"Journey to the Old Capital / The Sleeping Gate / The Shadow Watching"
The journey began before sunrise.
The underground station where the group had taken refuge slowly faded behind them as they moved deeper through the abandoned transit tunnels. The old rails groaned under their footsteps, rust flaking off like dry skin from a corpse long forgotten by the world above.
Caelum led the way.
He walked with the certainty of someone who had memorized this path years ago. Every turn, every broken junction, every collapsed passage seemed familiar to him.
Null followed directly behind.
His mind was not quiet.
Luxion's words kept repeating inside his thoughts.
Three days.
Aizeno will be waiting.
The idea didn't frighten him.
But it did confirm something he had begun to suspect.
Aizeno wasn't chasing them anymore.
He was guiding them.
Hyung walked beside Null, scanning every corridor with sharp awareness. His hand never left the grip of his blade.
"You trust this?" Hyung asked quietly.
Null didn't answer immediately.
"No," he finally said.
"But we don't have another path."
Behind them, D U walked slower than the rest.
The near-fatal wound he suffered during the previous battle had mostly healed, but his body still hadn't returned to full power. Occasionally a faint pulse of energy would escape him—an unstable ripple that bent the air around his shoulders.
Caelum glanced back once.
"You're holding together better than expected."
D U shrugged.
"I've survived worse."
Then he added casually:
"But if Luxion shows up again I'm throwing Hyung at him first."
Hyung didn't even turn.
"Try it."
The tunnel slowly widened as they moved forward.
The rails eventually split into five different paths, forming what used to be the central transport hub of the Old Capital.
Broken platforms hung over the darkness like cliffs.
Rusting trains sat abandoned across multiple tracks, their windows shattered and interiors hollowed by time.
But something else was wrong.
Null felt it immediately.
The air here was heavier.
Not oppressive like Adrax's presence.
Older.
Like something massive had slept here for centuries.
Caelum stopped walking.
"We're close."
Hyung stepped forward slightly.
"This is it?"
Caelum nodded.
"The Old Capital Vault District."
He pointed toward the far end of the chamber where a massive collapsed wall sealed off the tunnel beyond.
"Behind that."
D U scratched his head.
"That just looks like a pile of rubble."
Caelum smiled faintly.
"Exactly."
He walked toward the collapsed structure.
Then he reached into his coat and removed a small metal device—an old cylindrical key-like object covered in faint glowing inscriptions.
He placed it against the rubble.
Nothing happened.
Then Caelum looked back at Null.
"Your turn."
Null stepped forward slowly.
"Do I touch it?"
"Yes."
Null placed his hand on the metal cylinder.
For a moment, nothing changed.
Then the ground trembled.
A deep mechanical sound echoed through the entire underground station.
The rubble wall began vibrating.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Rust flakes rained from the broken trains.
Then the rubble shifted.
Stone slid apart like pieces of a puzzle being rearranged by invisible hands.
Behind the collapsing debris, a massive structure slowly revealed itself.
Not a door.
A gate.
It stood nearly forty meters tall.
Black metal pillars rose from the ground, carved with ancient patterns and circular mechanisms that rotated slowly as the structure awakened.
Between the pillars sat a solid wall of metallic stone.
At its center was a single symbol.
The spiral mark.
The same symbol that appeared in Null's left eye.
D U whistled quietly.
"Well… that's dramatic."
Hyung stepped closer.
"This thing has been here the entire time?"
Caelum nodded.
"The Old King buried it beneath the capital before the war ended."
Null stared at the massive structure.
He felt something pulling inside his chest.
Not pain.
Recognition.
The gate knew him.
The spiral symbol began glowing faintly.
Hyung immediately stepped back.
"That can't be good."
But Caelum shook his head.
"It's reacting to him."
Null stepped forward slowly.
As he approached, the ancient mechanisms around the gate began rotating faster.
Deep insid