The floodlights pierced the dark— —and revealed the impossible. A cavern opened before them, vast enough to swallow a skyscraper whole. The walls shimmered with a gssy sheen, as if lined with obsidian or volcanic gss. Stactites hung from the ceiling like the teeth of a slumbering beast, yet none looked natural. Too symmetrical. Too deliberate. It wasn’t a cave. It was a chamber. A chamber someone had designed.

  “My god…” Sphinx’s voice trembled through the comms. ??“This… this is not geology. This is architecture.”

  They moved as one—carefully, reverently. The floor beneath their boots was smooth, faintly concave, as if gently guiding them inward. In the center of the space, a faint glow pulsed.

  “Light source ahead,” Echo said. ??“Non-electrical. Unknown origin.”

  Ren approached first, sweeping his light across the floor. Faint lines emerged—like circuitry. Etched patterns ran across the stone in delicate paths, converging at the center. At the heart of the room sat a pilr. And atop it… A throne? No—not a seat. A cradle. Made from the same obsidian-like stone. Resting in it: a shape half-concealed under dust and time.

  “It’s… a sarcophagus,” Sky said, breathless.

  Ren nodded slowly. It wasn’t Egyptian. Nor Mayan. Nor anything known.

  He stepped closer, brushing the dust aside. More symbols. Familiar—and not. Sumerian script, next to hieroglyphs. And beneath that, something else—curving, fungal lines. The symbol again. The brain entwined with threads of mycelium.

  “It’s them,” Pixel whispered. ??“Same as on the cube. And the sphere.”

  “And on the Gate,” Sky added.

  “This must be a central nexus,” Ren murmured. ??“Not just a room. A… shrine? A command center?”

  Sphinx knelt at the base of the pilr, tracing the carvings with his gloved fingers. ??“These nguages shouldn’t coexist,” he muttered, voice thick with awe. ??“But they do. Here. Rewritten. Unified.”

  “As if someone wanted to make sure everyone—anyone—could read this,” said Sky, standing beside him. ??“No matter when they came.”

  “Or… something else did,” Ren said. ??“Something ancient. And still waiting.”

  A low tremor passed through the floor. Barely perceptible. Like the world exhaling.

  “Did anyone else feel that?” Doc asked.

  “Seismic activity?” Mamba’s voice rose sharply.

  “No registered movement,” Echo replied. ??“It didn’t come from above. It came from… below.”

  They stood still for a long moment, listening. Nothing but silence. And then—

  “I’m getting new readings,” Pixel called out. ??“Something’s waking up. Energy traces. It’s like… the whole pce is a capacitor, and we just flipped the switch.”

  The light at the center pulsed again—brighter this time. And now, it had a rhythm. A heartbeat.

  Ren looked at Sky. ??“We’ve opened something.” ??“We’re past the point of no return,” she replied. ??“Then we go forward,” he said.

  She nodded once. ??“Team, form up. Full scan protocol. No one strays. We treat this pce like it’s alive—because it might be.”

  The words hung heavy in the air. And as they moved deeper into the chamber, guided by light and instinct, the walls seemed to listen. To watch. The second yer had been breached. But what y beneath… was only beginning to stir.