The First Steps Into Zero

Nobody trusted Clara.

That became obvious immediately.

Tara kept her weapon near her.

Rion watched her constantly.

Sia avoided eye contact completely.

Dren whispered to Mason:

“She trapped us in cubes.”

Mason nodded.

“Yeah.”

“That’s concerning.”

Clara heard them.

“I understand.”

Nobody felt better.

Morning came.

Or whatever counted as morning inside Veykar.

The clouds never moved.

The city remained quiet.

Too quiet.

Clara stood near broken windows looking toward Dive Facility Zero.

“Today we move.”

Xin walked beside her.

“How far.”

“Three hours.”

“Three hours to that.”

“Yes.”

Xin stared again.

The facility looked massive even from this distance.

It did not feel real.

The group moved carefully.

Deeper.

Closer.

The city changed again.

Roads disappeared beneath Bloom.

Entire buildings fused together.

Bridges connected structures impossibly.

Nora suddenly stopped.

“Something wrong.”

Everyone froze.

Then heard it.

Heartbeat.

Not theirs.

The city.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Sia looked terrified.

“Please tell me that’s not normal.”

Orion answered.

“It is not.”

Hours passed.

Eventually.

They reached a massive highway crossing.

Collapsed vehicles everywhere.

Military convoys.

Destroyed tanks.

Bones.

Lots of bones.

Xin noticed something strange.

Nobody scavenged anything.

Nothing touched.

Everything remained exactly where it died.

“Why is everything untouched.”

Orion answered quietly.

“Because people stopped returning.”

Then.

The road ahead disappeared.

Not broken.

Gone.

A massive pit stretched before them.

Huge.

Impossible to see bottom.

Dive Facility Zero sat beyond it.

Separated.

Xin looked confused.

“How the hell do we cross.”

Clara pointed.

Old rail bridge.

Barely standing.

Everyone looked.

The bridge looked one bad thought away from collapse.

Dren immediately complained.

“Oh absolutely not.”

Tara already started walking.

“Move.”

Halfway across.

The bridge shook.

Everyone froze.

Not from weight.

Something below.

Very deep.

Very large.

Moved.

Xin looked downward.

Nothing visible.

Then.

Eyes.

Hundreds.

Opening inside darkness.

Xin immediately stepped backward.

“What the hell.”

The eyes disappeared instantly.

Clara spoke quietly.

“Do not look down.”

Nobody looked down again.

They crossed.

Barely.

The bridge collapsed behind them.

Nobody celebrated.

Because now.

They stood directly outside.

Dive Facility Zero.

Massive walls stretched upward endlessly.

Black Bloom covered everything.

Organic structures fused into steel.

Huge doors stood partly open.

Inside.

Darkness.

Tara looked toward Orion.

“This is where it started.”

Orion nodded.

“Yes.”

Xin slowly stepped forward.

Kaila’s necklace suddenly became warm again.

Very warm.

His breathing changed.

Something inside.

Something ahead.

He felt it.

Andy.

Very close.

Suddenly.

Facility lights activated.

One by one.

Thousands of lights.

The entire structure slowly came alive.

Metal groaned.

Huge doors opened wider.

And speakers activated.

Static.

Then.

A familiar voice.

Andy.

“XIN.”

Everyone froze.

Andy laughed softly.

“I knew you would come.”

The speakers crackled.

“Bring everyone.”

Pause.

“I prepared something.”

Silence.

Then the doors fully opened.

Darkness waiting inside.

Clara looked toward Xin.

“He knows.”

Xin stared forward.

“Yeah.”

Then started walking.

Toward the place where everything began.

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