The hum faded into a silence so deep it pressed against their helmets. Dust hung motionless in the air, glowing faintly from the energy that had pulsed moments before.
Eris stared into the hollow chamber where the Watcher had stood. His reflection shimmered faintly on the polished metal, flickering between himself and the silver-eyed warriors from the vision.
"Let's move," he said quietly. "There's more here."
Luna took point, her wrist light cutting through the haze. The chamber stretched into a long corridor lined with walls of glass and crystal. Behind the glass — frozen in time — were figures. Not human.
They stood tall, graceful, some with extra limbs or wings folded tight against their bodies. Their eyes were closed, faces calm, as though asleep.
Mara whispered, "What… are they?"
Kael's scanner flickered. "Not biological anymore. Their DNA's… rewritten with mineral structures. They turned themselves into living stone."
They walked deeper, past rows of suspended figures, until the corridor opened into a domed hall. The air shimmered with light — and hundreds of floating shards spun slowly around a central core.
It was a holographic archive, powered by something still alive.
Liora reached out, touching one shard. The air rippled. Immediately, light spilled across the hall — images, sounds, voices — overlapping like a thousand stories trying to be heard at once.
Eris stepped forward. The shards responded to him. One drifted down, hovering inches from his hand. When he touched it, the chaos of voices quieted into a single, clear tone.
A woman's voice — calm, regal, ancient.
"If you hear this, the war has not ended. The One Being still breathes within the dark between stars. We, the Guardians of Mars, built this refuge to hold the truth."
The hologram formed — an image of a city that once stood above the Martian plains, towers of silver and fire, skies filled with ships shaped like blades.
The voice continued:
"We fought beside the Clan of Seven when gods turned upon their own creations. The Sovereign fell. The Heir was hidden — cast into the seed of future bloodlines. Earth would inherit what Mars could no longer guard."
Eris's breath caught. The crew stared in disbelief.
"So this…" Luna said, gesturing around them, "this entire planet — it was a fortress?"
"Yes," Eris murmured. "And I think… I was meant to find it."
The shard pulsed again, showing another vision — this time, of a massive circular device buried beneath the planet's crust. Lightning danced across its rim, opening a rift in space itself.
"When the red sun bleeds thrice, the Gate of Sovereigns shall open," the voice said.
"To pass through it is to awaken what once ruled the cosmos. Only the Heir may decide whether light or darkness crosses first."
The shard dimmed. The lights flickered. Suddenly, the entire archive shuddered — walls cracking, shards falling.
Kael shouted, "The power's collapsing! We need to move!"
They ran toward the exit as the ground split beneath them. Energy surged from the floor — glowing red this time, violent and unstable.
Eris stumbled but caught himself. He turned back just long enough to see the central core fracture. Inside it, a small orb of light floated upward — spinning slowly before flying straight into his chest.
He gasped — eyes flashing white for a heartbeat — then steadied.
Luna grabbed his arm. "What was that!?"
"I… I don't know. But it feels like something recognized me."
As they climbed back toward the upper chambers, the archive collapsed behind them. The hum of the buried world grew louder, more rhythmic, as though awakening again.
By the time they reached the surface, the sky had changed. The sun — once pale and distant — now burned deep crimson.
Liora pointed upward, eyes wide. "Eris… look. The red sun… it's bleeding."
Eris stared at it, the whispers in his mind returning stronger than ever:
"When the red sun bleeds thrice…"
He clenched his fists, whispering back to the voice,
"I'm listening."