The floor jolted beneath us, hard enough that my knees nearly buckled, and that was all it took. Elyon grabbed my arm and pulled me forward, not gently, not carefully—just fast.
"Move," he said.
His voice wasn't calm this time. It wasn't controlled. It cut straight through the noise in my head, sharp and urgent, and my body reacted before my mind caught up.
I moved with him.
The vault we'd ducked into wasn't the end of anything. It was only a threshold. A place meant to slow disaster, not stop it. I realized that the moment another impact thundered through the structure, closer than the last. The sound didn't echo the way I expected. It pressed inward instead, vibrating through bone.
The door behind us held, but barely. Elyon swore under his breath. It didn't sound rehearsed. It sounded real.
"This way."
He didn't wait to see if I followed. He yanked me after him, deeper into the vault's interior, through a narrower passage that hadn't been visible from the outer chamber. The walls closed in immediately. No glass. No open space. Just solid, matte surfaces that swallowed sound and light.
My breathing went ragged. Too loud and fast.
"I can't—"
"You can," he said, not turning back.
The passage ended in another door, thicker than the first, its seams nearly invisible. Elyon pressed his palm against a recessed panel. Nothing happened.
Another blow struck the outside of the vault. This one sent a sharp tremor through the floor, rattling something loose inside my chest.
"Elyon."
"I know."
He tried again. The panel flared briefly, then dimmed.
"They're already inside the security ring," he muttered. Not to me. To himself.
My arm hurt where he was gripping it, but I didn't tell him to let go. I wasn't sure I could stand if he did. A sound cut through the vault. Like a metal screaming as something was forced where it didn't belong.
Elyon turned suddenly and shoved me back, positioning himself between me and the door without thinking about it. The movement knocked the air from my lungs, and my back hit the wall harder than I meant it to.
"I need you quiet," he said. His voice was low. "No matter what you hear."
"What's happening?" I whispered.
His jaw flexed. "The part I hoped we wouldn't get to."
The door finally responded with a muted click. Elyon moved fast, pulling me through the opening just as the outer chamber reverberated with another violent impact.
The door sealed behind us.
This space was smaller. No screens. No consoles. Just bare walls and a single narrow bench bolted into the side. The ceiling felt closer. The air warmer. My skin prickled instantly.
I became too aware of him. How near he was. How there wasn't room for space anymore.
The vault locked with a deep, final sound that I felt in my ribs.
Silence followed but not too real. The kind that comes when noise is cut off so completely it leaves your ears ringing.
I slid down the wall before I realized I was doing it, my legs giving out all at once. Elyon crouched immediately, too fast, his hand catching my elbow before I hit the floor.
"Easy."
His hand stayed there.
I sucked in a breath that didn't feel like enough. My chest burned.
"They're still out there," I said.
"Yes."
"They know we're here."
"Yes."
The way he said it made my stomach twist.
"You brought me here knowing this could happen."
His eyes lifted to mine. There was no deflection in them now. No careful distance.
"I brought you here because it already had."
I laughed, short and sharp. "That's not comforting."
"I know."
The vault shuddered faintly, like something massive settling its weight against the outside.
I grabbed the front of Elyon's jacket without meaning to. My fingers curled into the fabric like it was the only solid thing left.
He didn't pull away.
"You said this place was safe," I said.
"I said it was built to survive," he replied. "Those aren't the same thing."
That scared me more than anything else he'd said.
Another sound reached us, distorted and distant, but unmistakable. The voices were close enough that I could almost tell they were human.
My grip tightened. Elyon leaned closer, his forehead nearly brushing mine as he spoke. "Listen to me. Whatever happens next, you stay behind me."
"That's not a plan."
"It's the only one I have time for."
The vault lights dimmed suddenly, dropping into a softer, darker glow. The air shifted again, pressure adjusting, sealing tighter. I felt it immediately, like the room drawing a breath and holding it.
My pulse thudded in my ears.
"What's it doing?" I asked.
Elyon didn't answer right away.
He was watching the door.
"It's isolating," he said finally. "Cutting us off completely."
"For how long?"
His silence stretched just long enough to feel intentional.
"As long as it takes."
Another sound came through the walls—too close. Something heavy scraped along the exterior, followed by a sharp, deliberate knock.
They knew exactly where we were.
My throat tightened. "Elyon."
He looked down at me, really looked this time, as if committing my face to memory.
"When I tell you to move," he said quietly, "you move. Even if it doesn't make sense."
"And if I don't want to?"
His mouth curved, just barely. Not a smile. Something sadder.
"Then I'll move you."
The knock came again, but harder.
The vault responded with a low hum, deeper than before, the walls vibrating faintly as if bracing themselves.
Elyon shifted closer, his shoulder brushing mine, his hand still steady at my arm. There was no room left for doubt, or distance, or pretending I wasn't afraid.
Whatever this place was about to become, it was going to happen with us trapped inside it together.