The shaft emptied into a crawlspace lined with pipes and soot-streaked walls. Kael slid out first, landing in the old archives corridor beneath the university ruins. Ryn followed, wincing as they rolled their shoulder.
The tunnel behind them rumbled faintly—the distant echo of war above.
"Are we safe?" Ryn asked, breath ragged.
Kael shook their head. "Not for long."
The hallway was dark but familiar. Ancient murals lined the cracked stone, faded depictions of scholars, stars, and trees long extinct. The deeper they went, the more the walls seemed to hum.
At the archway of the hidden vault, the air shifted.
Mira stood waiting, her robes singed, her eyes fierce.
"You shouldn't have come back," she said sharply, though relief touched her features.
Kael stepped forward. "They're burning the Slag District. Enforcers are pushing inward. We didn't have a choice."
Mira's mouth tightened. "Then it's time."
She turned and pressed her palm to a brass panel embedded in the wall. The metal clicked, then pulsed with blue light. With a low groan, a hidden doorway slid open, revealing a spiral staircase leading down.
Kael blinked. "There's more?"
Mira nodded. "The upper library was just a fraction. The core was buried for a reason."
As they descended, the temperature dropped. Walls of dark metal replaced stone, and lights flickered on with their footsteps. Kael's pendant grew warmer with every step.
At the bottom, a circular chamber awaited.
No dust. No decay.
Just a single metal pedestal, atop which sat a black cube etched with glowing silver runes. The air buzzed with electricity. Ryn reached out, but Mira stopped them.
"Only the pendant bearer can activate it," she said, looking at Kael.
Kael hesitated. The pendant vibrated in their hand now, like it wanted to move. With a deep breath, they placed it into the groove atop the cube.
A crack of light erupted.
The room darkened—then flared blue.
A shimmering figure appeared above the cube, flickering like a memory caught in a storm.
A man, cloaked in a robe of stars, his voice calm and clear.
"Project Arkos, Phase One: Memory Seed Activation confirmed."
Kael and Ryn stared, speechless.
"I am Archivist Seven," the hologram continued. "If you are seeing this, the world has collapsed. Civilizations lost. Order erased. But knowledge—knowledge endures."
Kael's skin tingled.
"Within this vault are the Seeds—encoded memories of our world's peak: medicine, energy, engineering, ethics. But be warned: knowledge without wisdom brings ruin. The Cataclysm proved that."
The hologram pulsed, shifting to a starmap.
"These Seeds can rebuild—or destroy. Use them wisely. Or not at all."
Then it flickered and vanished.
Silence.
Mira exhaled like she'd been holding her breath for years. "It's real," she murmured. "All of it. The stories, the whispers... Arkos exists."
Ryn was wide-eyed. "We could fix everything."
Kael stared at the cube. Or burn it down all over again.
The pendant clicked free. The cube dimmed. But the implications burned brighter than the fires above.
Kael turned to Mira.
"What happens now?"
Mira's expression hardened.
"Now, we protect the Seed. Or we die trying."