The air beneath Velith had changed.
It didn't hum anymore. It breathed.
Pipes that once groaned from steam now hissed like lungs.
Gears creaked, not from friction, but from hesitation.
And through the silence, a faint, rhythmic vibration spread — slow, deep, uneven.
The city's heartbeat had begun to stutter.
---
The Descent
The Ninefold moved deeper through the spiral tunnels beneath the Chronoloom.
The walls shimmered faintly with relic runes that flickered on and off, like an uncertain pulse.
> "The power grid's losing sync," the silver-haired woman said, wiping sweat from her temple. "Whatever we're close to, it's… awake."
The glyph-covered man pressed his palm against the wall. His tattoos dimmed, then flared again.
> "No. It's not awake," he murmured. "It's listening."
Mael stopped walking.
The faint ticking of his relic dial slowed, matching the rhythm of the vibrations around them.
He smiled slightly.
> "Good. Let it listen."
---
The First Distortion
The twins reached the first control node — a narrow chamber filled with rotating relic spindles.
They synchronized instantly, weaving their movements through the spinning patterns.
But then, one of the spindles reversed direction.
The sudden change knocked one twin off-balance. His partner caught him by the arm, pulling him back before the machine sliced through the air.
> "It's adapting," one of them hissed.
"No, it's improvising," the other whispered.
They looked up.
The walls shimmered with lines of blue light that twisted in random shapes — like a heartbeat trying to form words.
---
The Upper Levels
Aboveground, the Guild's monitoring center exploded in chaos.
Screens flickered with impossible readings.
Sensors claimed time in some districts was repeating seconds.
In others, skipping them entirely.
> "We've lost sync across four sectors!"
"The city's internal pulse is corrupting itself!"
"Get the Guild Seekers ready!"
Velith, the City of Gears, was no longer precise.
It was improvising.
---
The Vault's Threshold
The Ninefold regrouped at the final corridor — the gate to the Aethern Vault.
It was nothing like the rest of Velith.
The walls were smooth and pale, etched with faint, spiraling veins of blue.
There were no visible mechanisms — just quiet, shifting light.
The boy stepped closer, awed.
> "It's… breathing."
> "No," Mael said softly. "It's remembering."
He reached out a hand and pressed his palm to the surface.
The light reacted instantly — a shockwave of rhythm rolling down the corridor, vibrating through the floor.
The Ninefold staggered as sound warped — a low tone rising from beneath them, then splitting into dozens of smaller beats, like the start of a song.
Mael didn't flinch.
His eyes glowed faintly amber in the dim light.
> "There it is," he murmured. "The Pulse."
---
Elsewhere — The Guild Responds
Guild Seekers in armored relic suits dropped into the lower tunnels.
Their commander's voice boomed through the comms:
> "Engage on sight. No survivors. The Kernel is Guild property."
The first team entered the spiral tunnels.
The light was wrong.
Every step echoed twice.
> "Captain?" one whispered. "Do you hear that?"
A sound answered — a deep, thrumming vibration, as if the walls themselves were humming.
Then the tunnel lights went out.
---
Back in the Vault
The surface of the wall rippled outward, transforming into a circular opening.
A faint wind rushed through — cold, mechanical, but almost… emotional.
The Ninefold stared into the darkness beyond.
> "Inside," Mael said calmly.
The silver-haired woman hesitated.
> "We don't even know what's in there."
> "Exactly," Mael said, smiling faintly. "That's why it's worth the trouble."
He stepped forward first, disappearing into the blue glow.
One by one, the others followed.
As the last of them entered, the opening sealed shut — and the rhythm of the world changed again.
---
Aboveground
The festival music started playing backward.
People screamed as the relic lanterns spun in reverse, casting shadows that didn't match their owners.
The entire city paused — a single, collective inhale.
Then came the sound.
A pulse.
Deep. Measured. Alive.
The Aethern Pulse had begun.
---
End of Chapter 24 – The Aethern Pulse
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