The chamber's light pulsed once, then again, then fractured into warning sigils that rippled through the air like blood spreading in water.

"UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY: CONTAINMENT BREACH IMMINENT."

The voice, calm before, now carried an undercurrent of something like urgency, if such a thing could exist in a machine.

Lines of luminous script spiraled upward, filling the dome in cascading threads of red and white. Each one flashed a countdown.

Thalassaria's trident flared, its edge cutting the gloom with a ghostly sheen. "Caedrion," she said softly, "what have you done?"

He didn't answer immediately.

The hum of the city deepened beneath them, an immense vibration that ran through the floor, through his bones, through the water itself.

Every instinct screamed that something colossal was stirring far below.

"System," he barked, "identify the unauthorized entity."

No response. Only static.

The voice had retreated into silence, as if afraid to speak.

"System!"

He slammed his palm against the console. "Override command, report status of containment sector!"

This time, the reply was faint, fragmented, like words filtering through a dying radio.

"Containment… breach… sequence initiated… entities… active… evacuation advised…"

Then the light dimmed, leaving only the trembling rhythm of emergency glyphs flashing on the walls.

Thalassaria turned, her expression taut. "You said this place was abandoned."

"I did," he said grimly. "It seems I was wrong."

Something deep below them shuddered, an echoing groan like the shifting of metal continents.

A faint blue glow bled upward through cracks in the floor.

Pressure in the water changed, sharp enough to make his ears pop.

Thalassaria raised a hand, her aura flaring. "That's not the sea," she whispered. "It's energy, pure, condensed resonance. The kind that could vaporize a leviathan."

"Which means whatever was locked in here just woke up."

Another tremor. Louder this time.

The holographic map above the console flickered, showing the lowest sectors of the facility, massive spherical chambers, collapsing into static.

One by one, containment sigils blinked out.

Caedrion swore under his breath. "We need to move."

"To where?"

"Anywhere that isn't directly above that."

He scanned the projection.

A narrow corridor extended from the command hall to an upper promenade that connected to the outer defense ring.

If the layout was accurate, it was reinforced, sealed when the Archons evacuated.

He pointed. "There. That section should have an energy barrier intact. We can regroup and…"

The rest of his sentence vanished beneath a resonant boom.

The floor tilted, a sound like a thousand gears grinding against each other. Dust, or what passed for dust in this sterile air, drifted up in clouds of luminous motes.

Thalassaria moved first, gripping his arm. "Then stop thinking. Swim."

They fled the command hall, the great doors sliding shut behind them with an echo that reverberated through their armor.

The corridor ahead stretched in both directions, smooth glass walls alive with running light, symbols pulsing like veins.

For a moment, Caedrion thought the architecture itself was breathing.

He could hear his own heartbeat inside his helmet, hear the low rasp of Thalassaria's trident humming beside him.

"System," he shouted again as they moved. "Activate internal defense protocols!"

The reply came, splintered and distant.

"Defense… offline. Security constructs: neutralized. Power diverted to… containment integrity…"

"Perfect," he muttered. "Everything but the part that can actually save us."

Thalassaria cast him a sharp look. "Did the Eidolons always build such fragile wonders?"

"They weren't gods," he snapped, and then forced himself to soften his tone. "Just arrogant enough to think nothing could outlive them."

A hiss passed through the corridor, a vibration rather than a sound.

The lights along the wall flickered once, twice, then steadied.

She stopped. "Did you feel that?"

He nodded slowly. "It's moving. Whatever it is.. It's moving up."

They picked up speed, the corridor twisting upward like the inside of a nautilus shell.

Sections of the floor had begun to glow, faint symbols forming and fading as their footsteps passed.

Behind them, the sound grew louder: not the groan of metal, but something stranger. A pulse. Wet and rhythmic.

The sound of something breathing where nothing living should be.

Caedrion didn't look back. "We have to reach the upper ring. If we can seal the pressure gates…"

"…we trap ourselves inside a tomb," Thalassaria cut in. "If the gates fall, the abyss will pour in, and all your glass gods' works will crumble."

"I'd rather drown than see what's behind us."

She almost smiled. "Then we're in agreement."

They rounded a bend.

The passage opened into a vast atrium… a dome of translucent crystal where currents of light drifted like underwater auroras.

Through it, the faint outline of Submareth's army could be seen outside the barrier… thousands of armored shapes waiting beyond the shimmering wall of the ruin.

For a moment, Caedrion's breath caught at the sight of them… motionless, unaware of what had been unleashed beneath their queen's feet.

He turned back toward the corridor they came from.

The blue glow had intensified, flooding the passage in shifting halos.

Thalassaria's voice was low now, the playful sharpness gone. "Caedrion."

"I see it."

"Do you have a weapon?"

He drew his revolver, the runes along its barrel flaring with rust-light as it reacted to his aura.

"Six rounds," he said. "And none of them meant for gods…."

"Then let's hope we don't need to meet any."

The glow grew brighter, too bright for comfort, and the hum of the facility deepened into a full-throated vibration that shook dust from the ceiling.

Caedrion could feel it in his chest, the same low resonance that had filled the Architect's cage beneath Dawnhaven, the sound of power that predated history itself.

"System," he said quietly, "is there any way to restore containment?"

Static answered.

He tried again, louder. "System!"

Finally, the voice returned, warped and distant, as if echoing from beneath a sea of static.

"Containment compromised. Organic signatures detected in proximity to breach sectors. Warning: administrator presence within lethal radius."

"Wonderful," he said flatly. "We're standing in the blast zone."

Thalassaria tilted her head, sensing the same energy flux. "Whatever's below us… it's coming closer."

He looked toward the dome again. The army outside still hadn't moved. The barrier separating them shimmered faintly, as though weakening.

He turned back to Thalassaria. "We can't stay here."

She nodded. "Then up."

They sprinted toward the spiral ramp at the dome's far side, light from the encroaching blue glow chasing them up the steps.

Halfway up, the ground lurched again… a tremor strong enough to knock Caedrion to one knee. His revolver clattered across the steps, spinning away in the current.

Thalassaria reached down, pulling him up with one arm. "You're slower than a mortal prince should be."

He managed a breathless grin. "And you're heavier than a myth."

The corridor above them pulsed once more, and then a long, low sound rolled through the ruin.

It wasn't mechanical. It wasn't human. It was something between, a sound born of both light and breath, as if the walls themselves exhaled.

The blue glow below shifted, folding into tendrils that began to climb the central spire like roots reaching for sunlight.

Caedrion and Thalassaria reached the upper ring just as the first strand breached the command floor.

The console below flickered violently, its symbols breaking apart, scattering like sparks.

The voice spoke once more, clear and sharp now, as if awoken to terror.

"Containment breach complete. Specimens active. Recommend immediate evacuation to the planetary surface."

Thalassaria looked at him. "Specimens?"

He met her gaze, heart hammering.

"Whatever they made here," he said quietly, "they're still alive."

And beneath their feet, the ruin began to breathe again.

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