Chapter 6: A Desperate Flight

  Elias followed Maya's figure through the transit tunnels, which rang with dripping water. His boots splashed in shallow puddles, each stride creating waves on the sluggish surface. The musty air flooded his lungs, heavy with decades of abandonment.

  Maya lifted her hand, signaling him to stop. She pressed her ear to a rusting maintenance door and hammered out a complex rhythm. Three matching taps responded from the other side.

  The door creaked open, revealing a little safe house carved into the tunnel wall. Strings of emergency lights gave everything a sickening yellow tint. A slender man with weathered features nodded to Maya.

  "They're searching the upper levels," the source said quietly. "But you should be safe here for now."

  Elias collapsed into a metal crate, his muscles throbbing after their escape. The events in the Council Chamber flashed through his mind: the guards' coordinated response, Seraphine's decision to stay behind, and the violet energy that had almost killed her.

  A crackling sound filled the chamber as screens hanging on the wall sprang to life. Elias' actual visage emerged, taken from his council identification photo. The stern voice of the emergency broadcasting system broke through the silence.

  The emergency broadcasting system issued a warning to all inhabitants: We are seeking Dr. Elias Astren for high treason and the attempted assassination of council members. He is to be considered armed and dangerous. Any information leading to his capture will be rewarded with half a million credits.

  Elias' stomach twisted. His credentials scrolled over the screen: his research accomplishments, academic positions, and security clearance. His achievements were portrayed as evidence of his alleged betrayal.

  "The rewards have been authorized across all three continental zones," the contact stated. "They're not taking any chances."

  Maya paced the small area, verifying sightlines via cracks in the wall panels. "They will hunt you like an animal now. We need to move."

  "I spent my life serving them." Elias' voice came out harsh. "Every discovery and breakthrough I made was based on lies."

  "The Council is skilled at deception," Maya said. "Making you believe you're working for something greater, when really you're just another tool for their power."

  The program repeated, with his face appearing over and over. Each occurrence felt like a further blow to his former existence. This hollow fugitive version of himself had replaced the respected scientist and reliable researcher.

  Every shade in the tunnels could conceal an informant. Every passing stranger might be memorizing his features and calculating the reward. The paranoia seeped in like a damp chill through the walls.

  "The contact has returned from examining the tunnel," Maya said. "Security forces are widening their search grid. They are using energy scanners calibrated to detect recent exposure to Ethereon."

  Elias touched the vial of Alpha-7 in his pocket. The substance that had sparked all of this made him easier to locate; it was the key to exposing the Council's crimes.

  "We can't stay here," Maya explained. "Those scanners will pick up your signal eventually."

  The walls seemed to close in around them. Countless eyes looked up, enticed by the prospect of credits. His world had shrunk to these shadowy passageways and the few individuals he still trusted.

  Maya examined her firearm, the violet streaks in her hair reflecting the emergency lights. "The resistance maintains a network of safe houses. We'll keep moving and stay ahead of their scanners."

  The broadcast loop began again, his visage seeming ghostly on the screens. Elias stared at the image, at the man he once was, and felt the remaining strands of his previous life unravel.

  Standing on the brink of the deserted aerodrome, Seraphine could see the once-grand arches drooping and shrouded in darkness. As heavily weighted as the approaching night, the atmosphere was thick with anxiety. The flickering lights of surveillance drones shattered the twilight, their beams crossing like frenzied fingers looking for prey.

  She looked up, her heart racing. Locking down the city's airspace made her less determined. With every piercing siren, she was reminded of the impending arrival of attack teams and the relentless pursuit of Vastion Prime by enforcers. No one could evade their observant gaze.

  In the midst of her daydream, she heard the gentle crunch of gravel. Elias stepped out of the shadows, concern etched into his angular face. His violet eyes revealed his desperation as he hurried towards her. His breath came out as he drew nearer to Seraphine, bringing them closer together.

  "Leave immediately. They are drawing near."

  "Forget it," she replied, her voice quivering despite her best efforts.

  With a plea written all over his face, Elias moved closer. "You shall not remain in this place! There is too much at stake for us to allow that. You can be sure that they will pursue you."

  "I can't leave everything behind," she responded, her voice strained with anguish. "If I leave now, I'll be running forever."

  As she looked down, she saw the shattered pieces of paper that represented their once-promising future together, a future built on revolt and justice.

  Elias raked his fingers through his dark hair, annoyance mixed with concern. "And how about the lives of everyone else? We must uncover the architect's crimes. Hey, here's our chance!"

  "But how much will it cost?" she asked.

  Just as Seraphine was about to break beneath the strain, her voice caught and raised a little. She raised her chin defiantly, but there was a flaw in her facade. "Until we're nothing, they will hunt us down."

  Elias whispered, "You're right," his voice tinged with melancholy. "But those lives will be lost forever if we don't act now."

  As she witnessed him battle inner demons, her heart wrenched; his fervor inspired a spark of bravery in her, but she herself was paralyzed by fear. He went on, "I don't want you to face this battle alone," and stepped closer, as if his resolve could cross any distance.

  Seraphine adamantly asserted, "I have responsibilities," but she stumbled under his intense scrutiny, which cut through the mask of authority she had painstakingly built.

  "Responsibilities?" He gestured slightly, showing disapproval. "By 'loyalty,' do you imply support for a system that has failed to alleviate human misery? You can finally escape from it now!"

  "I can't just resign," she retorted with more malice than she meant.

  Her remarks made him wince a little, and a look of agony crossed his face, but he kept going anyhow. "Could you please consider if staying there might make a difference? You know how they operate! Have you witnessed it with your own eyes?"

  As suspicion ate away at Seraphine's soul, she tightened her fists; every accusation seemed like a blow to the walls she had painstakingly constructed around herself.

  "Please." In the middle of mounting stress, his voice dipped to a desperate whisper, refocusing her attention on him. "You can be so much more than just one piece in their game."

  At that very second, she caught a vision of the world outside those walls—a place full of promise and opportunity but also plagued by dread and doubt.

  Before she could react, an echoing alarm interrupted their fragile moment, serving as a terrifying reminder that time was slipping away like sand through fingers. Footsteps resounded menacingly on concrete as the faraway scream rushed closer.

  In a second, Elias straightened up, his gaze darting towards the entrance as the horizon grew darker, indicating that the enforcers were mercilessly pursuing them. "Seraphine!" he yelled out, with renewed passion as the sense of urgency tore at him.

  An overwhelming sense of fear gripped her as she felt a surge of panic rising within her. The focus had shifted from just them to everyone else who was still bound by the shackles of oppression.

  "Go!" Without hesitation, she retreated into the shadows, her instincts hardwired from years of navigating deception among the highborn ranks igniting a fire beneath her skin.

  Just then, Maya showed up by Elias's side, her movements exuding a fierce grace as she pushed him away from the imminent danger that was closing in on them.

  "Come on!" Maya firmly gripped Elias' arm before casting a glimpse over her shoulder at Seraphine, who had been caught up in doubt for too long.

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  "Be careful!" Elias raised his voice over the clamour, his words coming from nowhere yet burdened by the sense of despondency that enveloped their emotions. A silent plea lingered between them, and Maya tugged Elias back towards safety as enforcers raced forward.

  Adrenaline coursed through Seraphine's veins like wildfire, turning terror into a flight instinct and clutching firmly onto courage, which was diminishing in the gloomy depths around them both.

  Seraphine slipped deeper into darkness behind ancient pillars crumbling under time's relentless passage while chaos erupted outside—the screams blending into an overwhelming confusion around fading silhouettes stealing hope, while vibrant futures hung precariously between decisions never made and paths not yet laid bare before longing souls were torn apart by conflict spiraling too far beyond reckoning—one choice defining fate across dimensions lost amid cascading horror.

  As Maya led Elias through a maze of rusted shipping containers, the smell of burning metal and industrial trash filled his nose. He was always running, and the dirty air that seemed to coat his throat with every breath hurt his lungs. He could still detect the bitter taste of chemical runoff on his lips.

  "Keep up."

  Maya's silver-violet hair sparkled in the sharp security lights that lit up the container yard. Her military training for years was evident in her battle-ready stance. "The vessel's hidden in an old maintenance hangar."

  The siren far away wailed, its sound rising and falling in a sudden crescendo. Elias's face showed up on the huge video screens that were all over the industrial area, along with a horrifying bounty figure that made him sick to his stomach. The numbers kept going up, as if the Council were trying to get every needy person in the city to join.

  "Every citizen within fifty miles will be hunting us."

  Elias ducked under a low-hanging pipe and felt the heat coming from the above steam-filled tube. I should've gone the other way. Perhaps I could have obtained more evidence first.

  Maya turned around as a police drone flew by, pressing him against the wall of a container with practiced ease. The broken metal penetrated his coat and lodged in his back.

  "You exposed the genocide."

  "There is no clean way to do that."

  Her intensified emerald eyes on him left no room for doubt. "Either die regretting or survive and finish what you started."

  The drone's searchlight moved back, and the whine of its motor got louder. Maya pulled Elias through a space between some crates just as the beam showed where they had been before. He knew the metal would leave a mark on his shoulder, but it was preferable to being visible.

  As they came out, they saw a longer hallway lined with face recognition scanners. The red lights on the scanners were aimed at them, creating a web of red beams. Maya pulled out a small object and hurled it forward. The scanners sparkled and went dark, leaving behind a strong smell of damaged circuits.

  "Every checkpoint has a Council watch group," Maya whispered, her voice almost too quiet to be heard over the noise. "But they don't know all the old smuggling routes."

  Behind them, there was a mechanical clang and then the shuffle of many feet. Voices came closer, seeking to claim the reward. Elias's heart pounded fiercely against his ribs, each pounding seeming to echo throughout the cramped chamber.

  Maya quickly led him down a maintenance shaft, but her steps were steady and quiet. The rusty ladder rungs trembled with each step, and fragments of rusty metal cascaded into the darkness below. At the bottom, a narrow tunnel snaked into the darkness, its walls slick with moisture.

  "The hangar's just ahead." Maya switched on a small light, creating eerie shadows along the walls. "Once we reach the ship—"

  A high-pitched whine and the clear sound of servo motors connecting cut through the air. Three security drones fell from ventilation shafts with a scary blue glow coming from their guns.

  "Down!"

  Energy bolts struck the wall and burned it, leaving holes in the metal that resembled smoke. Maya pushed Elias past her. With one smooth move, she pulled out her gun and fired, killing two drones with precise hits to their brains.

  The third drone shot out a net. The carbon-fiber strands of the net sparkled in the emergency lights. As Elias rolled over, he felt a slight pressure against his shoulder. He swung around and caught the drone's stabilizer on a loose pipe. As it spiraled into the wall, sparks and broken parts flew everywhere.

  "Move!"

  As Maya pushed him forward, heavy footsteps, yells, and the crackle of security radios echoed overhead. They ran into the hangar. A sleek ship emerged from the shadows, its hull adorned with pieces of mismatched plating, indicating frequent, quick repairs. The ship looked like it had made twelve desperate escapes. Elias hoped it still had one more in it.

  Maya ran to the cabin as Elias tried every lock he could find to secure the hangar doors. The engines began to hum with a deep vibration at the same time that the other side began to pound, making the metal doors bulge inward with each hit.

  "Strap in!" Maya effortlessly navigated through the controls, activating them with ease. "This'll be rough."

  The old gears on the hangar roof complained loudly as it opened. The air was filled with the harsh beams of searchlights and a swarm of battle drones that looked like angry bugs.

  Maya exerted her control. As the ship shot up, it rolled to escape energy blasts that left ionized tracks in the air. Elias felt his stomach lurch as they swerved through the industrial towers. The inertial dampeners were working hard to make up for the sudden changes in direction.

  "Blockade ahead."

  Even though there was a lot going on, Maya's voice stayed steady. The precision in her commands was clear in every exact change. "Hold on to something."

  Elias's teeth clenched as the ship dove between buildings and scraped against metal surfaces. Drones behind them blew up when they hit things or ran into each other in the small space, starting a chain reaction of destruction.

  They came out of the sky above the city. A queue of military ships hung in the sky like hungry animals. Elias could feel the high-pitched whine of their guns as they charged.

  Maya turned the engines off. The ship fell like a stone, going through several layers of city structures. As they fell, wind screamed past the ship. At the last second, she fired the thrusters, sending them through a maintenance tunnel made for ships that take away trash. Elias could have reached out and touched the walls.

  They blew through the roadblock and came out the other side. Maya pressed the throttle, and the city disappeared behind them as they launched into the night sky, leaving trails of superheated air in their path.

  Elias relaxed his white-knuckled grasp on the seat, noticing the indentations his fingers had made in the armrests.

  "That was..."

  "Not over yet." Maya's gaze remained locked ahead, searching for any pursuit craft. "But we're still alive."

  "That's the first step."

  The ship's emergency lights projected an eerie red glow across the cabin as they floated through hyperspace. Elias' hands trembled as he linked the stolen data crystal to the ship's old panel. Lines of damaged writing scrolled by, revealing bits of confidential archives that had survived the Council's cleansing.

  "These logs..." Elias looked at the wavering monitor. "They're from before the Architect's ascension."

  Maya leaned against the doorframe, her silvery-violet hair reflecting the dim light. "The Council erased the majority of records from that era. Whatever's on that crystal may be the last surviving copy."

  Elias' fingers moved quickly across the keys, piecing together the fractured facts. A pattern emerged: allusions to early Ethereum trials, but the terminology varied. The ancient literature referred to this concept as "soul essence" or "life force." His throat tightened as he deciphered further entries.

  "Look at this." He pointed to a section. "They weren't mining Ethereum; they were extracting it from living humans."

  The Vaelari colonies were involved in these activities, which led to frequent use of the word "Purge" in their logs. The word "Purge" featured frequently in the logs, invariably associated with large disappearances. Entire settlements had gone dark overnight. According to official history, the Vaelari abandoned their colonies to flee an unknown menace. But the documents told a different story.

  "They didn't flee." Elias' voice cracked. "We harvested them." The Architect needs their vital power for his experiments.

  The cabin felt smaller and colder. Each revelation seemed like a bodily blow. The Architect had not discovered Ethereon; he had created it via genocide. Elias spent years researching the violet energy that powered their civilization, draining it from countless innocent people.

  A classified study record described the procedure: Maximum Ethereon is obtained when subjects are harvested at their peak panic response. We recommend continuing mass extraction techniques despite the increased civilian casualties.

  Elias moved back from the console, his gut churning. "Everything I believed about the Architect, about Ethereon... was based on lies."

  "It was all founded on mass murder." He turned to Maya, who looked at him with sympathetic eyes. "How many people knew? How many people helped cover the truth up?"

  "The Council built their power on the Architect's foundation," Maya was saying. "They couldn't let the truth survive."

  The implications rushed over him in waves. His research into Alpha-7, his breakthrough—he'd been laboring to perfect something born of brutality. The violet frequency he discovered was more than simply an oddity. It was an echo of ancient pain, the sound of innumerable stolen souls.

  "What if everything we were taught about the Architect is a lie?" Elias' voice was barely audible. "What if he isn't a divine being, but rather something else? Something that thrives on suffering?"

  The emergency lights fluctuated, creating odd shadows throughout the cabin. In their feeble glimmer, Elias could almost imagine seeing them: the Vaelari's ghostly faces, their souls stuck between dimensions, waiting for justice.

  The ship's communication array flared to life, breaking the deep silence. A burst of static revealed a familiar face: Commander Vira, the head of the Nexus resistance group. Her hologram flickered and became distorted due to interference.

  "Elias. The situation on our world..." Her image wavered. "It's worse than we anticipated."

  Elias approached the display, his chest cramping. The commander's normally cool demeanor had been shattered, revealing raw urgency underneath.

  "The Council has undertaken a comprehensive crackdown. They're calling it 'emergency containment measures.' The entire district is under martial law. Anyone suspected of knowing or working with you is being hauled up for 'questioning.'"

  Maya cursed under her breath. Elias' fingers dug into the edge of the console.

  "How many?"

  "At least three hundred have been held in the last six hours. The Council is moving swiftly, using your escape as an excuse to suppress any hint of dissent." Vira's image faltered. "But it is not at all. Our discoveries about the Architect have caused a stir. There were riots in the lowest sectors. People are demanding answers."

  The transmission was fractured and then stabilized.

  "The resistance network is fracturing," Vira continued. "Half of our cells want to support you; exploit this momentum to ultimately challenge the Council's power. The others—" She paused. "They believe that harboring you will generate too much heat."

  "I want to cut ties before the Council discovers any connections."

  Elias watched security images streaming beside Vira's hologram: smoke-filled streets, riot squads, and people fleeing violet energy weapons. Vira's study and discoveries had ignited this explosive situation.

  "The Council's broadcasting on all channels," Vira said. "They're portraying you as a dangerous extremist, arguing that your 'falsehoods' about the Architect endanger the stability of civilization. Some folks are buying it. Others..." Her expression stiffened. "Others remember loved ones who disappeared during the 'purges.' They're ready to fight."

  Elias clenched his jaw as he considered the consequences. He'd wanted to expose the truth, but not in this way—with innocent people paying the price. However, the Council's savage response just reaffirmed what he had already found about their actual nature.

  "We need to make a decision quickly," Vira added. "Either we rally the resistance cells around you and commit to a full-fledged insurrection, or we scatter and go dark. What will it be?"

  The weight of the decision pushed down on Elias' shoulders. He was no revolutionary or leader. He was a scientist who had discovered horrifying realities. But as he watched the turmoil erupt in the streams and saw the Council's masks finally slip away, he realized there was no going back to his previous life.

  His hands remained steady as he gripped the terminal.

  "Then we better make this count."