Night had fallen hard across the wasteland.
The wind howled softly through the crumbling ruins where the four exiles had taken shelter, carrying the scent of dust and rusted metal.
Inside what remained of a building's shell, a small fire crackled weakly — its glow painting flickering shapes on the fractured walls.
Luke sat close to the flames, his knees drawn up, eyes lost in the dance of the firelight. Across from him, Elias poked at the sand with a stick, his voice low and thoughtful.
"I keep thinking," Elias said after a while, "how different things could've been if they'd just told us the truth earlier."
Luke glanced at him. "About the Tessarect?"
"Yeah." Elias let out a tired laugh. "All that time mining for those dead vines… thinking we were fueling the Nova's light. Turns out we were just digging blind. They had us chasing shadows when the real thing was right above our heads — or below our feet."
Luke smiled faintly. "Would you have believed it, though? Back then?"
Elias thought for a moment. "Maybe not. But I like to think I would've tried. I mean, look at us now. We're out here — alive. On the surface. Hunting for something that could change everything."
Luke leaned back on his hands, the firelight catching the faint glint of his tired eyes. "You sound almost happy about it."
Elias chuckled, a low, rough sound. "Maybe I am. I can't help it. The idea that we might actually find the Tessarect? That we could take it back and show them that vermin can do more than dig holes?"
He looked at Luke, smiling like the boy he once was. "That's the kind of story I want them to tell in the Mid City someday."
Luke grinned. "They'll probably still call us idiots."
"They already do," Elias said. "But at least we'll be legendary idiots."
Reina sat off to the side, crouched near the fire. She said nothing, just listened quietly as she adjusted the flames with a stick. The orange glow caught the sharp angles of her face, softening them for once.
She sighed. "You two should get some rest. We've walked all day, and tomorrow we'll need our strength."
"Sleep?" Silo's voice echoed from deeper within the ruin. "Who can sleep when we're surrounded by death traps and ghosts?"
Reina rolled her eyes. "Silo, if you're trying to scare yourself, you're doing a great job."
"I'm not scared," he said, his voice distant. "Just… curious."
Elias raised an eyebrow. "Curious about what?"
Silo's shadow moved in the dim torchlight as he tugged at something half-buried in the sand. "These vines. They're everywhere. Thought they were just dead roots at first, but look—"
He pulled on a thick, brittle strand that disappeared into a cracked floor. It gave a faint metallic creak, like something resisting from below.
"See that? It's stuck on something."
"Maybe don't pull it," Reina warned, still stirring the fire. "If it's connected to old machinery, you'll bring the whole ruin down."
"Or maybe I'll find treasure," Silo said with a grin, bracing his foot and pulling harder.
The vine stretched, groaned — then something deep below rumbled.
Everyone froze.
Silo's grin faltered. "Uh… that wasn't me."
The rumbling grew stronger — faint vibrations shaking through the floor, dislodging pebbles and dust from the ceiling.
Reina shot to her feet. "Move! Now!"
But before anyone could, the ground split with a deafening crack.
The fire scattered in a burst of sparks as the floor gave way beneath them.
Luke shouted, grabbing for Elias's arm, but the sand swallowed them both. Reina and Silo vanished in the collapse, their cries swallowed by the roar of stone and dust.
Then — silence.
---
Luke groaned, his head pounding.
He blinked, coughing through a cloud of fine dust.
A faint, eerie blue light pulsed somewhere below — soft, like veins of light running through the stone walls.
"Elias?" he called out, his voice hoarse.
"Here," came a weak reply. Elias was lying a few feet away, clutching his side. He rolled onto his back, wincing. "Still alive. Mostly."
A shape stirred nearby — Reina, sitting up and brushing dirt from her hair. "Everyone in one piece?"
Luke looked around, awed despite the ache in his body. They had fallen into a vast chamber — an underground cavern that seemed to stretch endlessly into darkness. The air was cooler here, carrying the faint scent of metal and moss.
Pillars of smooth, black stone jutted out of the ground like the ribs of some ancient creature. Strange markings glowed faintly along them, their patterns pulsing like heartbeats.
"What… is this place?" Elias whispered, standing unsteadily.
Reina gazed upward, where faint tendrils of light hung from the cracked ceiling like vines. "Something old," she said softly. "Older than the city. Older than us."
Silo whistled low. "Guess I really did find treasure, huh?"
Reina shot him a glare. "You're lucky you didn't kill us."
"Technically," Silo said, grinning weakly, "we're fine. So… you're welcome?"
Elias ignored their bickering. He was staring at the walls, tracing the glowing veins with his eyes. "These symbols — they look like the ones on the Nova's armor. The same pattern."
Luke moved closer, running his fingers along one of the carvings. The stone was warm to the touch, humming faintly under his skin. "Maybe this is part of the old city," he murmured. "From before the wars."
Reina nodded slowly. "If the Tessarect was ever lost… this might be where it fell."
The words hung in the still air, echoing faintly.
Elias looked down one of the tunnels that branched out from the chamber, his expression unreadable. "Then what are we waiting for?" he said finally. "Let's find it."
Luke hesitated. "We don't know what's down there."
"Neither did the miners when they dug," Elias replied. "But they still dug anyway."
He smiled faintly, eyes glinting in the dim light. "Guess it's our turn."
Luke met his gaze and nodded. "All right."
Silo groaned dramatically. "Of course we're going deeper. Sure, why not. Maybe next time the floor will eat us again."
"Then stop talking and keep your balance," Reina said curtly, taking the lead.
Their footsteps echoed softly as they began to descend — the light from above fading until only the faint blue glow of the walls remained.
Behind them, the firelight from the surface ruin flickered faintly through the hole — the last sign of the world they'd known. Ahead lay silence, and the promise of something far older than their city's lies.
Luke glanced back one last time, feeling a shiver of both fear and excitement crawl down his spine.
Then he followed the others into the depths of the unknown.