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Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: " The Demon's Whisper"

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime.

Sid stepped out into a pristine hallway lit with overhead panels — white, sterile, and far too normal for the things he'd just been told. Sleek gray walls. Frosted glass doors. Clean flooring. It looked like an office building.

Professor Nox walked ahead, hands behind his back.

Sid followed, glancing left and right. Men and women in sharp black suits passed silently, some with glowing crests on their gloves or collars. Every eye that met Sid's gaze quickly looked away. Some whispered after he passed. Others stiffened.

They know me already, Sid thought. But I don't know any of them.

They turned at a corner where a door stood guarded by two soldiers in dark armor. They stepped aside without a word.

The door slid open.

Inside was a vast oval chamber — polished stone floor, arched ceiling, and a circular table in the center, surrounded by high-backed chairs. Symbols shimmered across the walls, shifting faintly like breathing runes.

Sid hesitated at the threshold.

Nox paused. "Don't speak unless spoken to. This is just confirmation."

He stepped inside. Sid followed.

---

The room quieted instantly. Seated figures turned their eyes toward him.

Some were old, cloaked in layered robes. Others younger, wearing sleek uniforms with crests of authority. The glow above the table shifted, forming a luminous glyph in the air — chaotic, circular, pulsing red.

Then a voice broke the silence.

> "Is it him…?"

Another leaned forward. "The signs match. The fever. The awakening. The dreams."

A third voice — calm, almost reverent — murmured, "The vessel has finally awakened."

"After all these years," someone whispered. "I never thought I'd see the day."

Sid remained still. But inside, his heartbeat thundered.

> "He's not ready," a different voice said. "The demon sleeps, but not for long."

"The resonance spiked the moment he crossed into the vault wing," came a clear response. "There's no more doubt."

Then the voice from the highest seat — the Elder — spoke, slow and final:

> "The time has come. Mark him. Guide him. Shield him."

The light dimmed.

> "Axis Conference concluded."

---

The doors opened.

Sid stepped out into the hallway. Cold air struck his face.

Behind him, the door sealed shut with a deep metallic hiss.

Not like a door closing.

Like a gate locking something ancient behind it.

Or keeping it out.

His feet moved. But his mind lagged behind.

A demon. The demon. Inside me.

The words echoed in his skull like a cracked bell.

And something beneath his ribs stirred — restless.

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