Elara helped Laurent to his feet. Despite his pain, the Professor's urgency matched hers. They began to follow the deep, parallel tracks etched into the dust—the marks left by the heavy trolley used to move the immense iron cabinet.
The foundations of the Panthéon were a subterranean labyrinth, a history layered in stone. They passed through high, vaulted Roman-era chambers, where the sheer antiquity of the place felt like a suffocating presence. The tracks led them deeper, past sealed niches and forgotten tunnels that twisted beneath the modern city. The air grew colder, and the faint, metallic scent of the Ley Line energy grew stronger.
Laurent, leaning heavily against the rough stone walls, guided her. "The structure is ancient, Elara. The convergence point for the Ley Lines… it must be the oldest stone, the very base of the hill, where the Romans built their temple."
They were moving beneath the main axis of the Panthéon's vast nave. Elara could just make out the heavy thrumming sound of a generator in the distance—Dubois was not relying on antiquity alone.
"They're using modern power to force the ancient power," Elara realized. "He's trying to overload Vance's defenses."
The tracks finally led them into a colossal cavern, rough-hewn and vast. In the center of the chamber, beneath a section where the modern Panthéon's massive central dome began to rise, stood a circular slab of dark, pre-Roman stone, slightly raised above the floor. It was here that the energy felt most potent, vibrating against Elara's teeth. This was the nexus.
The Argentum Society had transformed the space into a high-stakes, arcane laboratory. The iron cabinet, Vance's Regulator, sat directly on the nexus slab. It was surrounded by heavy-duty cables, linked to a portable diesel generator that chugged audibly in the corner.
Monsieur Dubois stood before the cabinet, no longer the calm curator, but a figure possessed by mania. Henri and two other masked agents stood watch, armed with modern rifles.
Dubois was holding a complex electrical rigging, attaching it to the two keyholes of the cabinet. The Hourglass Lock was open, but the Broken Circle Lock still held fast.
"The heat is rising too slowly, Henri!" Dubois snapped, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "Vance's alloys are too resilient! We must amplify the current! The nexus must reject the Loss key!"
Laurent pulled Elara back behind a massive, partially collapsed Roman pillar. "He's trying to use raw energy to burn out the philosophical lock!" Laurent whispered, horrified. "If he forces that cabinet open without the proper stabilization sequence, the Ley Lines will reject the imbalance. It will cause a massive surge—enough to shatter the foundations of the entire hill. The Panthéon, the Latin Quarter… they will all collapse."
Elara looked at the two keys in her hand: the solution to the city's stability. She had to get close enough to insert them and initiate Vance's intended stabilization sequence before Dubois's electrical current could force the lock open.
"I have to go to the cabinet, Professor. I have to stabilize the Regulator."
"It's suicide, Elara! They have weapons!" Laurent protested.
Before Elara could respond, one of the masked agents, conducting a patrol sweep, paused near their pillar. His rifle swept toward their hiding spot. He had heard the low murmur of their voices.
The agent shouted in French, his voice ringing out in the cavern. "Alert! They are here! Near the south pillar!"
"Dubois!" Henri yelled. "The girl has the key! Secure the perimeter!"
Elara shoved the keys deep into her pocket. The element of surprise was gone. Dubois looked up from his work, his face contorted with rage and triumph.
"Do not shoot her, you fool!" Dubois commanded. "Take her alive! She holds the final piece!"
Elara glanced at the vast, dark chamber, the powerful Regulator pulsing with yellow energy, and the armed agents closing in. She and the injured professor were pinned down at the nexus point of the entire disaster.