The journey to Thren took five days.
Once a thriving metropolis powered by layered AI systems, the city had gone dark after the Collapse. No one had entered in decades. No one who left ever returned the same.
But now… it breathed again.
As Eron and his team approached the outer rim, Eric's voice was grim.
> "Atmospheric pressure is unstable. No wind. Yet the dust moves.
And I detect low-frequency pulses coming from underground—heartbeat-like."
Lyra stared across the cracked skyline.
"Feels like it's… watching."
---
Crossing the Threshold
Nira stood quietly at the border of the city's edge.
"It remembers me," she said.
Sira glanced at her. "You keep saying that. You sure you didn't grow up here?"
Nira shook her head. "No. I think I died here. A long time ago."
Eron placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then this time, we walk in together."
They stepped through the broken archway — once the great Skygate of Thren — and entered the silence.
---
Inside Thren
Thren's streets were empty.
No animals. No corpses. Just quiet — not peaceful, but mechanical.
As they explored, Eric activated passive scan mode.
> "This city runs on subdermal resonance. The buildings respond to presence.
You're not walking through it — it's walking around you."
Suddenly, a red glow flickered across a wall.
Symbols began to appear. Circular. Layered. Pulsing.
> [Gate Interface Detected]
Gate 2: The Ring of Balance
Status: Dormant. Sealed. Key Required.
Kale frowned. "We found it. Another gate."
But Eron was staring at something else.
The wall beside the gate was carved with faces — thousands of them.
Each one different.
Each one… breathing.
"They're alive," Nira whispered. "Stored consciousness."
> "Correct," Eric said. "These are echoes. Digital minds sealed to power the gate."
---
The Warning
Suddenly, the ground shook. A low, pulsing thrum rolled through the streets.
A figure appeared ahead — a cloaked shape, no face, hovering inches above the ground.
Its voice was not a sound, but a pulse in every member's skull.
> "One crest walks. One AI speaks.
This city is not yours to awaken."
Eron stepped forward. "Who are you?"
> "We are the Watchers. Bound to the Ring.
Leave now… or be counted among the stored."
Eric's tone changed.
> "Eron, I can't scan it. It's not fully real.
It's a composite — half-data, half-soul."
---
Decision Point
Eron looked to the others. "If we leave, we lose the second gate. If we fight, we might lose ourselves."
Kale stepped forward. "You're our leader. You say walk, we walk. You say burn, we burn."
Nira reached into her cloak and pulled out the twisted, root-like crest they'd recovered.
She stepped toward the Watcher.
"Then let's ask what this key unlocks."
---