The jet soared above the Mediterranean, slicing through clouds like a silent predator. Cloaked by Noctis' power and layered with SHIELD-resistant stealth tech, it was undetectable by conventional radar. Inside, the hum of the engines was muted, replaced by the occasional rattle of turbulence and the steady beeping of surveillance monitors. Every few minutes, a soft pulse emitted from the navigation system, synchronizing with the artifact's signal.
Alexander sat with his eyes closed, but he wasn't resting. Shadows twitched faintly beneath his boots, pulsing in time with the foreign energy signature embedded within the coordinates they had decoded. He could feel the frequency vibrating against his bones—subtle, ancient, and deliberate. Whatever lay ahead wasn't new. It was something that had been waiting.
He opened his eyes slowly, the glow of his pupils dim but focused. "It's still calling," he murmured.
Vasili was at the cockpit, scanning telemetry while muttering about desert crosswinds. "We're approaching the target zone. Coordinates match, but there's nothing on satellite overlays. No elevation, no known landmarks. Just… blank rock."
Noctis stood beside Alexander, half-merged into the wall, watching the shifting clouds outside with eyes that glowed softly. There was tension in the air—something neither of them had felt in previous missions. "Then it's buried. And hidden deliberately."
Alexander nodded. "Let's see who wanted it forgotten."
They banked eastward, descending into a canyon carved deep into the edge of the Sahara. Jagged rocks gave way to winding crevices, and the sunlight distorted across shifting sands. The target wasn't marked on any map. No satellite had ever documented the coordinates. Even SHIELD's encrypted atlas showed it as geological dead space.
And yet, the signal grew stronger.
The compound revealed itself only when they were nearly upon it. A geometric structure buried into the rock—angular and ancient, like something out of a civilization lost before time began. The surface was covered in sand-worn glyphs and jagged spires, some partially buried by dunes, others glowing faintly beneath layers of time. The entrance was a perfect circle, slowly rotating open as their jet hovered to a stop.
The energy welcoming them wasn't hostile.
It was expectant.
They landed without resistance.
The trio stepped onto scorched stone, the desert wind howling behind them. Shadows recoiled from the sun, gathering tight around Alexander's feet. The ground beneath them vibrated slightly, as if acknowledging his presence. The canyon around them remained silent, unnaturally so—no birds, no wind beyond the facility's mouth. Even the sand refused to move too close.
"Something's awake down here," Noctis said, his voice unusually wary.
"I can feel it," Alexander muttered. "This place… it remembers."
Vasili glanced at the entrance, raising his rifle slightly. "And it's expecting someone."
They descended.
The interior was impossibly vast, a cavernous temple laced with technology so advanced it looked like magic. Walls glowed faintly with veins of energy that pulsed in rhythmic harmony. Staircases curved in impossible angles, seeming to defy gravity. Echoes bounced strangely, as though the air itself twisted sound. Every step forward triggered slight changes in the environment—glyphs lighting up, panels sliding open, ambient heat rising.
Symbols lined the corridor walls—matching those from the artifact and the satellite. Some reacted to Alexander's presence, flickering as he passed. The deeper they went, the more the structure came alive, adapting to their path. Dust lay untouched on the floor, yet no debris cluttered the halls—it was as if the place had simply slept.
A central chamber pulsed ahead.
They entered.
A massive sphere hovered in the center—suspended by energy, humming softly. Around it, twelve obelisks stood in a ring. Two of them were lit. Their bases emitted a low thrumming noise, and a transparent field of data danced above each one, cycling through unknown scripts. Energy flickered from one to another like a heartbeat syncing with a growing tension.
"Same pattern from the vault in North Africa," Noctis whispered. "The columns. Something is activating them."
Alexander approached the sphere. Shadows reached from his palms, touching its surface. The moment his essence made contact, the entire chamber reacted.
The ground trembled.
The sphere split open, revealing a glowing core. A voice—alien, mechanical, layered with time—echoed through the chamber.
"Authentication accepted. Third Sentinel recognized. Awaiting sequence."
Alexander's pulse quickened. "Third? Sequence for what?"
A projection lit the air—stars, constellations, planetary alignments. The room dimmed, and the hologram shifted until it displayed Earth, isolated, surrounded by satellites. Patterns began to overlay one another, mapping potential trajectories.
Then… a countdown began.
Noctis stepped forward. "It's a timer."
Vasili's face paled. "Countdown to what?"
Before anyone could answer, the floor behind them cracked and exploded upward.
From the shadows rose a cloaked figure—tall, armored, its face hidden beneath a smooth black helm. Its hands pulsed with the same energy as the obelisks, casting eerie purple light across the room. Armor etched with the same alien runes as the facility glimmered with kinetic force.
"Unauthorized access detected," it intoned in a voice like crumbling stone.
Without hesitation, it launched forward.
The chamber lit up in crimson and violet as Alexander's shadows surged to meet it.
End of Chapter 88
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