The moment the vault doors fully retracted, the wind rushed in—warm, dry, and unnaturally still. It carried no scent, no particles, nothing familiar. The air beyond was too clean. Too… engineered.
They stood on the edge of something not found on any map. A hidden expanse of smooth black stone stretched out under a pulsing silver sky, framed by jagged obsidian cliffs. No vegetation. No life. And yet, the horizon shimmered with strange movement, like the world itself was breathing.
Lucy scanned the area, eyes wide. "This wasn't on any satellite recon. This place shouldn't exist."
"That's the point," Orion said quietly. She stepped onto the black surface, the ground reacting to her touch—circuits glowing faintly beneath her boots, like veins under skin.
Cole hesitated at the threshold. "Where the hell are we?"
