Location: Unknown Basement – Earth
Halden's eyes opened slowly.
It felt like waking underwater—everything blurred, muted. His thoughts drifted like dust in a storm. Pain pulsed at the base of his skull, rhythmic and cruel, like a drum echoing in a cave.
Overhead, a bare bulb flickered once and buzzed faintly. It swung gently on a rusted wire.
He tried to move—couldn't.
His wrists were bound tight behind the chair. His arms were numb, locked in place too long. His legs were strapped down, ankles crushed against cold iron. The chair beneath him was bolted to the floor.
He breathed slowly. Deliberately. His Bureau training whispered in the back of his mind:
"Pain is information. Fear is adrenaline. Control both—and you're still alive."
Then the memories hit him like a flashbang.
The Lancaster house. The hidden door. The Project Astraline files.
And then—
Pain.
Someone had struck him. Hard. Then everything went black.
Now he was here.
Wherever here was.
