The fall didn't end.
That was the first thing Zariah understood.
It wasn't the clean drop of gravity pulling her straight down. This was controlled measured like the system itself was deciding how fast she was allowed to descend. The wind screamed past her ears, tearing the breath from her lungs as darkness stretched endlessly above and below.
Her stomach lurched violently.
She clenched her jaw, forcing herself to breathe through the terror clawing up her throat. Panic would only make this worse. Panic always did.
Observe. Adapt. Survive.
The words anchored her.
Light flared suddenly beneath her feet.
The drop slowed then stopped.
Zariah slammed down onto a hard surface, the impact jarring her bones, knocking the air from her chest in a sharp, painful gasp. She rolled instinctively, coming to rest on her side, limbs trembling.
For a moment, she couldn't move.
Her ears rang. Her heart pounded so loudly it drowned out everything else.
Then...
The lights came on.
Not all at once. One strip at a time, igniting around her in a wide circular pattern. Zariah pushed herself up slowly, ignoring the ache screaming through her muscles.
This chamber was different.
Not sterile like the one above. Not mechanical.
This place felt… older.
The walls were stone, smooth but scarred, etched with faint markings that pulsed softly beneath the surface, like veins carrying dim light. The air was warmer here, heavier, thick with something unspoken.
She was standing in the center of a vast ring-shaped floor. Around her, raised platforms formed a perimeter, each holding a tall glass column.
And inside those columns
Zariah's breath caught.
People.
Men. Women.
Some standing. Some slumped. Some unconscious.
Alive.
Her stomach twisted violently. "What is this?" she whispered.
A low hum vibrated through the chamber.
Then footsteps echoed.
Zariah turned sharply.
Viktor emerged from a passage high above, descending a short flight of steps with infuriating calm. His gaze swept over her, assessing, calculating, like she was a problem he hadn't solved yet but wanted to.
"You adapt faster than most," he said. "That's good."
Her hands curled into fists. "You're keeping people down here."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Viktor stopped at the edge of the ring, looking down at her. "Because the world above relies on lies. Down here, we observe what remains when those lies are stripped away."
Her eyes burned as she looked at the people trapped inside the columns. "You're testing them."
"Refining them," he corrected. "Most fail."
"And those who don't?" she demanded.
Viktor's mouth curved slightly. "They become useful."
Cold fury surged through her veins. "You're not refining anything. You're breaking them."
"Same outcome," he said calmly.
Zariah swallowed hard, forcing herself to stay steady. Fear wouldn't help these people. Rage wouldn't save Adrian.
Focus.
"Where is he?" she asked quietly.
Viktor studied her for a long moment. "Still alive."
Her chest loosened just a fraction.
"But," he added, "his condition is… contingent."
Of course it was.
Viktor gestured toward the columns. "This is the second layer. You passed the first because you refused to fracture under emotional memory. Most don't."
Her throat tightened. She had felt that fracture. She had stood on its edge.
"And now?" she asked.
"Now," Viktor said, "we see what you're willing to sacrifice."
The floor beneath her feet pulsed faintly.
Zariah looked down.
A symbol glowed beneath her boots familiar. The same fractured design from one of the doors above.
Instability.
Her pulse quickened.
Viktor's voice echoed through the chamber. "Each of these people is tied to a system node. Energy, information, access points. If they're removed, parts of the network fail."
Zariah's breath grew shallow. "You want me to choose who lives."
"I want you to choose who matters," Viktor replied.
The glass columns began to light up one by one.
Faces became clearer.
A woman with hollow eyes and shaking hands.
A young man barely older than a boy, fear etched into every line of his face.
A middle-aged man gripping the glass like it was the only thing keeping him upright.
Zariah's chest ached.
"You can free one," Viktor continued calmly. "Doing so will collapse a section of the system."
"And the others?" Zariah asked.
"They remain."
Her nails bit into her palms. "This isn't choice. It's torture."
"Yes," Viktor said simply. "And yet… it's necessary."
She looked at the people again, heart hammering painfully. None of them deserved this. None of them had chosen to be here.
"This is how you decide who's worthy?" she asked bitterly.
"This is how the world decides," Viktor replied. "I merely remove the illusion."
Zariah closed her eyes briefly, steadying herself. Adrian's face flashed in her mind bloodied, restrained, furious and unbroken.
You are not a pawn.
She opened her eyes.
"No," she said.
Viktor frowned slightly. "No?"
"I won't choose," Zariah said firmly. "Not like this."
The hum in the chamber deepened.
"That wasn't an option," Viktor warned.
"It is for me," she replied. "You want to know what makes me dangerous? It's not that people choose me."
She stepped forward, standing directly over the glowing symbol.
"It's that I refuse to play by rules designed to destroy people."
The symbol beneath her feet flared brightly.
Alarms screamed.
Viktor's eyes snapped to the floor. "What did you do?"
"I didn't choose a person," Zariah said, voice shaking but resolute. "I chose the system."
The ground trembled violently.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor, light spilling through them as the structure beneath began to fail. The glass columns flickered, their restraints destabilizing.
"No," Viktor snapped sharply. "You weren't meant to access that..."
Too late.
One of the columns shattered.
Glass exploded outward as the woman inside collapsed to the floor, coughing violently. Another column flickered then another.
Chaos erupted.
The chamber shook violently as systems screamed in protest. Zariah staggered, nearly losing her footing as she grabbed onto a nearby railing.
Viktor backed away, fury flashing across his controlled expression. "You destabilized the layer!"
"That was the point!" Zariah shouted back.
A column near her burst open, releasing the young man who collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.
Zariah rushed to him instinctively, helping him up. "Can you stand?"
He nodded weakly, eyes wide with shock.
"Move," she urged. "Get away from the center."
He stumbled toward the edge as more columns failed, alarms blaring louder with each second.
Viktor's voice boomed through the chamber. "Containment teams now!"
Footsteps thundered above.
Zariah's heart slammed painfully as armed figures poured into the chamber from multiple entry points, weapons raised.
She turned, backing away, placing herself between them and the freed captives without even thinking.
"You wanted to see what I'd sacrifice," she said loudly. "Here it is."
The ground beneath her cracked wider.
The chamber groaned a deep, ominous sound.
Viktor stared at her, something dark and unsettled in his eyes. "You're dismantling years of architecture."
"Good," Zariah snapped. "Then you should've killed me when you had the chance."
A sudden sharp pain exploded in her side.
She cried out, staggering as a stun round hit her, electricity ripping through her nerves. Her legs buckled, sending her crashing to the floor.
Her vision blurred.
Footsteps closed in.
Viktor approached slowly, kneeling beside her as the world spun.
"You are remarkable," he said quietly. "And incredibly inconvenient."
She forced herself to meet his gaze, breath shaking. "Adrian won't stop."
"No," Viktor agreed. "That's why this ends now."
He reached out
And the chamber lights died.
Total darkness.
Gunfire erupted. Shouts echoed.
Zariah felt hands grab her, dragging her backward across the floor.
A familiar voice cut through the chaos.
"Zariah!"
Her heart leapt.
"Kellan?" she gasped.
"Don't talk move," he hissed, hauling her upright.
Explosions rocked the chamber as sections of the floor collapsed inward, swallowing armed men in a roar of stone and light.
Kellan shoved her toward a narrow passage that had torn open in the wall. "Adrian triggered a counter-breach this place is collapsing!"
"Adrian he's alive?" she demanded breathlessly.
"Yes," Kellan said grimly. "And very angry."
Relief crashed over her so hard she nearly sobbed.
They ran.
The passage twisted sharply, alarms screaming behind them as the chamber caved in. Dust choked the air, debris raining down as the structure began to fail.
Behind them, Viktor's voice echoed one last time cold, furious.
"This isn't over, Zariah Amara!"
The passage ahead plunged into darkness.
Then.....
Light.
They burst through an opening and tumbled onto a hard metal floor. The door slammed shut behind them just as the collapse reached it, the impact shaking the corridor violently.
Zariah lay there, gasping, heart racing out of control.
Kellan crouched beside her. "You just turned the entire underground against itself."
She laughed weakly, pain and adrenaline blurring together. "I warned him."
Kellan exhaled sharply. "You're going to want to sit up for this."
She pushed herself upright slowly.
Across the corridor, a familiar figure stood waiting.
Adrian.
Bloodied. Furious. Alive.
His eyes locked onto hers and something raw, terrifying, and undeniable flared between them.
Before either of them could speak
The floor beneath their feet began to tremble again.
And a new alarm blared overhead.
EVACUATION FAILURE. SECONDARY COLLAPSE IMMINENT.
Adrian's jaw clenched.
"Zariah," he said, voice low and deadly. "We have seconds."
The corridor behind them began to crack.
The path ahead was unknown.
And this time....
There would be no choice without consequences.