The walls were rising, but the stomach was empty.
Kaelen sat on the edge of the obsidian platform, watching the dark, glassy water of the subterranean lake. It was perfectly still. No ripples. No wind. Just a flat, black mirror that stretched out into the darkness beyond the glow of the Anchor.
He held the last ration wrapper in his hand. It was light. Useless.
"We have twelve hours," Renna said, walking up behind him. She didn't sound panicked—just efficient. "Maybe eighteen if we stop moving and slow our breathing."
"And the water?" Kaelen asked, not looking back.
"I tested it," Renna said. She tossed a pebble into the lake.
Hiss.
The moment the stone touched the surface, it didn't splash. It dissolved. A faint wisp of acrid white smoke curled up from the water.
"Acid?" Kaelen asked.
"Worse," Renna replied. "Concentrated entropy. The Silence has seeped into the groundwater. If you drink that, you won't just die. You'll be hollowed out from the inside."
She sat down next to him, checking the action on her rifle. "Jax is eating the moss off the rocks near the causeway. He says it tastes like copper, but it stops the shaking."
Kaelen looked at the golden barrier humming overhead. It kept the monsters out, but it had trapped them in a cage with no food.
"The Anchor provides safety," Kaelen murmured. "But it doesn't provide food."
He stood up. The hunger was a dull ache in his gut, a reminder that while his soul might be connected to the Great Weave, his body was still painfully human.
"We can't hunt," Renna said, reading his mind. "Everything down here is corrupted. You eat a Void-Rat, you turn into one."
"We aren't going to hunt," Kaelen said. "We're going to loot."
He walked to the center of the platform, placing his hand on the white marble interface.
The System—The Weave—hummed to life beneath his palm. He didn't look for defensive stats this time. He closed his eyes and pushed his perception outward.
[ AUTHORITY: OBSERVER ]
[ ACTIVATING: SECTOR MAP ]
The world fell away.
In his mind's eye, the dark cave vanished. He saw the world as it truly was: a complex lattice of golden threads and flowing code. He saw the Anchor as a brilliant pillar of light. He saw the "Silence" as vast, dead patches where the threads had snapped.
He pushed his vision further, straining his mind.
"Come on," he whispered. "Show me what you buried."
The Steward—the Admin who ruled this world—had deleted the cities, but he hadn't deleted everything. The Gods had left behind emergency caches. Reliquaries. Sealed vaults meant to sustain their followers during the collapse.
Most had been looted centuries ago. But down here? In the dark?
Pulse.
A faint, blue signal flickered in the distance. About two miles north, buried under tons of rock and forgotten history.
It wasn't a natural mana source. It was structured. Artificial.
[ SIGNAL DETECTED: ANCIENT RELIQUARY ]
[ STATUS: SEALED (DIVINE LOCK) ]
[ CONTENTS: UNKNOWN ]
Kaelen opened his eyes. He stumbled slightly, the drain on his Breath making him dizzy.
"I found it," he said.
"Found what?" Renna asked, standing up.
"A safe," Kaelen said. "A God's safe. It's sealed tight. No scavenger could crack it. Not even a drill could get through."
Renna narrowed her eyes. "Then how do we get in?"
Kaelen held up his hand. The blue circuits of his Authority glowed faintly under his skin.
"The door is locked because it's waiting for authorized personnel," Kaelen said. "And I'm the only one left with the key."
He turned to the causeway, where Jax was struggling to lift a heavy plate of scrap metal.
"Jax!" Kaelen called out.
The boy dropped the metal and ran over, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Lord?"
"Stop building," Kaelen ordered. "Grab your pack. We're leaving the perimeter."
Jax's face went pale. He looked at the darkness beyond the golden shield. "Leaving? But... it's safe here."
"It's a tomb if we don't eat," Kaelen said grimly. He looked at Renna. "We move fast. We stay quiet. We find the door, I open it, we grab everything we can carry, and we get back before the Silence notices us."
"And if something is guarding it?" Renna asked, slinging her rifle over her shoulder.
Kaelen touched the hilt of his black glass sword.
"Then we file a complaint," he said.