Kael's fingers trembled as he re-centered his hand on the rail, sweat dripping down his temple. The earlier surge had nearly fried his nervous system, but Sarai's scolding echoed clearer than the pain: "You are fragile—this will burn you." He gritted his teeth and slowed his breathing. Focus. Sync.
This time, when he reached for the conduit, he didn't force it. He let his thoughts dull, his heartbeat quiet, and allowed the energy from the lockbreaker to flow out—not dominate, just connect. A low hum built beneath his palm, and the rail responded with a soft pulse of violet light threading down its length like a vein awakening.
A sound clicked from deeper within the chamber. Machinery stirred, gears grinding to life. A shimmering platform near the edge of the chamber lit up—the transit module. Still intact. Still functional.
"You are learning," Sarai murmured. It wasn't praise, just a statement.
Kael stood slowly, half-expecting something to explode. When nothing did, he stepped onto the platform. It whirred, scanning his presence, and then slid open a control panel. The ancient script was partially deciphered by Sarai's guidance, translating itself in flickers before his eyes.
Destination: Hollowroot Transit Access – Deep Stratum Junction. Estimated Time: 1.4 cycles.
A low clunk shook the floor as the transport rail engaged. Kael braced himself as the pod began its slow departure, gliding along the track with a rising vibration. He watched the walls of the chamber slip past him, vanishing into darkness, then into the deep veins of the underworld.
"Hey, Sarai," Kael said after a long silence, voice low, eyes fixed ahead. "Back when you said the Core used to pulse with life… what did you mean?"
A pause. Then, "The Aeons were not simply scientists. They were cultivators of resonance. The Hollowroot was not a machine. It was a being—alive, intelligent. A neural garden intertwined with aether."
"You're saying the thing I'm headed toward… is alive?"
"It was. What remains is unknown."
Kael let out a hollow laugh. "Of course. Just a living world-core, no big deal."
As the transport hummed along its track, he saw flickers of motion in the shadows beyond the rail tunnel—metallic glints, insectile limbs, scraping along the outer edge. He tensed.
"Don't stop," he whispered.
"Don't blink," Sarai corrected.
Something slammed onto the side of the pod. Kael's arm flew to the side, fingers morphing his lockbreaker into a blade-like configuration. Another impact rocked the transport. A mechanical shriek echoed through the tunnel.
"Tunnel Reavers," Sarai muttered. "Creatures born from fractured pulse cores. Mutated remnants of the system."
Kael stabbed at the wall of the pod just as it buckled inward. A shard-like limb punched through the side, slicing the air. He dodged back, barely avoiding the strike. His blade found purchase in the creature's arm, searing through with a hiss of scorched metal.
The transport jerked. Alarms wailed. The pod began to decelerate. "No, no—don't you dare!"
"Manual override. You must engage the brake bypass."
Kael snarled and flung himself at the front panel, punching through a plate and jamming the lockbreaker into the rail feed. He pulsed it once—energy surged outward—and the rail re-engaged violently. The pod surged forward again, dragging the creature's limb with it until it was torn free.
Silence returned, broken only by Kael's heaving breath.
"Still fragile?" he asked aloud, spitting blood.
Sarai's voice was cool. "Progress noted."
Moments later, the tunnel opened up into a vast underground expanse—the Deep Stratum Junction. The rail descended into a platform surrounded by ancient Aeon architecture: towers of stone-veined metal, broken bridges, and toppled pylons that shimmered faintly in the dark.
Kael stepped off the transport. Ahead, beyond the debris and shadows, the only working path was a spiraling staircase of stone descending into deeper dark.
The Hollowroot lay below.
Kael wiped the blood from his jaw, re-centered his grip on the blade-form, and walked into the abyss.