For several seconds, David didn’t move.
The voice was gone.
The darkness remained.
He could hear breathing around him.
Jenna’s.
Nicole’s.
Elaine’s.
Lion’s.
All of them were real.
That made the voice worse.
David slowly raised a hand and touched his chest.
His heart was still beating.
Fast.
Too fast.
’Come downstairs.’
He looked toward the floor.
The crack was no longer glowing.
Whatever symbol had been beneath it had disappeared with the lights.
"David?"
Jenna’s voice came from somewhere to his left.
"I’m here."
"You okay?"
David opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
He wasn’t sure what answer would qualify as okay anymore.
A moment later, emergency lights flickered on.
The room was bathed in dim red light.
David immediately looked around.
Everyone was still there.
Jenna had her weapon drawn.
Nicole stood behind her.
Lion remained between them and the damaged section of floor.
Elaine was staring at her tablet.
David looked at her.
"What did you hear?"
Elaine looked up.
"Hear what?"
"The voice."
Her expression didn’t change.
"I didn’t hear anything."
David’s stomach tightened.
He looked at Jenna.
"You?"
Jenna shook her head.
"No."
Nicole slowly shook hers as well.
Lion said nothing.
David stared at him.
Lion’s expression remained unreadable.
"You heard it."
It wasn’t a question.
Lion looked at him for a few seconds.
Then he nodded once.
Elaine’s head snapped toward him.
"You heard something?"
Lion looked at her.
"A voice."
"What did it say?"
"Nothing."
David frowned.
"You just said you heard a voice."
"I heard one."
"And?"
"It didn’t speak to me."
Elaine’s eyes narrowed.
David understood.
The voice hadn’t spoken to them.
It had spoken to him.
He looked down again.
"Only I heard it."
Nobody corrected him.
That silence was enough.
Elaine slowly placed her tablet on the table.
"Everyone out."
Jenna frowned.
"What?"
"Out."
"Elaine—"
"Now."
There was something in her voice that made Jenna stop arguing.
Nicole moved first.
Lion followed.
Jenna hesitated beside David.
"Come on."
David didn’t move.
She looked at him.
"David."
He finally stepped away from the cracked floor.
As they reached the door, Elaine stopped him.
"Not you."
David turned.
Jenna immediately looked back.
"I’m staying."
Elaine shook her head.
"Jenna, outside."
"But—"
"Please."
The word was quiet.
That was what made Jenna obey.
She looked at David one last time before leaving.
The door closed.
David stared at Elaine.
"So."
He folded his arms.
"How bad is it?"
Elaine didn’t answer.
She walked to the wall and entered a sequence into a panel David hadn’t noticed before.
A section of the wall opened.
Inside was a small metal compartment.
She removed a thin black card.
David raised an eyebrow.
"You keep secret cards in secret walls."
Elaine ignored him.
She inserted the card into her tablet.
The screen changed.
A warning appeared.
RESTRICTED ARCHIVE ACCESS.
Then another prompt.
LEVEL SEVEN CLEARANCE REQUIRED.
Elaine entered something.
The screen unlocked.
David watched her.
"You have Level Seven clearance?"
"Yes."
"And there are at least six levels above normal access."
"Yes."
"That’s comforting."
Elaine finally looked at him.
"You need to understand something."
David’s joking expression disappeared.
"Okay."
"What happened downstairs isn’t part of our normal research."
"I figured."
"We’ve encountered strange energy before."
David nodded.
"The symbol?"
Elaine looked at the floor.
"The symbol too."
"Thirty-two years ago."
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Elaine hesitated.
"We don’t know."
"You said the research team disappeared."
"They did."
"All of them?"
"Every person inside the facility."
David’s eyes narrowed.
"How many?"
"Twenty-three."
He stared at her.
"Twenty-three people disappeared?"
"Yes."
"No bodies?"
"No."
"No evidence?"
"There was evidence."
David waited.
Elaine continued.
"Every piece of equipment was still functioning."
"Except the people."
"Except the people."
David looked toward the door.
"And the symbol?"
"It was found beneath the main laboratory."
"The same seven circles?"
Elaine nodded.
"Yes."
David rubbed his chin.
"Then why build another facility here?"
"We didn’t."
He looked at her.
"What?"
"This facility wasn’t built here."
Elaine’s eyes remained on the tablet.
"It was built around it."
David went silent.
That was considerably worse.
"You built a research facility around an underground structure you didn’t understand?"
"We didn’t know what it was when construction began."
"And when you found out?"
"We continued."
David stared at her.
"Why?"
Elaine finally met his eyes.
"Because the structure wasn’t empty."
David felt the skin on his arms tighten.
"What was inside?"
"We never reached it."
"Why?"
"Every attempt failed."
"Failed how?"
Elaine looked at him.
"People stopped remembering why they were there."
David blinked.
"What?"
"The deeper they went, the more confused they became."
She tapped the screen.
"Some forgot the mission. Some forgot the facility. One person forgot his own name."
David stared.
"And you still kept trying."
"We stopped."
"When?"
"Thirty-two years ago."
David glanced at the floor.
"So whatever is down there has been waiting this entire time."
Elaine didn’t answer.
David looked at her.
"Until me."
Still nothing.
He exhaled slowly.
"That’s a pretty big coincidence."
"I don’t believe in coincidence."
"Neither do I."
He looked toward the damaged section.
"But I also don’t believe in whatever this is."
Elaine studied him.
"You should."
"That’s the problem."
The emergency lights flickered.
David instinctively looked down.
The crack was still there.
But this time, there was something different.
A faint pulse.
Once.
David’s chest responded.
He felt it immediately.
The sensation from before.
That strange warmth.
Not heat.
Recognition.
He stepped backward.
Elaine noticed.
"What?"
"I felt it again."
"Where?"
"My chest."
She grabbed her tablet.
"Does it hurt?"
"No."
"Pressure?"
"No."
"Then what?"
David searched for the right word.
"It feels like something is pulling."
Elaine froze.
"Pulling you where?"
David looked at the floor.
"Down."
The tablet in Elaine’s hand beeped.
She looked at the screen.
Her expression changed.
"What?"
"The energy level is dropping."
David frowned.
"That’s good, right?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it’s not disappearing."
She turned the tablet toward him.
The readings showed a gradual decline.
But another line was increasing.
David stared at it.
"What am I looking at?"
"Movement."
His eyes narrowed.
"Movement?"
"The energy is moving."
"Where?"
Elaine looked at the floor.
"Up."
David’s stomach dropped.
The crack beneath them pulsed.
A low vibration passed through the room.
Then something struck the underside of the floor.
Once.
David stepped back.
Another impact.
Stronger.
Elaine’s tablet slipped slightly in her hand.
"That’s impossible."
David looked at her.
"What is?"
"The structure is sealed."
Another impact.
This time, the floor cracked further.
David instinctively reached for Jenna’s weapon.
Then stopped.
Jenna wasn’t there.
Right.
He hadn’t even realized he’d moved.
Elaine noticed.
"You were going to reach for her."
David lowered his hand.
"Muscle memory."
"Interesting."
"Don’t start."
The floor trembled again.
Elaine moved toward the door.
"We’re leaving."
David nodded.
"Good."
She stopped.
The door didn’t open.
She tried again.
Nothing.
David looked at her.
"Please tell me that’s temporary."
Elaine entered another command.
The panel remained dead.
"Power failure."
"We have emergency lighting."
"The security system is separate."
"So?"
"It should still work."
David stared at the door.
Something was keeping them inside.
He heard it again.
Not the voice.
A sound.
A faint vibration beneath his feet.
Almost like breathing.
David looked down.
"Elaine."
"I know."
"No."
He pointed.
"Look."
The crack had begun to spread.
But it wasn’t spreading randomly.
The lines were forming a pattern.
Seven circles.
One after another.
David stared.
The same symbol.
Only this time, it was being drawn from beneath them.
Elaine slowly stepped backward.
"David."
"Yeah?"
"Don’t touch it."
"I wasn’t planning to."
The seventh circle completed.
The floor went silent.
Then the center opened.
Not collapsed.
Opened.
A perfectly circular section of the floor sank several inches before disappearing into darkness.
David stared down.
There was a staircase beneath them.
Stone.
Old.
Far older than anything else in the facility.
Elaine’s face had gone pale.
David looked at her.
"That’s your ancient underground structure?"
"Yes."
"You’ve never seen this staircase?"
"No."
"Then how do you know?"
Elaine swallowed.
"Because the records described it."
David looked down again.
"How?"
"The team found the entrance thirty-two years ago."
"And?"
"They couldn’t open it."
David’s eyes narrowed.
"Then why is it open now?"
Elaine didn’t answer.
He already knew.
He hated that he knew.
His chest pulsed again.
The sensation became stronger.
Something below was waiting.
Not moving.
Not attacking.
Waiting.
David stepped toward the opening.
Elaine immediately grabbed his arm.
"No."
David looked at her hand.
Then at her.
"Let go."
"Absolutely not."
"It called me."
"I know."
"So you know I need to go."
"No."
"Elaine."
"Whatever is down there recognized you."
"Exactly."
"That’s why you stay here."
David gave her a flat look.
"If it can reach me from underneath a building, staying upstairs doesn’t exactly feel like a solution."
Elaine tightened her grip.
"You don’t understand what you’re dealing with."
"Neither do you."
She went silent.
David’s voice softened.
"That’s what scares you."
Elaine slowly released him.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then the door behind them suddenly unlocked.
The red emergency lights switched back to normal.
The security panel came alive.
David glanced over his shoulder.
"That was convenient."
Elaine stared at the door.
"It wasn’t."
"What?"
"The system didn’t restore the power."
David looked at her.
"Then who did?"
Neither of them answered.
A soft chime came from the tablet.
Elaine looked down.
Her face changed.
David leaned closer.
"What?"
She turned the screen toward him.
A new message had appeared.
Not from the facility.
Not from any recognized system.
Just three words.
HE IS WAITING.
David stared.
"Who?"
The message disappeared.
A second one appeared.
COME ALONE.
David frowned.
Elaine immediately shook her head.
"No."
David looked at her.
"I didn’t say anything."
"You were thinking about going."
"Maybe."
"You aren’t going."
David looked toward the staircase.
His chest pulsed again.
This time, the sensation was almost comforting.
That frightened him more than anything else.
He had no idea who was waiting below.
No idea why the thing knew his name.
No idea why it called him Host.
And absolutely no idea why some part of him felt as though he had been here before.
He stepped toward the staircase.
Elaine moved with him.
David stopped.
"I thought I was supposed to come alone."
Elaine looked at him.
"You’re not going alone."
"But it specifically said—"
"I don’t care what it said."
She picked up her tablet.
"I’ve spent too many years cleaning up after people who thought mysterious instructions were invitations."
David almost smiled.
"That sounded personal."
"It was."
They reached the edge of the opening.
The staircase descended into darkness.
David couldn’t see the bottom.
He could only feel it.
Something below.
Waiting.
Watching.
Knowing.
He took the first step.
Nothing happened.
The second.
Still nothing.
Elaine followed.
David looked back at the room one final time.
The combat chamber was still there.
The broken construct.
The scattered equipment.
The place where everything had made sense.
Then he looked down.
The darkness seemed deeper than it should have been.
His chest pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then the voice returned.
This time, it was clearer.
Closer.
Almost beside him.
’You finally remembered.’
David froze.
Elaine looked at him.
"What?"
He stared into the darkness.
The voice whispered again.
’Not yet.’
David’s blood ran cold.
’But you will.’
He took another step.
The staircase swallowed him.
And somewhere far below, something opened its eyes.
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