This is part of an original serialized fiction project written and edited by the author. All story elements and characters are fictional.

It's 100% original.

Teodora led them directly to the basement, the worn blueprint gripped in her hands. They moved carefully, comparing every corridor and corner to the map they’d found in the notebook.

“If this drawing’s accurate,” Teodora said, her hand running along a cold stretch of concrete, “then the entrance should be…” She stopped at the deepest wall in the basement, pressing her palm against a smooth, blank surface. “Here.”

Lucía studied the wall, which looked solid—impenetrable. No seams. No cracks.

“And how do we open it?”

Teodora pulled out her flashlight and began scanning for any markings or signs of tampering. Minutes passed in silence until Leo spotted something subtle—almost invisible.

“Here!” he called, pointing to a small, spiral-shaped relief carved into the wall’s corner.

Teodora rushed over, her breath catching.

“It’s the same symbol from the map. There must be a mechanism.”

As she examined it, Lucía noticed something else—faint lines surrounding the relief, like tiny channels or circuitry.

“Wait... what if it needs power to work?” she asked, brushing her fingers lightly along the grooves.

Leo's expression shifted as he recalled the energy used in the Echo Chamber.

“Like the charge we triggered before?”

Teodora nodded slowly, piecing it together. “It might operate on the same principle.”

“So, what, we all touch it?” Lucía asked, her voice uncertain.

“It’s worth a try.”

The three of them placed their hands on the spiral. For a moment, nothing happened—just cold stone under their fingers. But then, the relief began to glow with a soft, pulsing light, and a faint hum rose from the wall.

“It’s working…” Leo whispered.

The stone wall began to shift, sliding back with a deep, resonant groan. A dark passageway revealed itself, leading even deeper underground.

A wave of humid, heavy air rolled out toward them. It smelled ancient. The kind of air that hadn’t moved in decades—maybe longer.

The walls inside the passage were lined with elaborate inscriptions, more intricate than those in the Echo Chamber. Some glowed faintly in the flashlight beams; others seemed to twist and ripple with each step, creating illusions that danced at the edge of vision.

“Was this always here?” Lucía asked, barely believing what she saw.

“Since the building’s construction,” Teodora replied, her voice almost reverent. “But even my father never spoke of it.”

Leo’s heart pounded as he studied the symbols.

“If this place holds what the artifact couldn’t... just how dangerous is it?”

Teodora didn’t answer immediately. Her expression was grim, thoughtful.

“We might not be ready for what’s down here.”

Lucía turned to her brother, anxious. “Then why are we still going?”

Teodora stopped and looked back at them, her eyes steady.

“Because if we don’t, someone else will.”

They kept moving, deeper into the dark. The weight of the unknown pressed closer with every step, but so did their resolve.

The air thickened as they descended. Their flashlights struggled to penetrate the dense shadows, barely illuminating the shifting inscriptions along the walls—symbols that seemed to shimmer with movement, even when the light was still.

“This place doesn’t feel like the others,” Lucía murmured, her voice small.

Teodora nodded. “It’s not. The other rooms were designed to channel the artifact’s power—this one was meant to contain what even the artifact couldn’t hold.”

Leo ran his hand along the wall, frowning. “Why would they bury something so dangerous down here?”

“Because they had nowhere else to hide it,” Teodora answered. “This building wasn’t just built around the artifact—it was meant to store truths too dangerous for the outside world.”

Lucía stopped in her tracks, staring at her.

“You mean... secrets no one was meant to know?”

Teodora nodded. “Exactly. This isn’t a vault. It’s an archive. But not the kind people were meant to access.”

The passage ended suddenly, opening into a vast, circular chamber.

Unlike the Echo Chamber, this room was completely dark. At its center hovered a raised platform, suspended above a black void that swallowed the flashlight beams. In the middle of the platform stood a smaller pedestal—its base etched with the spiral symbol.

“What is this?” Leo asked, stepping forward cautiously.

Teodora followed, awe in her eyes.

“I think this is the heart of the system,” she whispered. “This is where the most dangerous secrets were sealed away.”

Lucía swept her light over the platform and noticed thin grooves cut into its surface—shapes that looked like they were meant to hold something.

“It looks like... something should fit here.”