The next cycle came with the same hollow clang of the bell, though the air felt heavier. Rumors from the previous night had spread like cracks through the tunnels. Some said the breach had swallowed a whole team. Others whispered that the vines had begun to pulse again—faintly, like something alive was stirring in the dark.
Luke and Elias stood at the lift platform, helmets in hand. Reina was there too, arms crossed, her usual composure strained.
"Section Four's been sealed," she said. "You're being reassigned to Section Five for now."
Elias frowned. "Didn't they close that pit years ago?"
"They did," she replied. "But the Nova wants deeper readings. Something's moving below the old veins."
Luke exchanged a glance with Elias. "Moving?"
"Don't start," Reina said. "You'll dig, you'll haul, and you'll keep your mouths shut."
"Understood," Luke said, though his smirk made it sound anything but sincere.
Reina sighed. "You two are going to be the death of me."
---
The descent into Section Five was unlike the others. The air grew thicker, hotter, almost suffocating. The light from the vines dimmed until the walls were nothing but black glass veins streaked with faint blue lines, like blood running cold.
Their crew—eight miners and two guards—set up lanterns that barely pierced the dark. The sound of machinery echoed from somewhere deep in the shaft, rhythmic and distant.
Elias swung his pick into the rock. The vibration traveled up his arms, numbing. "Feels different down here."
Luke nodded. "Like the walls are listening."
"Stop being poetic and dig," Reina snapped, overseeing from a scaffold above. Her voice carried, sharp against the hollow silence. "The scanners say the vein bends right below this layer. Find the pocket."
Hours passed. Sweat and dust clung to everything. The air felt alive, humming faintly—not the mechanical hum of the Undercity's heart, but something older.
Then, Luke's pick struck something solid.
Clang.
He froze. The sound wasn't rock—it was metal. Ancient, buried deep.
"Elias," he said quietly.
Elias crouched beside him, brushing the dust aside with gloved hands. Beneath the layers of stone was a smooth surface—curved, faintly engraved. The markings pulsed with a dull blue light as if breathing.
"What is that?" Elias whispered.
"Don't touch it," Reina called from above, already climbing down. "Back up, both of you."
"But—"
"Now."
She knelt beside the object, running a scanner over it. The device flickered, hissed, then died. The glow from the markings grew brighter, responding to its presence. For a heartbeat, the chamber filled with soft light that reflected off the miners' helmets.
Everyone froze.
Then, as suddenly as it came, the glow dimmed and vanished.
Reina exhaled slowly. "Seal this area off. No one mentions what they saw."
"What was it?" Luke asked.
Her gaze flicked toward him. "Something we weren't meant to find."
He wanted to press, but the tone in her voice—fear mixed with reverence—made him stop.
---
By the end of the shift, the air in the shaft had changed. It felt colder now, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath. The workers left in silence. Reina ordered extra guards to stand watch over the sealed tunnel.
Elias broke the quiet first. "That thing... it felt alive."
"Yeah," Luke said. "And it felt like it knew me."
Elias glanced sideways. "You've got to stop saying creepy things."
Luke smirked, but his eyes lingered on the lift wall as they ascended. He could still see that faint blue glow behind his eyelids. A pulse. A whisper. A call.
---
That night, sleep didn't come easily. The hum of the city above sounded different now—off rhythm, dissonant. Luke turned over on his cot, staring at the dim light running through the pipes.
Somewhere deep below, something had awakened.
And though he couldn't explain it, he knew that it had recognized him.