Propped up against the wall of the corridor he and his team were in, Xander slowly sipped a glowing green vial of honey-like liquid. The smell was incredibly minty, to the point where it nearly burned his nose, and his throat burned from the cold as it flowed into his stomach.

  ’Cough’

  He sputtered right after he finished downing the elixir, but Laisa, who was standing next to him, just patted him on the back a few times before taking the vial from him.

  ”You’re fine. These healing tinctures are rough going down, but it won’t be coming back up.” She stood up, and Xander turned his bleary eyes toward her. “Now, to get the full effects, I need you to focus on what I’m about to tell you.”

  What came next was a set of breathing and muscle flexing exercises. They didn’t require extensive movement, but by the time he was finished Xander was barely able to control his breath, even as he felt the medicinal effects of the tincture spread through his body.

  ”It seems like this is another one of those things that you used to know but have since forgotten.” Laisa hummed in acknowledgement of his achievement before explaining further. “The exercises I just had you do usually take several weeks of practice to get even the most minor level of proficiency. You succeeded with a middling level of capability on your first try. So, that can only mean that your body is accustomed to it.”

  Xander grunted in agreement, stopping his practice and standing up right after.

  ”Is my brain likely to start bleeding again?” Most of his lost memories came back in extremely painful of ways, so he hoped that this time would be different.

  Fortunately, it seemed like it would be, since Laisa shook her head.

  ”Unlikely. This is more tied to muscle memory than it is to neural memory. There’s obviously a crossover, but the conscious mind won’t be too affected in this case.” The medic carelessly shrugged and put away the rest of her supplies. “Most of the memories that have hurt you were traumatizing in some way, right? In that case, the less stressful memories will likely not result in such obvious symptoms in the future.”

  Left unsaid was the fact that the less stressful memories would be harder to recall. Something that he didn’t need the medic to tell him.

  ”Ladies! Are we ready to go?” Tami’s impatient call made Xander roll his eyes. He decided to let Laisa reply, rather than let Tami have the satisfaction of getting to him.

  ”We just wrapped up. We can head out at any time.” The two strode forward to where the others had moved to give them space for Xander’s treatment. “Have we learned anything since we first entered?”

  Tami and the other squad leader shook their heads. “Was hoping that Xander might have more information.”

  Everyone turned toward him, and he sighed in frustration and acceptance. His body sagged under the weight of their gazes.

  ”For the most part, I remember the locations of the entrances and their directional orientation, as well as their access methods. The actual layout, however, is not at the forefront of my mind.” He pulled out a tablet from his bag and opened a mapping app. After setting up a grid, he marked down the five entrances in a pentagonal layout, now that he could now remember. “We’re here, and Gerome and the others are here.”

  Two of the dots were circled, and each of the dots had lines that, if extended fully, would meet at the center of the five dots.

  ”The facility itself, if given a perfectly round circumference, would have a radius of at least a dozen kilometers. Gerome has a rough outline of our position, but we’ll probably need to map out a path to their location, even as they map one to ours. This facility ruin is just that expansive and labyrinthian.”

  The others’ faces scrunched up in displeasure, but they let Xander continue.

  ”As we map out more of it, we should be able to find one of the research centers. If we can, then I might be able to unlock their records. Which will not only grant us access to information that Lady Elyria will be interested in,” the others perked up at that, “but it will also likely hold a map of the ruin that will be accurate enough to get us to the other failsafe exits.”

  This time the soldiers around him smiled much more widely. Something that Xander did not do, which Tami immediately noticed.

  ”What else is there?” She asked, immediately bring attention back onto him.

  With another sigh, Xander slumped forward, looking over the dots on his tablet once more. “Something destroyed this place… Something that I think might still be here…”

  The thought of the figure bathed in purple fire, waving its hands and killing hundreds while the facility was swarmed passed through his mind once more.

  He shook his head before he could delve too deeply into the memory.

  “My memories… I distinctly remember mentions of Dragon 1. In the Sage Empire’s danger measurement system, Dragon 5 is the lowest, indicating a swarm of Rank 3 Ascended beasts was attacking.” Tami and the other squad leader’s faces turned grim, but the others still seemed clueless. “Dragon 1 would mean an Empyrean threat at the least.”

  ”Fuck!” Formund cursed, and the twins were not far behind him in acknowledging their situation. “You think that something got left behind? Would an Empyrean even stick around for however many thousands of years it’s been since this place was abandoned?”

  Xander shook his head. “I don’t know about the Empyrean itself, but maybe something else? Descendants of some sort? You can’t deny that the technology hiding this ruin is much less advanced than the one that you found me in. Yet the mechanisms don’t seem to have degraded at all.”

  They all looked at the walls much more closely, and this time the other squad leader was the one to let out a curse. “He’s right. This tech level would require maintenance to stay in this kind of condition. I’m assuming the methods used to enter were a part of the core system, and therefore couldn’t be removed without wrecking everything else?”

  “No. The failsafe exits were part of a separate system entirely. No point in allowing a system failure, or takeover, to ruin the final failsafe if things got to the point that they were needed.” Xander clearly remembered the conversations he’d had with several other security forces when he was working with Sage Pharmaceuticals, each one detailing different means of securing safe exits for their VIPs in different situations.

  In a way, he was happy that such things had persisted for so long past his first time in cryo-stasis. It gave him hope that other things had persisted for just as long.

  Not that the most important things would still be here. His thoughts turned to Katie, and his mood took a dip.

  “Alright!” Tami clapped her hands together. “Defensive formations, no loud weapons, and we always keep within the wireless uplink distance. Given how deep underground we are, no signals will be getting out to call for help. Not that it would matter at this point, with that damned swarm Gerome and the rest of the expedition went off to distract still being in the region.”

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  With that said, the two teams separated, all their members taking defensive positions as they began making their way through the ruins.

  Xander continued to mark his map as they proceeded onwards. The lights around them dimmed in certain areas as they passed through.

  The air felt heavy, even as they slowly made it just a few hundred meters from their original position at the exit.

  Nothing was after them yet, but Xander could tell, his instincts buzzing with activity, that something was in there with them. Something that, sooner or later, they would be forced to meet face-to-face.

  —————

  Genome prided himself on two things: his practicality, and his exuberant insistence on the progression of gene-mod pathways. To the extent that, when given the chance, he would act in an almost manic fashion when encountering something new and interesting in the field of biological mutations and genetic modifications.

  ”So many genetic materials!” His exclamation was filled with a mad giggle as a wide grin split his face. Those that were close enough to him made sure to back up and give him space when they heard him gushing over the information on his tablet. “These codes are basically an open book for our evolutionary development!”

  It had been several hours since they had entered the ruin, and while they had progressed carefully, they hadn’t slowed down their forward push into the depths of the mountain.

  Whilst damaged in some parts, the ruin itself was in incredible shape. Something that put George on red alert, but their numbers, being as great as they were, meant that they were able to push several scouts ahead, and map out a significant portion of the ruin.

  To the point that they had managed to set up a simple base where they could operate out of while investigating several other areas and resting up at the same time.

  Said base was also located within a large laboratory, filled with computers, screens, cultivation tanks, and other medical research equipment, where Gerome had set up several tablets and generators, which allowed their forces to begin extracting data from the terminals that were still barely operable.

  ”Ah, Specialist Gerome, shouldn’t we be searching for the VIP and his groups?” One of the scholars asked from where she was carrying stacks of files and samples of genetic material that were in stasis.

  Gerome’s face turned so quickly that the woman nearly fell backward in shock.

  ”Hmm…” his face pinched in thought, “I suppose that that would, indeed, be a good idea. Especially if the map of this facility is any indication of how dangerous it is to be in here…”

  The soldiers that were still nearby shuffled in place. “What dangers, sir?”

  ”The old geneticist frowned. “Just a couple of Ascended beasts. But they’re locked up in a separate section of the ruin. Far from our current position.”

  With a couple of taps on his tablet, Gerome put an image on the large, cracked screen that covered half the wall on the other side of the room.

  “We are here, and the Ascended beasts are in these areas here.”

  A large circular map of the ruin they were in lit up on the screen. It looked like an intricate labyrinth with multiple levels, while they were located on the lower end, they were not as far down as they could be.

  Several blue lines lit up, indicating the six sections that the ruin was divided into. Of which there were four hidden exits, like the one where Gerome and his team entered, and two above ground, indicating the ‘public’ entrances. Three of the lines were broken, however, which Gerome figured meant that they were damaged and thus were not fully sealed.

  One green dot lit up in the section where Gerome and his people were, while two red dots lit up in the other sections, covering three of the sections that were cut off from their current position.

  ”As you can see, we are perfectly safe where we are. No damages to the defensive mechanisms exist in the borders that cover our current section of the ruin.” With a wide smile, Gerome felt confident that they had finally acquired a stroke of luck.

  It was a feeling that spread, as the others also began to smile at the thought of being safe from the Ascended beasts.

  At least, they did until that one scholar opened her mouth.

  ”Isn’t that the area where the other team was headed?” She quietly muttered, as if she was afraid of speaking. “The others were headed south, weren’t they?”

  She let out a muffled scream when Gerome suddenly moved, appearing right in her face. He placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her and stopping her from running away.

  ”Say again?” He nearly growled, and his face started to elongate as he spoke.

  ”The entrances! The hidden ones! You said that Alexander and the others were headed to a second entrance to activate the failsafe that would open the doors! I remember that they headed south when they split off from us!” She pointed at the screen with a hysterical cry. “If so, then the barricades sectioning off the southern entrance have failed, and the Ascended beast that’s in the eastern section has access to their position!”

  Gerome let her go and gazed back at the screen. While he couldn’t be certain that Xander and his team were in the area that the other scholar pointed at, it was highly likely, since there was no way they could’ve reached any of the other two hidden entrances in the time that it took to open them.

  ”Shit!”

  With that one grumbled curse the room became a flurry of activity. They all began packing up to set out for the border between their section and the section with and Ascended beast, where their wayward genetic warriors and ancient VIP were currently located.

  Gerome’s joyous mood took a sudden downturn, and he could only pray that they were able to move out in time.

  —————

  It was a strange feeling, the sensation of being watched at every moment. The chill that ran along his back as he took each step as carefully as he could, all while ensuring that there was as little noise being made as possible.

  ”Status report,” Xander’s radio crackled to life. It had been decided after the first half hour that they needed to split up their communication devices, just in case. So, he had been given one of Formund’s spare’s. After confirming that they worked within a certain range.

  ”Something is here,” he whispered, “the drool is too fresh for there not to be. There’s Ichor as well. So, it’s possible that we’re in a bug nest. But from what I can tell, the more dangerous things aren’t in this direction. I can also confirm that we need to go this way if we want to get to the area that the others are in.”

  It had been a startling surprise when their group had found what should have been a storage room, only to find the remains of several eggshells, and rows upon rows of empty storage containers.

  They had moved on quickly, but by the time they had gotten to what was left of a system terminal, they had found more traces of mutant bugs to indicate that this was a hive. Or at least the outermost edges of one.

  The lack of supplies was likely the only reason that this area wasn’t swarming with bugs right now. Though, the extensive work done to maintain the facility meant that something was here, on a regular basis at that.

  ”Understood. Make your way back here, quickly, and do not do something like this again! You’re a VIP, not an expendable grunt.” Tami’s voice was rough and ragged.

  Xander couldn’t help but wince, knowing that disobeying orders to investigate one of the tunnels that they had, originally, decided to put off until later, was a bad idea. Yet he couldn’t stop himself. He was the one that had the most knowledge of this ruin. Although the memories of it were scattered and vague.

  ”Sorry… I just felt a pull… Something deep in my mind told me I needed to come here…” and it was true as well. Xander could feel a pull in the back of his mind. Thoughts that whispered a need to come to this area of the ruin, even if it meant going into danger.

  It was a sensation that was strange, and one that had been distracting him for over an hour now. He was so close, but upon getting to his destination, he had found nothing but rocks and collapsed corridors. So, he had simply continued onward, to finish scouting the path ahead.

  Now that he had finished, he was just about to turn around after checking one last room. An operating room, from what the words on the reinforced sliding doors said.

  With a quiet ‘swish’ the doors spread open, and that feeling came back, stronger than ever.

  ”Oh my god…” the quiet mutter was raspy, and he felt his throat go dry. He wordlessly reached up and pushed a button on his radio. “Captain… you need to come to me, right now. I’ve found something that Lady Elyria, and Gerome, are going to execute us for if we don’t recover it.”

  Perhaps he was exaggerating, but as information flowed through his mind, all relating to the gene-mod and evolutionary serums nestled on the wall in front of him, perfectly preserved, and ready for use at a moment’s notice, he knew that these were far more valuable than mere information.

  These were actual samples that could be referenced and studied. Used as a baseline for recreation, given that it was possible that the materials needed to make them might be extinct. When combined with the data that might be recovered from the terminals in one of the labs, once they found one, the paths that these serums created would be an immeasurable treasure for Lady Elyria, and they would buy a lot of power from the royal family for her find.

  Stepping into the room, there was one serum that drew his attention before the rest. It was right next to a collapsed wall. One that led to what he figured was another room. Possibly one that he had checked before, in a different corridor.

  It was a swirling grey substance that sparkled with purple flecks of light.

  Before he could grab it, however, he heard something chittering and scraping on the floor behind him.

  Without a moment of hesitation, he slammed his fist into the emergency panel next to the door, causing it to slide shut in an instant. Just as something big and covered in area of some sort slammed into it.

  An angry shriek of rage filled the ruin, and Xander knew that he was now trapped.