The river finally appeared again after what felt like far longer than it should have.
By the time Tyler and Tansy pushed through the last stretch of tangled forest growth, both of them were scratched by branches, their clothes carrying traces of dirt, dust, and dried leaves from everything that had happened underground.
The sight of flowing water felt strangely reassuring.
Cold current moved steadily between the trees, glinting under the afternoon light as if nothing unusual had happened anywhere nearby.
Behind them lay an old ruin.
Below that ruin lay a hidden laboratory from another age.
And inside that laboratory—machines, robots, preserved food, a spatial passage, strange videos, and a half-magma monster with gun barrels for arms that nearly turned them into smoke.
Yet somehow, despite all that, they were now simply walking beside a river again like ordinary people returning from a hunt.
Tansy adjusted the packets hidden inside her dress and looked at the current.
