The bunker smelled like burnt metal and fear.
Rheon stared at the glowing–eyed woman as she stepped fully inside, boots crunching on the ash that used to be the intruder. Elara hid behind Kael's shoulder, still trembling from the battle. Kael's body formed a shield in front of them without thinking.
The woman swept her gaze across the three of them—landing last on Elara, her expression tightening.
"You shouldn't be able to kill a Phase Three construct."
Her voice was flat with something like… awe. Or terror.
Rheon wiped ash from his cheek. "Yeah? We didn't exactly read the manual."
Kael shot him a warning look.
Elara tugged at Rheon's sleeve gently.
The woman continued, "Your sync shouldn't be this strong. Not this early."
Rheon crossed his arms. "And yet here we are. Congratulations to us."
A faint pulse rippled through the air.
The Spiral was listening.
Kael stepped forward. "Enough. You said we needed to stabilize. Explain why."
The woman exhaled sharply. "Because if you don't, the Spiral will tear your minds apart from the inside."
Elara flinched.
Rheon's chest tightened painfully. "Cool. Love that for us."
The woman tapped a device at her wrist.
A holographic map burst into the air—complex, layered, glitched like corrupted code. Rheon's eyes widened.
He recognized the architecture.
Not visually—conceptually.
The map looked like a broken program.
Elara stepped closer, mesmerized. "It looks like… sound patterns."
Kael frowned. "It looks like a battlefield."
All three were right.
Rheon's hacker brain lit up. "This isn't a map. It's an algorithm. A Spiral route."
Elara tilted her head, listening. "It's vibrating. Like a melody. A very broken melody."
Kael folded his arms. "Tell me how we use it."
The woman pointed at the glitching red mark pulsing on the far corner.
"That," she said, "is the next Spiral manifestation zone. Phase Four."
Rheon grimaced. "We haven't even recovered from Phase Three."
"You won't get the luxury of recovery," the woman replied. "The Spiral accelerates early when its nodes sync faster than predicted."
Kael looked back at the two beside him. "Meaning us."
Elara's voice came out small. "We didn't mean to."
"No one ever does," the woman murmured.
The tension sank thicker in the air.
Then Rheon frowned.
"Something's wrong with the hologram."
Kael blinked. "What do you mean?"
Rheon stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "That glitch—there. It's looping wrong. Someone tampered with this data."
The woman stiffened.
Elara touched the air, letting a soft hum leave her throat. The glitch flickered violently at her resonance.
"That's not a glitch," she whispered. "That's… interference. Like someone layered a second frequency over the map."
Kael's eyes sharpened. "Meaning?"
Rheon spoke first. "Meaning this map is fake."
The woman's face froze.
For the first time, her emotion leaked past her stoic façade—fear.
Rheon took a step back. "We've been sitting here waiting for Phase Four, but we're not in the safe house, are we?"
Elara's pulse hammered painfully in Rheon's chest.
Kael's tone dropped into lethal quiet. "If this isn't a safe location… where the hell are we?"
The woman closed her eyes. "I didn't lie. But… I also didn't tell the full truth."
Rheon growled. "That's the same thing!"
Kael tensed, muscles coiling. "Speak."
The woman looked directly at Elara.
"You three are in an extraction vault. Not shelter. Not haven.
A vault meant to hold Spiral anomalies."
Rheon's stomach dropped.
"You put us in a cage?!"
"It wasn't meant for you," the woman said quickly. "It was meant for a Phase Four construct. But the Spiral redirected the vault to your location."
Elara's knees weakened. Rheon caught her just in time, stabilizing her resonance before it spiraled out of control.
Kael's voice was a deep rumble. "So we're trapped."
"Yes."
Rheon held Elara protectively. "And this fake map—what's it for? Why deceive us?"
The woman hesitated.
Then she said the one sentence that froze all three Chaosborn.
"Because the Spiral is rewriting the map in real time.
Because it has chosen its next target."
Her gaze shifted to Elara.
"The Resonance."
Elara's breath broke.
Rheon's rage exploded through the link like fire.
Kael felt it.
Elara felt it.
The Spiral thrummed.
Kael stepped forward slowly, voice deadly. "You knew."
The woman swallowed hard. "I didn't know it would target her this soon."
Rheon snapped. "Too late!"
Elara clutched her temples. "Something's—wrong—"
The air vibrated.
The lantern shattered.
The walls trembled.
Kael rushed to Elara, grabbing her shoulders. "Stay with me."
Rheon grabbed her hands, anchoring her pulse. "Breathe. Come on—breathe."
The Spiral flared—
—white light exploding out of Elara's chest, rippling through the bunker like a shockwave.
The woman staggered back.
The stone cracked.
The metal walls bent outward like something was pushing them from the other side.
"What's happening to her?!" Rheon shouted.
The woman whispered:
"Phase Four isn't a monster.
It's not a construct.
It's not an enemy."
She stared at Elara, eyes wide.
"Phase Four is a call.
The Spiral is calling her home."
Elara's scream tore the air apart.