The city's old district swallowed Elena whole. The air hung heavy with the smell of damp earth and neglect, a stark contrast to the sterile gleam of the Neo-Eclipse facility. Following the "Blind Monk's" cryptic directions, she navigated narrow, crumbling alleyways, where shadows clung like old regrets. She felt watched, not just by the growing threat of Neo-Eclipse's "Hunters" (now possibly the new Greek units she'd only heard whispers of), but by something older, something ancient that hummed beneath the city's surface.
The address led her to what looked like a derelict textile factory, its windows shattered, its brick walls crumbling. A faded sign, almost swallowed by ivy, read "The Weavers." Inside, the air was thick with dust and the faint scent of old paper and strange herbs. Sunlight filtered weakly through grimy skylights, illuminating dust motes dancing in the gloom.
Then she saw them. They weren't what she expected. Not old, robed figures. They were diverse, young and old, male and female, but all shared a deep, unsettling stillness in their eyes. They moved with quiet purpose, some tending to strange, intricate looms woven with shimmering threads, others poring over ancient texts written on skins and scrolls. They seemed to exist outside of time, utterly absorbed in their own silent work.
Elena approached an old woman with hands gnarled like ancient roots, whose eyes, though sharp, held a distant, almost knowing look. Elena held out the Eclipse Codex book. The woman looked at it, then at Elena, a faint, unreadable smile touching her lips. "The threads run deep," she rasped, her voice like dry leaves. "You carry the beginning of the end. Or the end of the beginning." She took the book, her fingers brushing the glowing symbol Elena had found. The book pulsed faintly in her grasp. "Liam's name," Elena whispered, pointing to the glowing word. The old woman's eyes held hers, a hint of something vast and terrible, but also wise, in their depths. "The anchors are strong," she said. "But even the strongest chain has a loose link."