The descent ended in stillness. Only the faint hum of power and the drip of condensation broke the silence. Seren stepped off the last rung of the rope and signaled halt. Six Blades landed behind her in practiced silence, weapons low, visors reflecting the blue light that bled from every surface.
The cavern was vast and symmetrical, shaped by hands older than memory. Bridges of crystal crossed above a black gulf, veins of mana pulsing beneath their feet like distant lightning.
Irel whispered through the link, "We're standing in a living thing."
Seren knelt, touching the floor. Warm, residual energy. The readings on her bracer still spiked irregularly. "He was here," she said. "Within the hour."
Varyn swept his scanner across the bridge rail. "Footprints, three sets, light stride, no armor. Headed east."
The captain traced one line of dust where a palm print glowed faintly. The energy signature matched the Queen's shard, Aiden's resonance. "He activated the conduit," she murmured. "And shut it down again."
Around them, the veins dimmed, adjusting to their presence like an organism recognizing intrusion. For a moment, Seren thought she felt a heartbeat through her boots.
They crossed the main bridge in a slow advance, checking every arch. The runes along the rails flared when their armor's enchantments passed, each pulse a soft chime in the oppressive quiet.
Varyn gestured toward the central pillar. "If he can manipulate this network, the Orders will never contain him."
"That's not our concern," Seren said. "We secure and report. Nothing more."
He glanced at her. "And if the Queen's report is different from the truth?"
Seren didn't answer. She stared at the enormous column rising from the chasm, its surface marred by handprints burned into the glass. Around them, faint echoes whispered, a memory imprint of voices, one male, two female, speaking hurriedly, fading before the words formed. She lifted her gauntlet; the sensor translated resonance into sound. For an instant, Aiden's voice trembled through the air: 'It feels like it's breathing through me.'
Every soldier froze. The echo dissolved.
Irel's face was pale behind her visor. "That was..."
"Residual memory," Seren cut in. "The conduit records impressions. Don't lose focus."
But her own heartbeat was uneven. She had heard more than words, she had heard fear, not malice.
They reached the dais at the base of the pillar. The runes still glowed faintly, their pattern incomplete. Seren circled it once, studying the geometry. "He disengaged deliberately. Didn't destroy it."
"Why stop?" Varyn asked.
"Because he doesn't understand it yet." She crouched beside a node and examined the filaments burned into the stone. "Or because he feared what would happen if he finished."
Irel approached with her data slate. "Readings indicate the network was stabilizing when he broke contact. The energy level dropped, but not catastrophically."
Seren straightened. "So he's learning control. That makes him more valuable and more dangerous."
The Blades began cataloging the site. One of them, Kael, pried loose a fragment of conduit glass; it pulsed once in his palm before going dull. He shivered. "Feels like a heartbeat."
Seren took it from him. The shard vibrated softly against her glove, then stilled. She slipped it into a containment pouch. "No samples without shielding. This whole system is keyed to living resonance."
Varyn tilted his head. "Meaning?"
"Meaning it listens," she said. "Every movement we make is recorded somewhere in its veins."
They moved cautiously from platform to platform, tracing the path Aiden's group had taken. Near one wall they found an extinguished lantern, its oil still warm. Eira's scent of herbs clung faintly to it. Further on, a discarded strip of fabric, Lyra's sleeve, torn when she brushed the runes. Seren pocketed it wordlessly.
She could almost see their flight: the quick decisions, the exhaustion. Survival, not sabotage.
A tremor rippled through the chamber, gentle at first, then building to a low growl. The bridges shuddered. Dust drifted from the ceiling like ash. Instinctively the Blades spread out, stabilizing stances.
"Flux spike!" Irel shouted. "Something's re-routing!"
Seren ran to the edge and looked down. Far below, the veins of mana shifted from blue to white, forming a spiral pattern that pulsed once, twice, then settled.
"Automatic defense?" Varyn asked.
"Maybe acknowledgment," Seren said softly. The light reflected in her eyes. "It knows we're here, but it isn't attacking."
She pressed her palm to her amulet. "Your Majesty," she whispered under her breath, half prayer, half report. "He's alive. And he's changing the conduits themselves."
When the quake subsided, the Blades regrouped at the entrance ramp. The mission logs recorded every reading; Seren skimmed the data, committing details to memory rather than transmit them through open channels.
Varyn broke the silence. "Orders?"
"Seal the lower access points," she said. "Plant beacons on each junction line. We'll shadow him above ground, he's heading east."
Irel frowned. "And if we catch him?"
Seren tightened the straps on her gauntlets. "We won't until the Queen says so."
The others exchanged glances but obeyed. As they ascended, Seren lingered one last moment at the edge of the chasm. The pillar's glow had faded to a slow, steady rhythm, calm, patient, alive. For a heartbeat she felt it pulse in sync with her own.
She whispered, "You're not the monster they think you are, are you?"
Then she turned away and followed her squad into the rising dark.
In the chamber they left behind, the faint imprint of Aiden's hand still glowed on the dais, answering her words with a single pulse before fading into silence.