Silence filled the cavern.
Not peaceful silence—
but the kind that lingered after something enormous had passed through the world and left the air trembling with its memory.
Dust drifted in thin streams from the broken ceiling. Cracks webbed across the stone floor like old scars trying to remember where they came from. Glowing fragments of Rift energy flickered in the air, slowly dissolving into nothing.
And in the center of it all—
Alec and Kairen stood back-to-back, breathing evenly.
As if neither had just defied a force capable of collapsing the mountain.
Daniel was the first to move.
He didn't speak—just stepped forward fast, gripping Alec by the shoulder and turning him sharply.
"You're going to start explaining," Daniel said, voice hard but unsteady, "or I swear I'm going to drag the answers out of you."
Alec didn't pull free.
He only looked at Daniel with the kind of calm that made people angrier.
"It isn't safe to talk here."
Rowan scoffed.
"No kidding."
Eli, still catching his breath, managed, "I—I think my ribs shook themselves loose. Is that normal? Should I be concerned?"
Rowan patted his back.
"You were concerned the minute we stepped into this Rift."
"Fair."
Kairen exhaled shakily and leaned against a stone pillar. The aftershock inside his core was still humming—quiet, steady, but noticeable. Not pain. Not instability. More like… resonance.
Alec glanced sideways at him.
"You did well."
Kairen didn't answer at first. His mind still reeled from everything Alec had said—everything that had been revealed about the Disorder Cores, about himself, and most of all… about Alec.
"You said you were the first."
Alec nodded.
"And I said you were the first successful one."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"We'll get into that. Later."
Alec didn't argue.
Rowan pointed upward.
"Cavern's unstable. Whole ceiling's been creaking since the Entity blew up. We should get out before it decides to drop on our heads."
Daniel nodded.
"Eli and Rowan, take the front route. Kairen, middle. I'll monitor his core state. Alec—"
"I'll take rear," Alec finished.
Daniel's brow furrowed.
"You sure?"
Alec looked past him toward the deepest, darkest part of the cavern—where the Entity had folded out of existence after its defeat. The Rift crack was closing, but not quickly.
"I'm never sure," Alec said quietly. "But I'm the one creatures like that follow."
The way he said it made it sound less like a burden and more like a simple truth. A rule of the world he had accepted long ago.
Daniel didn't push further.
They moved.
The cavern tunnels twisted in disorienting ways, as if warped by the energy that had been absorbed during the fight. Natural stone blended with swirling distortions of color and angles that shouldn't exist. More than once, Rowan muttered that the walls felt like they wanted to swallow them.
Halfway through, Eli whispered:
"Why didn't the Entity attack us while we were leaving?"
"Because it's gone," Kairen said quietly. "Or pulled back."
Rowan frowned.
"That easy?"
Alec's voice answered from the rear.
"Nothing about this was easy. It retreated because it had what it needed."
Kairen's blood chilled.
"What did it get?"
Alec looked forward, eyes unreadable.
"Information."
Kairen's Core Isn't Normal Anymore
Daniel slowed his pace to walk beside Kairen.
"You holding together?"
Kairen nodded—even though his breath felt strange. Not weak. Just… different.
"My core feels like it's watching me," Kairen said. "Like it's thinking."
Daniel winced.
"I was afraid of that."
"You knew?"
"I had a suspicion. Alec's return—your reaction to him—" Daniel shook his head. "Kairen, the type of core inside you was never meant to be static. The more you grow, the more it evolves."
"Into what?"
"That's the question we never wanted answered."
Kairen swallowed.
"But Alec—he said the Rift predicted everything."
Daniel didn't respond.
Which was answer enough.
From behind them, Alec spoke again.
"Kairen."
Kairen turned his head.
Alec's eyes weren't glowing. They weren't threatening. They didn't radiate power.
But they held something far more intense.
Recognition.
"You're the first one who wasn't molded," Alec said. "Your path can change. That's why the Rift wants you."
"And you?"
Alec paused.
"…I don't know what I want. Not anymore."
Rowan suddenly raised a hand.
Everyone froze.
Daniel whispered, "What is it?"
Rowan swallowed hard, pointing upward.
"The entrance is… gone?"
The tunnel ended where a rockfall had completely sealed the way. Not just fallen stone—
the collapse looked intentional, like something had folded the tunnel inward to block it.
Eli's voice trembled.
"That's… that's not good, right?"
"No," Daniel said. "It's not."
Alec lowered his hand and stepped forward. He pressed his palm lightly against the collapsed stone.
Everyone waited for some miracle—
for Alec to split the stone with a gesture, or bend space again.
Instead, he stepped back.
"It's sealed," he said. "Locked from the outside."
Rowan blinked.
"Locked… by who? The mountain?"
Alec shook his head.
"No. By hunters."
The silence that followed was cold.
Kairen's stomach dropped.
"Why would hunters lock us inside?"
Alec looked at him.
"They didn't lock us in. They locked everything else out."
Daniel's expression darkened.
"They sensed the Beacon event."
"And they're sealing the mountain until a High Council team arrives," Alec finished.
Eli groaned.
"So basically, we're trapped."
Rowan stretched his arms dramatically.
"Awesome. Love that for us."
Daniel looked upward at the sealed entrance.
"We'll break through," he said. "Just need to create a different route."
Alec shook his head again.
"No."
Rowan snapped, "Alec, you seriously want to stay down here?!"
Alec met his eyes, calm as ever.
"There's another way out. And it's one the Council doesn't know about."
Daniel went still.
"Alec—don't. You know what's waiting down there."
"They won't find us if we go back up," Alec said. "They expect us to move toward the surface. But deeper—"
"Absolutely not," Daniel snapped. "We're not dragging them toward that place."
Alec tilted his head.
"You think it's drag. I think it's destiny."
Rowan whispered, "Can you two talk like normal people?! What's 'that place' supposed to mean?"
Alec finally turned to face the group.
"There's a chamber below this Rift. A place where the first Core prototypes were forged. The Hunters destroyed the records, but they didn't destroy the chamber."
Kairen's chest tightened.
"And my core is connected to it."
Alec didn't deny it.
Daniel ran a hand through his hair, furious.
"That chamber nearly killed you."
Alec's voice softened.
"It didn't. That's why we're standing here now."
Kairen exhaled.
"So that's where we're going."
Daniel shook his head.
"Not a chance—"
Kairen stepped forward.
"If the Rift, the Beacon, and the Entity all want me—if I'm some sort of successor—then I need answers. And I'm not getting them out there."
Daniel stared at him, torn.
Rowan rested a hand on Daniel's shoulder.
"He's right."
Eli nodded shakily.
"And if we wait here, the Council will drag Kairen away. They'll quarantine him. Or worse."
Daniel's jaw clenched.
He looked at Alec.
"Can you get us there safely?"
Alec blinked once.
"No."
Rowan groaned.
"Oh good. Great. Amazing."
Alec continued, unfazed.
"But I can get you there."
Daniel laughed—
a tired, humorless sound.
"So nothing's changed."
"Everything has," Alec said quietly.
They followed Alec deeper into the Rift's underbelly. The further they descended, the more the cavern changed. Stone gave way to something smoother. The walls were no longer rough or natural—they were shaped.
Cut.
Carved.
Engineered.
Eli whispered, "This feels like walking inside a corpse."
Rowan grimaced.
"Can we not use that metaphor, please?"
A faint light emitted from veins in the walls. The glow wasn't warm, but clinical. Like old, dormant machinery waiting for a signal to reactivate.
Kairen touched one of the glowing lines.
It pulsed.
Alec immediately seized his wrist.
"Don't."
Kairen's heart jumped.
"…It didn't hurt."
"That's why it's dangerous," Alec said. "It recognizes you."
Daniel inhaled sharply.
"They never finished these tunnels. The cores were too unstable. The chamber wasn't supposed to—"
"It was never meant for humans," Alec said.
They reached a massive door carved into the stone—except it wasn't stone. The surface was smooth, metallic, etched with symbols that neither resembled ancient runes nor modern inscriptions.
Kairen felt a faint hum resonate in his chest.
His core answered.
Rowan took a step back.
"Yeah, I don't like that. I really don't like that."
Eli hid behind Rowan.
Daniel looked at Alec.
"You're sure?"
Alec placed a hand against the door.
"No."
Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Of course you're not."
The door reacted.
Not to Alec's touch—
but to Kairen's presence.
Lines lit up.
Symbols glowed.
The entire structure shivered, like an awakening creature stretching its limbs after a long, dreamless sleep.
Kairen's Disorder Core thrummed loudly.
Too loudly.
His breath hitched.
He pressed a hand to his chest.
Alec caught him.
"Let it resonate. Don't push it down."
"I—I can't let it take over—"
"It won't," Alec said. "Not if you trust it."
Kairen struggled.
"But what if I can't trust myself—"
Alec's voice turned surprisingly soft.
"Then trust me."
Kairen looked up at him.
And the door opened.
Light poured out—not blinding, but cold and pure. The air smelled ancient, sterile, untouched by time.
They stepped inside.
The chamber was vast—circular, domed, with pillars that reached up to a ceiling carved with swirling patterns. In the center, a platform floated above the floor, suspended by energy lines that hummed quietly.
Old machines—if they were machines—lined the walls, each marked with symbols that glowed faintly as Kairen approached.
Rowan whispered, "This place… it's like a lab from a nightmare future."
Eli shivered.
"Or a tomb."
Alec walked toward the platform.
"This is where it started."
Daniel followed slowly.
"Where you started."
Alec didn't disagree.
Kairen felt drawn to the floating platform. The air above it shimmered, like threads of unseen energy swirling around a center point.
Alec gestured.
"Step onto it."
Daniel stepped in front of Kairen.
"Absolutely not. We don't even know what that thing does."
Alec answered calmly.
"It shows the truth."
Daniel growled.
"That's the last thing the Rift ever showed you."
Alec's expression didn't change.
"And that truth broke me. Kairen is stronger."
Silence fell.
Kairen stepped onto the platform.
The moment his foot touched it, lines of light erupted across the room. Symbols lit up. Machines activated. A hum filled the air—not threatening, but ancient.
A voice—not spoken, but resonating through the chamber—filled his mind.
"Vessel confirmed."
"Continuity detected."
"Proceeding with memory retrieval."
Kairen's vision blurred.
He stumbled.
Alec caught his arm again.
"Stay with it."
"I—I'm seeing something—"
Daniel rushed forward.
"What's happening?!"
Rowan stepped between him and the platform.
"He has to finish this or it'll tear him apart!"
Eli shouted, "He's glowing—!"
Light swirled around Kairen, forming shapes.
Symbols.
Fragments.
Memories of a voice that wasn't his:
"…prototype unstable…"
"…we need a stronger vessel…"
"…if this works, the Rift will open itself to us…"
"…his mind won't survive the load—"
"…seal the chamber—destroy the records—no one can know—"
Kairen gasped, clutching his head.
Alec held him tighter.
"You're seeing what they forced into me."
Kairen fought for breath.
"What… what did they do to you?"
Alec looked at the swirling light with eyes that held too many lifetimes.
"They tried to make a weapon."
"Did you… become one?"
Alec's voice softened, barely audible.
"No."
He looked straight into Kairen's eyes.
"I became something worse."
The chamber erupted with light—
and Kairen saw everything.