The road to the nearest military hospital had long since fallen into ruin—split by earthquakes, reclaimed by vines, and haunted by silence. They drove slowly, tires crunching over rubble and bone-dry leaves. Marcel and Anna traveled ahead, her keen eyes scanning the horizon from his saddle. Percy rode curled up on the dashboard, tail flicking idly, while Gwen kept watch from the back.
The hospital rose like a sleeping titan in the distance—its walls blackened from time, its name barely legible: "U.S. Federal Military Research Hospital – Site 03."
It was half-fallen, but not empty.
Electric fences still buzzed.
And the moment they stepped into the perimeter, the hum of power met them.
"I thought power grids were dead," Charles said under his breath, his hand already pulsing faintly with stored lightning. "This place… has its own source."
Anna felt a quiet vibration in the air, the kind only her space-sense could pick up. "Something here is still awake."
Inside the Rotting Halls
The halls were choked with dust and memory.
Faded posters lined the walls: Hope through Science, Reunite the Rested, Sleepers Are Still With Us.
Each room they passed was filled with strange beds—suspended, sealed with thick glass. The cryo-pods had long since powered down. Some were cracked. Others lay empty.
But a terminal blinked in the corner.
Still functional. Still breathing.
Arthur and Penelope immediately ran to it. With trembling fingers, they began inputting names—first their mother, then their father.
SEARCHING…
A soft chime.
File Found.
Anna looked over Penelope's shoulder as two photos blinked into existence—grayed by time, but unmistakable. Their parents. A report beneath read:
"Transferred to Cold Storage Vault B, Site 09, 12 Years Post-Event."
Penelope clapped her hand over her mouth. Arthur stood frozen, eyes wide, reading the line again and again like it would change.
"They're still here," he whispered. "Or they were… twelve years ago."
The terminal beeped.
Anna turned. Gwen had found another one.
She was trembling slightly, her voice unsteady. "I found them. My parents… my brother too."
A small sob escaped her throat. "They were all moved… but there's an error. No further data. It just says: Protocol Sleepwatcher Activated. What is that?"
Anna and Annabelle exchanged a look.
Now it was their turn.
They moved to the next terminal together.
The moment Anna typed in their last name, the screen flickered violently. Symbols replaced letters for half a second, then righted themselves.
Subject: Celeste & Noah Valor – Status: Redacted
Access Level Required: CLASSIFIED – Aether Priority Code
A strange icon appeared. A rotating ring of interlocking triangles.
The terminal's screen turned black.
Then, a voice—female, synthetic, cold:
"Protocol Aether-9 breached. Genetic match confirmed. Awakening hidden protocols. Directive: Initiate Resequencing."
The floor vibrated beneath them.
Somewhere deep below, the hospital groaned.
"What did you do?" Charles whispered.
"I—I just looked for our parents," Anna breathed.
The Descent into Secrets
A wall groaned open behind them, revealing a stairwell lit with ancient emergency lights. Anna stepped forward, a cold dread pooling in her chest. The others followed without a word.
They walked for what felt like forever, down through the bones of the hospital, until they reached a door marked Vault A-Ether-9.
Another scan.
Another match.
The door opened.
Inside was a massive, circular room. Cryo-pods lined the walls—at least a hundred. In the center, a console hummed.
In the largest pod stood two figures.
Anna took one step closer. Her breath caught.
A woman with her face. A man with Annabelle's eyes.
Celeste and Noah Valor.
Their bodies looked as though they'd fallen asleep only yesterday.
But above them, a message blinked:
Status: Stasis. Locked under Protocol Aether-9.
Manual Override Possible.
Charles reached toward the console but the moment his fingers brushed it, blue electricity arced into the air. He stumbled back, eyes wide. "This isn't just cryo," he said. "This is… this is dimensional. Energy locked in space-time. This isn't science anymore. This is something else."
Anna didn't move.
She was staring at the glowing ring on the console. It matched the emblem she'd seen in her pendant when she first woke. The ancient one she wore around her neck.
Everything connected. The ring. Her powers. This place.
"I think…" she whispered, "my parents weren't just civilians."
Annabelle nodded slowly. "Neither were ours."
A New Understanding
Later, after they left the chamber in stunned silence, they regrouped in the main office, bringing out rations and sitting on floor mats while Percy curled beside Penelope and Marcel lay by the door like a silent guardian.
Arthur finally spoke. "What is Protocol Aether?"
"I read about it in history archives once," Charles said slowly. "Aether was a theoretical branch of research… secret even in the future. Something about dimensional enhancement... bloodlines that could manipulate space or energy beyond human limits. People thought it was a myth."
He looked up at Anna, her pendant faintly glowing against her chest.
"I don't think it's a myth anymore."
The room fell into stillness.
They'd come here searching for family.
What they found instead… were legacies far older. And truths that might change everything.