"The Relics?"
David nodded slowly.
"That's what he said."
June turned toward the ancient city.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
The ruins hadn't changed.
The same towers disappeared into darkness.
The same broken bridges stretched between buildings.
The same faint violet fungi illuminated streets that had remained silent for an impossible length of time.
But David saw everything differently now.
This place wasn't simply old.
It was connected.
To the Relic.
To the vision.
To the Celestials David had seen fighting over artifacts powerful enough to tear space itself apart.
And somehow—
To I AM.
June broke the silence.
"Ask him who they were."
David looked toward him.
"Who?"
"The people who built this."
"He already told us."
"No. He told us they lost the Relics."
June pointed toward the city.
"I want to know who they were."
David couldn't argue with that.
He focused inward.
"Who built this city?"
For several seconds, there was no response.
June waited.
"Anything?"
David shook his head.
"No."
June looked upward.
"I know you can hear me."
David sighed.
"June."
"What?"
"That's not going to make him answer faster."
"How do you know?"
"Experience."
June looked into the darkness.
"Your mysterious ancient voice is already irritating me."
I AM:
The feeling is not mutual.
David stopped.
June immediately noticed.
"He said something."
David tried not to smile.
"What?"
"Nothing important."
"David."
David started walking.
June followed.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing."
"He absolutely said something."
David continued down the ancient road.
June moved beside him.
"Was it about me?"
"Maybe."
"Then I deserve to know."
"No."
"That's suspicious."
David smiled.
June stared at him.
"He likes me."
David laughed.
"I wouldn't go that far."
"I knew it."
They continued deeper into the city.
The brief humor faded as the road widened before them.
Buildings rose on either side.
The architecture here was different from the outer district.
Less damaged.
More elaborate.
Long vertical carvings covered the fronts of structures. Stone arches connected upper levels. Narrow channels of dark metal ran through the streets and disappeared beneath the buildings.
June kept glancing toward them.
David noticed.
"You're thinking about touching one."
"I'm thinking about examining one."
"Same thing."
"No, it isn't."
"With you it is."
June pointed toward the metal strip.
"Whatever carried power through this city lasted longer than most human civilizations."
"You don't know how old this is."
"Neither do you."
David looked ahead.
"Yet."
June grinned.
"See? Now you're getting it."
David ignored him.
They reached an intersection.
Four enormous roads branched away from one another.
At the center stood a monument.
Most of the structure had survived.
A circular stone base rose nearly fifteen feet above the road, supporting several towering figures.
David and June approached.
Their field lights traveled upward.
There were twelve.
Again.
Twelve figures stood in a circle.
Each faced outward.
Their appearances differed.
One held both hands before its body while carved flames surrounded its arms.
Another stood beneath swirling lines that resembled storms.
A third had waves carved around its feet.
Another appeared surrounded by stars.
One figure stood with an arm extended, thin channels carved from its palm and running toward several smaller figures beneath it.
David stopped.
June's light moved slowly across them.
"Twelve again."
David nodded.
"Yeah."
June approached the monument.
"That's not coincidence anymore."
"No."
David stared at the figures.
Something about them felt familiar.
Not their faces.
Not the clothing.
The imagery surrounding them.
Fire.
Storms.
Water.
Stars.
Shadow.
Blood.
David's eyes stopped on one figure.
Long robes flowed around a tall feminine form.
Both hands were extended.
Lines covered the stone around her.
Thin.
Branching.
Almost like veins.
June followed David's gaze.
"That one bother you?"
"I don't know."
"You're staring."
David moved his light.
The figure beside her stood surrounded by carved darkness.
Another with its face missing held what appeared to be a sphere of compressed stars.
June stepped backward to see the entire monument.
"Different powers."
David looked toward him.
"What?"
"The carvings."
June pointed.
"Look."
He moved his light between the figures.
"That one's obviously fire."
The beam shifted.
"Storm."
Again.
"Water."
Another.
"Whatever that is."
"Stars," David said.
June looked at him.
David realized he'd answered too quickly.
June smiled.
"Was that you or him?"
David sighed.
"I AM?"
No response.
June laughed.
"You don't know."
David stared at the star-covered figure.
Then I AM spoke.
I AM:
Elo'har.
David froze.
The name meant nothing to him.
"What?"
I AM:
Elo'har.
David looked toward the statue.
June waited.
"What did he say?"
"A name."
"Whose?"
David indicated the figure surrounded by stars.
"Elo'har."
June repeated it quietly.
"Elo'har."
He looked at the statue.
"Who was Elo'har?"
David asked.
No response.
June waited.
Nothing.
"Come on."
David looked at him.
"What?"
"Ask again."
"I did."
"He's ignoring you?"
"Apparently."
June looked toward the statue.
"You're very dramatic, I AM."
Silence.
June nodded.
"See? Dramatic."
David shook his head.
His attention moved toward another figure.
The one surrounded by shadow.
"I AM."
No answer.
"Who are they?"
The city remained silent.
Then—
I AM:
They were Celestials.
David stopped breathing for a moment.
June saw the reaction.
"What?"
David slowly looked toward him.
"Celestials."
June's expression changed.
"What about them?"
David looked toward the monument.
"They were Celestials."
June followed his gaze.
All twelve figures.
His humor vanished.
"These?"
"Yeah."
June stared.
"You're sure?"
"That's what he said."
June stepped closer to the monument.
His field light moved over the carved figures again.
The images suddenly carried a different weight.
"Why would Celestials have a city here?"
David already knew the question he needed to ask.
"Why were they here?"
I AM:
They had nowhere else to go.
David frowned.
"Why?"
Silence.
June waited.
"What did he say?"
"They had nowhere else to go."
June looked around.
"So they were stranded?"
David asked.
"Were they stranded?"
I AM:
No.
A pause.
I AM:
They were cast out.
David felt a chill.
June watched his face.
"What?"
David turned toward him.
"They were cast out."
"By who?"
David asked.
No answer.
June folded his arms.
"He's doing that thing again."
"Yeah."
"What thing?"
"Not answering the question that actually matters."
June looked toward the empty city.
"Starting to understand your frustration."
David approached the monument.
At its base were rows of symbols.
The same ancient language.
This time David didn't pretend he could read it.
"What does this say?"
I AM:
Their names.
David looked up at the twelve figures.
"All of them?"
I AM:
Yes.
"Will you translate them?"
Silence.
David waited.
"No?"
Nothing.
June watched him.
"He's refusing?"
"Looks like it."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
June pointed at the statue.
"Ask."
David gave him a look.
"I did."
"No, ask why he won't tell us."
David sighed.
"Why won't you tell me their names?"
For several seconds, I AM remained silent.
Then—
I AM:
Because names possess weight.
David frowned.
"That's not an answer."
I AM:
It is the only answer you require.
June watched David's expression.
"I know that look."
"What look?"
"The one where he said something useless."
David looked at him.
"He said names possess weight."
June considered it.
"That's actually kind of good."
"You're supposed to be on my side."
"I am."
June looked toward the twelve statues.
"Doesn't mean he's wrong."
David stared at him.
June smiled.
"Come on."
They left the monument behind.
The road continued east.
As they walked, David kept thinking about what I AM had revealed.
Celestials.
Cast out.
Relics.
A city.
The pieces were beginning to connect.
But there were still enormous gaps.
The vision.
David remembered it clearly.
Celestials turning against Celestials.
The Relics being taken.
He stopped.
June continued several steps before noticing.
"What?"
David looked toward the monument behind them.
"The vision."
"What about it?"
"The Celestials I saw."
June waited.
David's thoughts accelerated.
"They stole the Relics."
June nodded.
"You told me."
"And I AM said the people who built this city lost the Relics."
June's expression changed.
"You're thinking they're the same people."
David focused inward.
"Are they?"
Silence.
"I AM."
Nothing.
June looked around.
"Maybe that's a yes."
"Or he doesn't want to answer."
"Which usually means yes."
David glanced toward him.
"Since when are you an expert?"
"I've known him almost an hour."
David continued walking.
June followed.
"Practically family now."
I AM:
No.
David laughed before he could stop himself.
June's eyes widened.
"He answered me."
David nodded.
"What did he say?"
"No."
June grinned.
"I knew he liked me."
David shook his head.
They continued.
The road eventually entered another enormous plaza.
This one differed from the previous.
Instead of statues, the ground itself had been carved.
An immense circular map covered nearly the entire plaza.
David and June stopped at its edge.
June stared.
"What is that?"
David raised his light.
Lines connected hundreds of circles.
Some large.
Some tiny.
Several were grouped together.
Symbols appeared beside many of them.
June walked onto the map.
"Stars?"
David followed.
"Could be."
June pointed toward several circles connected by lines.
"Routes."
"Maybe."
"No."
June crouched.
"Look."
He traced one line without touching the stone.
"It branches."
Another line connected three distant circles.
"This looks like navigation."
David studied it.
June had grown up on a repair station servicing ships traveling one of the busiest trade routes in his region.
He'd seen star charts.
Navigation maps.
Trade routes.
"This is a star map," June said.
I AM:
Yes.
David looked toward him.
June caught it.
"He agrees?"
"Yeah."
June smiled.
"Finally."
He stood and slowly turned.
The scale of the map became apparent.
It represented far more than one star system.
Possibly hundreds.
June's light stopped on several symbols.
"These are different."
David approached.
Small objects had been carved beside certain worlds.
The shape was simple.
A central sphere surrounded by angular lines.
David's chest tightened.
He'd seen something similar before.
The Relic.
Not identical.
But close.
June noticed.
"David?"
David crouched.
"I think these mark Relics."
June's expression changed.
"You think?"
David waited.
I AM:
They do.
David nodded.
"They do."
June crouched beside him.
"How many?"
They began counting.
One.
Two.
Three.
The symbols appeared across different sections of the map.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Some worlds had been marked more heavily than others.
Several symbols had lines carved through them.
June pointed.
"What do those mean?"
David asked.
I AM didn't answer.
"Of course."
June smiled faintly.
They continued examining the map.
Then June noticed something.
"Wait."
He moved toward one section.
David followed.
One Relic symbol had been surrounded by several concentric circles.
Lines from multiple parts of the map converged on it.
June crouched.
"This one was important."
David looked at the symbol.
"Or they thought it was."
"Ask him."
David did.
"What does this mark mean?"
Silence.
David waited.
Then—
I AM:
A search.
David frowned.
"For a Relic?"
I AM:
Yes.
"Did they find it?"
No response.
June looked toward him.
"Well?"
"He said it marks a search."
June's eyes moved across the map.
Then his expression changed.
"David."
"What?"
"This isn't just one search."
June stood.
He pointed toward another section.
More converging lines.
Then another.
And another.
David slowly rose.
Across the enormous star map were dozens of routes.
Expeditions.
Patterns.
Searches.
All spreading outward from a single location.
David followed several backward.
Every route originated from the same symbol.
The city.
June realized it too.
"This was their base."
David stared at the map.
I AM:
One of them.
David's attention snapped inward.
"One?"
I AM:
Yes.
"How many were there?"
Silence.
David almost sighed.
June watched him.
"What?"
"He said this was one of them."
"One of the cities?"
"Or bases."
June looked around.
"Meaning there are more."
"Somewhere."
The thought was unsettling.
This enormous forgotten city wasn't unique.
There had been others.
Maybe on other worlds.
Maybe buried.
Maybe destroyed.
Maybe still standing.
June looked toward the star map.
"They really were looking for them."
David nodded.
"The Relics."
June walked toward the center of the map.
"How long?"
David asked.
"How long did they search?"
I AM:
Long enough for purpose to become obsession.
David stood still.
June turned.
"What did he say?"
David repeated it.
June's expression darkened.
"That doesn't sound good."
"No."
David looked toward the twelve statues far behind them.
The Celestials had stolen the Relics.
Something had happened.
They lost them.
They were cast out.
Then they built cities across worlds and searched for the artifacts they'd lost.
But something was missing.
"What happened to them?"
I AM did not answer.
David continued.
"Where did they go?"
Nothing.
"Why is the city empty?"
Silence.
June stood beside him.
"No answer?"
"No."
"Maybe he doesn't know."
David looked at him.
"He knows."
"You sure?"
David stared toward the dark streets.
"Yeah."
He didn't know how.
He simply knew.
I AM remembered this place.
The moment they'd first encountered the ruins, his reaction had been different.
A memory that should have remained buried.
This wasn't ancient history to him.
It was memory.
David looked down at the map.
"Why did you tell me not to come here?"
No answer.
"I AM."
Silence.
"What's in this city?"
Nothing.
June watched him.
David's frustration grew.
"You knew the doors."
Nothing.
"You knew the language."
Still nothing.
"You know these people."
The ancient presence remained silent.
David's voice hardened.
"What aren't you telling me?"
For several seconds, nothing changed.
Then—
I AM:
Much.
David stared.
June waited.
"What?"
David almost laughed.
"He said much."
June blinked.
"At least he's honest."
David shook his head.
They continued across the map.
On the far side, another road descended deeper into the city.
The structures changed again.
Tall buildings gave way to lower, wider complexes.
Several were built directly into the cavern walls.
One enormous structure dominated the district ahead.
Its front consisted of hundreds of columns.
Most remained standing.
A broad staircase rose toward an entrance large enough for several transports to pass through side by side.
June stopped.
"That looks important."
David looked at him.
"You say that about everything."
"Because everything down here looks important."
Fair.
They approached.
The metal lines beneath the road multiplied.
Several converged toward the structure.
June noticed immediately.
"Power."
David nodded.
"Looks like it."
They climbed the stairs.
Halfway up, David tried his communicator.
"Gamma One to Gamma."
Static.
Nothing.
June tried.
"Gamma Six to Gamma."
Silence.
June lowered it.
"They're going to be losing their minds up there."
David thought of Castiel.
The last clear thing he'd heard.
D, where the hell are you?
"We'll find a way back."
June looked at him.
"You sound sure."
"We have to."
June nodded.
"Good enough."
They reached the entrance.
Unlike most of the buildings they'd encountered, enormous stone doors still occupied this one.
But these were already partially open.
A gap nearly ten feet wide separated them.
David raised his field light.
Darkness waited inside.
June activated his Kinetic Baton.
Blue energy crackled along its length.
David extended his claws.
They entered.
The chamber beyond was enormous.
Their lights moved across rows of structures.
Not platforms.
Not statues.
Machines.
At least David assumed they were machines.
Tall frames of dark metal rose from the floor.
Stone and metal had been integrated together in ways unlike anything he'd seen.
Some structures resembled enormous rings.
Others consisted of columns connected by thick conduits.
June forgot caution almost immediately.
"Oh..."
David looked at him.
June stepped toward the nearest machine.
"No touching."
"I know."
"You say that now."
June ignored him.
His field light moved across the machinery.
"This isn't decoration."
"No."
"This is engineering."
David smiled faintly.
"You sound excited."
"I grew up in a repair station."
June approached a thick conduit.
"Do you have any idea what I'd give to know how this works?"
"Probably something stupid."
"Absolutely."
David moved farther into the chamber.
Symbols covered several machines.
The same ancient writing.
I AM remained silent.
June crouched beside one structure.
"There's no corrosion."
David looked toward him.
"You said that about the lines outside."
"Because it's weird."
June tapped his light against the metal without touching it.
"This should be gone."
"Maybe it's not metal."
June looked delighted.
"Even better."
David shook his head.
They moved deeper into the chamber.
June's field light traveled from one ancient machine to another.
The farther they went, the more complex the machinery became.
Massive rings rose from the floor, some large enough for a transport to pass through. Dark conduits disappeared beneath the stone while others climbed the walls and vanished into the ceiling high above them.
Yet nothing moved.
Nothing hummed.
Nothing showed even the faintest sign of life.
Whatever purpose this place had once served had ended long ago.
June slowed beside another towering structure.
"You know what's bothering me?"
David glanced at him.
"Only one thing?"
June ignored that.
"There's no debris."
David looked around.
June was right.
There were damaged machines. Cracked stone. Sections of the ceiling that had fallen over the ages.
But there was nothing else.
No abandoned equipment.
No personal belongings.
No remains.
Nothing that suggested the inhabitants had died where they stood.
June swept his light across the silent chamber.
"It's almost like they left."
David studied the darkness ahead.
"Maybe they did."
"Then where did they go?"
David didn't answer.
He focused inward.
"I AM?"
Silence.
David waited.
"Did they abandon the city?"
Still nothing.
June watched him.
"No answer?"
David shook his head.
"No."
June looked back across the enormous chamber.
"Of course not."
David stared into the darkness.
The absence of an answer bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
Whatever had happened here, I AM knew more than he was willing to reveal.
For now.
They continued through the chamber.
Eventually, they reached the rear wall.
A circular doorway opened into another corridor.
Beyond it, faint violet light glowed.
David stepped through.
June followed.
The corridor was narrower.
Symbols covered both walls.
Unlike the city outside, these carvings appeared almost untouched.
David slowed.
His field light moved across them.
These weren't simply lines of writing.
They were images.
Hundreds of them.
The carvings stretched along both sides of the corridor, arranged in long sequences that seemed to tell a story.
June stopped beside him.
"Well..."
David looked over.
"What?"
June raised his light.
"I think we found the history section."
David almost smiled.
They moved closer to the left wall.
The first carving depicted twelve figures.
David immediately recognized them.
"The statues."
June nodded.
"Same twelve."
They stood together in the carving, surrounded by other figures.
Above them were enormous shapes David couldn't identify.
Stars.
Worlds.
Perhaps something else entirely.
June moved his light farther along.
The next image showed the twelve gathered around several objects.
Relics.
David's expression changed.
He stepped closer.
The carvings weren't detailed enough to show exactly what each Relic looked like, but he recognized the imagery.
He had seen this before.
Not here.
In the vision.
June looked toward him.
"These are the Relics, aren't they?"
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
David nodded.
"I've seen this."
June's expression changed.
"In the vision?"
"Yeah."
David raised his light.
His heartbeat quickened.
The next section showed the twelve figures holding the Relics.
Then—
Conflict.
Other figures appeared.
Celestials.
Hundreds of them.
Lines radiated between the two groups.
Weapons.
Energy.
Something enormous was happening.
David stepped closer.
"This is it."
June looked at him.
"The fight you saw?"
"Part of it."
The next carving showed one figure standing before the others.
Unlike the twelve, this one stood alone.
Its arms were extended.
A massive wave had been carved outward from its body.
The wave struck the twelve.
David's light stopped.
June stared.
"What happened?"
David shook his head.
"My vision didn't show all of this."
The next image answered part of the question.
The Relics were no longer in the hands of the twelve.
They were flying outward.
Scattered in every direction.
Stars surrounded them.
Worlds.
Distances impossible to measure.
June stepped closer.
"The blast knocked them away."
David nodded slowly.
"It looks like it."
The next carving showed the twelve reaching after them.
Then—
Nothing.
A section of the wall had been deliberately removed.
Not broken.
Removed.
David ran his light over the smooth stone.
June noticed it too.
"That's not damage."
"No."
The missing section was nearly twenty feet long.
Someone had erased part of the story.
June moved closer.
"Why?"
David focused inward.
"I AM?"
Silence.
David waited.
"What was here?"
No answer.
June folded his arms.
"He's doing it again."
"Yeah."
"Ask him who removed it."
David glanced toward him.
"You ask a lot of questions for someone who can't hear the answers."
"That's why I have you."
David shook his head.
"Who removed this?"
I AM remained silent.
June watched him.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
They continued.
The carvings resumed beyond the missing section.
Ships appeared.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
They departed from a world David didn't recognize.
The twelve figures appeared again.
But something had changed.
Their shapes were darker.
Their features sharper.
David couldn't explain why.
It was only stone.
Only carvings.
Yet whoever had created them had deliberately changed the way the twelve were depicted.
June noticed too.
"They look different."
David nodded.
"They do."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
David almost asked I AM.
Then stopped.
Something told him he wouldn't receive an answer.
The carvings continued.
A city appeared.
David and June both stopped.
The enormous gateway.
The towers.
The bridges.
The central roads.
Even carved into stone, it was unmistakable.
June pointed.
"That's here."
"Yeah."
They moved closer.
The next images showed ships descending.
The twelve entered the city.
Others followed.
Buildings rose.
Roads expanded.
More ships arrived.
The city grew.
June stared at the wall.
"So they built this after they lost the Relics."
David nodded.
"Looks like it."
June's light moved farther along.
Then he stopped.
"There's the search."
The carvings showed ships leaving again.
Different directions.
Different worlds.
Some returned.
Others didn't.
Symbols representing the Relics appeared over distant planets.
David thought about the enormous star map they'd found.
The routes.
The marked worlds.
The expeditions.
It all connected.
"This was one of their bases," David said.
June nodded.
"One of the first?"
David focused inward.
"Was it?"
For a few seconds, I AM remained silent.
Then—
I AM:
Yes.
David's expression changed.
June noticed immediately.
"He answered."
"Yeah."
"What did he say?"
David looked around the corridor.
"This was one of the first."
June slowly turned toward the walls.
"One of the first cities they built after they were cast out."
David nodded.
June looked toward the carvings of the ships.
"All because they wanted the Relics back."
David waited.
I AM:
At first.
David froze.
June saw it.
"What?"
David looked toward him.
"He said, 'At first.'"
June frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know."
"Ask him."
David did.
"What changed?"
Silence.
June sighed.
"Of course."
They continued walking.
The corridor curved gently downward.
The carvings followed.
Expeditions.
Worlds.
Searches.
Failures.
Again and again.
The farther David and June walked, the more obvious the pattern became.
The city had existed for an incredibly long time.
The search had continued through generations of whatever civilization had grown around the exiled Celestials.
June's field light stopped on one image.
"Look."
A group had returned to the city.
They carried something.
Not a Relic.
Smaller.
Several objects.
Fragments, perhaps.
The next carving showed the twelve examining them.
Then another section had been erased.
June stared at the smooth stone.
"Again."
David moved his light across it.
This missing section was larger than the first.
Someone hadn't wanted parts of this history remembered.
"Why erase your own history?" June asked.
David looked at the blank stone.
"Maybe they didn't."
June glanced at him.
"You think someone else did it?"
"Maybe."
"Who?"
David looked ahead.
"I don't know."
They kept moving.
Eventually, the carved images became less orderly.
The search continued.
But other images began appearing.
Cities.
Armies.
Creatures David didn't recognize.
Wars.
Worlds surrounded by dark shapes.
June's pace slowed.
"Whatever happened after they came here..."
David finished quietly.
"It got worse."
The final carving showed the twelve figures standing apart.
No longer together.
Each stood above a different group.
Different worlds.
Different armies.
Then the story ended.
Not with destruction.
Not with death.
Simply—
Ended.
The remaining wall was blank.
June stared at it.
"That's it?"
David raised his light.
Nothing followed.
"No more carvings."
June turned back toward the history behind them.
"So they steal the Relics."
David listened.
"Someone hits them with that energy wave."
"The Relics scatter."
"They get cast out."
"They build this place."
"And others."
June nodded.
"Then spend..."
He looked at the endless carved history.
"...however long that was searching for them."
David looked toward the blank wall.
"And eventually they separate."
June's expression became thoughtful.
"Into what?"
David didn't answer.
Because he had the feeling that question was one I AM definitely wouldn't answer.
Not yet.
June looked around.
"You realize how insane this is, right?"
"Which part?"
"Pick one."
David smiled faintly.
June pointed behind them.
"Humanity doesn't know any of this."
"We don't know that."
"I've never seen it in a history lesson."
"That doesn't mean someone doesn't know."
"The Families?"
"Maybe."
June considered it.
"The military?"
"Maybe."
"Celestials?"
David looked at him.
June immediately corrected himself.
"Okay. Obviously the Celestials know."
David wasn't so sure.
At least not all of them.
But he kept that thought to himself.
They reached the end of the corridor.
A circular doorway opened into a wide chamber.
David stopped before entering.
June raised his baton.
"You hear anything?"
"No."
"Me neither."
They stepped through.
The room beyond was unlike anything they'd seen so far.
It was circular.
Perfectly circular.
The walls curved upward into a domed ceiling.
No machinery occupied the chamber.
No statues.
No carvings.
Only a single structure stood in the center.
A basin.
David approached cautiously.
It was enormous.
Nearly forty feet across.
Three concentric stone rings surrounded it.
Symbols had been carved around each ring.
June moved toward the opposite side.
"Any idea what this is?"
"No."
June looked toward David.
David knew exactly what he was waiting for.
"I AM?"
Nothing.
June nodded.
"Starting to hate when he does that."
David stepped closer to the basin.
It was empty.
At least at first glance.
The bottom consisted of smooth black stone.
No water.
No machinery.
Nothing.
June directed his light downward.
"There's something carved in the bottom."
David moved beside him.
A symbol.
Large.
Circular.
Different from anything they'd seen before.
David leaned closer.
Then stopped.
A faint glow appeared beneath the stone.
Purple.
David straightened.
June saw it too.
"That wasn't there before."
"No."
The glow faded.
Both remained still.
Several seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
June looked toward David.
"Maybe our lights triggered it."
"Maybe."
Neither believed that.
David moved around the basin.
The purple glow appeared again.
This time somewhere else.
Then vanished.
June tightened his grip around the baton.
"David."
"I see it."
A thin strand rose from the center of the basin.
Mist.
Purple.
Barely visible.
It curled upward several inches before disappearing.
David's Claw Gauntlets extended with a metallic snap.
June activated the blade extension on his baton.
Blue energy formed along its edge.
The contrast between the blue blade and purple glow filled the chamber.
Another strand appeared.
Then another.
They drifted lazily above the basin.
June stepped backward.
"Any brilliant ancient advice?"
David focused inward.
"I AM?"
Nothing.
David's unease deepened.
"I AM."
Still nothing.
June looked toward him.
"He's not answering."
"No."
"That's becoming a problem."
David agreed.
The purple strands continued moving.
Not spreading.
Not approaching.
Simply drifting.
June slowly circled the basin.
David watched him.
"Don't get closer."
"I'm not."
"You are literally getting closer."
"I'm moving sideways."
"June."
"Fine."
June stepped back.
The mist reacted.
Both of them saw it.
The strands stopped.
Then turned.
Toward June.
He froze.
"Okay."
David moved beside him.
The strands remained pointed toward them.
June slowly raised his baton.
"I don't think it likes me."
David watched the mist.
"I don't think that's what it's doing."
"What do you think it's doing?"
David didn't answer.
Because the feeling was back.
The same one he'd experienced earlier.
Awareness.
The mist wasn't moving randomly.
It was watching them.
Studying them.
David stepped backward.
The strands followed.
June saw it.
"That's not creepy at all."
"Back up."
They moved together.
The mist rose slightly higher.
Another strand emerged.
Then another.
Five.
Ten.
Dozens.
Purple vapor slowly filled the space above the basin.
David's pulse quickened.
"Keep moving."
They reached the doorway.
The mist didn't follow.
It remained above the basin.
June released a breath.
"Maybe it can't leave."
David wasn't willing to test that theory.
Then—
The purple mist suddenly dropped.
Not downward.
Into the basin.
Every strand vanished at once.
The purple glow disappeared.
Darkness returned.
June stared.
"Where'd it go?"
David didn't know.
Then something whispered behind him.
He spun.
Nothing.
June turned too.
"You heard that?"
"Yeah."
The sound came again.
Soft.
Distant.
Impossible to understand.
Not one voice.
Many.
Hundreds.
Whispering over one another.
June's humor disappeared.
"David..."
The basin flashed purple.
Mist erupted upward.
Not slowly this time.
It poured from the black stone.
David stepped back.
"I AM!"
The ancient presence finally answered.
And for the first time since entering the city, there was urgency in his voice.
I AM:
Do not let it touch you.
David's eyes widened.
"Run!"
June didn't ask why.
They turned.
Behind them, the purple mist spilled over the edge of the basin.
And chased them.