speed. Just the two of them — no team, no backup. The fewer who knew, the safer the base remained.
Sector Twelve was a scar on the landscape.
No birds. No wind. Just silence.
As they crossed into it, the artifact began to glow inside Rafael's chest like a heartbeat returning after death.
Liora stopped, eyes narrowing. "Do you hear that?"
Rafael nodded. It was faint — a low hum, beneath the soil.
They followed it, deeper into the ruins of what had once been a settlement. Burned homes. Melted stone. Ash.
Eventually, they found the source: an underground vault sealed beneath a collapsed temple. The air around it shimmered faintly, like heatwaves, though the ground was cold.
Liora crouched by the seal. "It's humming. That's not just tech. That's magic. Ancient."
Rafael placed his hand against the stone. The artifact responded — pulsing violently now, like it was trying to escape his body.
He grimaced. "It wants in."
They worked in silence, clearing debris, unlocking the ancient mechanisms hidden beneath the seal.
As the vault opened with a hiss, cold mist spilled out.
Inside: silence. And then...
A child's voice.
"You brought it back."
They froze.
From the mist stepped a figure no older than twelve. White hair. Eyes that shimmered like molten glass. A symbol branded into her forehead.
Liora reached for her blade.
"What the hell is that?"
The child smiled. Not like a child. Not at all.
"He was always meant to return. You just didn't know why."
Rafael stepped forward, heart pounding.
"Who are you?"
She tilted her head.
"I am what was left behind when the world forgot itself. And you — Rafael Kashtanov — are the key to remembering."
The artifact flared.
The ground shook.
And high above, satellites turned to face them, as if something ancient and buried had just come back online.
The war had never ended.
It had just been waiting for its next chapter.
And Rafael had just opened the first page.