Kaelen knew he needed an advantage. While the guards were distracted by a steam-pipe maintenance, he slipped into the ventilation shafts—a skill he'd perfected years ago. He didn't go up; he went down, toward the metallic door he had seen in his visions.
The deeper he went, the more the air smelled of ozone and ancient oil. He reached the root of the mountain, where the stone gave way to smooth, seamless alloy.
The door was silent, but as Kaelen touched it, his Ascendant Trace—the remnant of his past life's soul—reacted. The door didn't open, but a small panel flickered to life.
BIOMETRIC SCAN INCOMPLETE, a voice whispered in a language Kaelen shouldn't have known, yet understood perfectly.
IDENTITY: ARCHIVE-KEEPER DETECTED. STATUS: DECEASED.
Kaelen's heart nearly stopped. He wasn't just a man reborn in a fantasy world. He was in the ruins of a high-tech civilization that had fallen so hard it had forgotten its own name.