The tunnels below Sector Eleven were alive with ghosts.
Every sound — every hiss of steam or groan of metal — felt like a whisper from the dead.
Aren Vale crouched beside his mother under a collapsed beam. Dust clung to their hair, and heat still rolled down from the ruptured reactor above. The air was thick with smoke and static — the kind that carried the faint taste of electricity.
He pressed his hand against the wall, trying to steady his breathing. His pulse throbbed through his fingertips, glowing faintly beneath the skin. The light wouldn't fade.
Mira Vale noticed it. Her voice trembled.
"Keep it down, Aren. Please. They're still scanning."
He nodded, clenching his fists until the glow dimmed. The flame obeyed — for a heartbeat. Then, the distant whir of machines filled the air again.
Seekers.
They floated down the tunnel in perfect formation — drones shaped like angels of steel, eyes pulsing blue. Their bodies emitted faint halos of static as they swept beams of light across the rubble. The sound of their wings was soft and deliberate, like machines built to imitate reverence.
> "Subject 001. Resonance detected. Initiating trace pattern."
The voice wasn't mechanical. It was calm, genderless — too human. It made Aren's stomach twist.
Mira grabbed his wrist, pulling him close. "Don't move. Don't even breathe."
He tried. But his skin burned. The light beneath it pulsed like a heartbeat struggling to be free. Every second it grew stronger — the fire wanted to breathe too.
A wave of heat rippled through the tunnel. The Seekers froze midair. Their blue eyes turned white.
> "Resonance spike confirmed. Target proximity: fifty meters."
Mira's fingers tightened on his arm. "Run."
Aren hesitated. His legs refused to move.
"Now!" she hissed.
They sprinted through the tunnels as plasma beams erupted behind them. Steam burst from ruptured pipes, turning the air into boiling mist. The Seekers glided through the smoke like shadows of light, their scanners cutting through debris.
Aren felt his flame flare again, uncontrolled. Golden light spilled from his fingertips, turning the walls molten. He grabbed his mother's hand — he wouldn't lose her too.
A blast tore through the corridor, shaking the ground. The ceiling groaned — then collapsed.
He threw himself over her as stone and steel rained down. Heat engulfed them. Then, silence.
When Aren opened his eyes, he was alone.
Smoke filled the air.
And somewhere beyond it, the Seekers were still calling his name.
> "Subject 001. Respond. You cannot hide from the Ascendancy."
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