Dawn rose dull, like a breath held for too long.
The sky had a metallic color, veiled by motionless clouds that reflected the light in an unnatural shimmer.
In front of the abandoned building, a black car waited in silence. The engine was off, yet it seemed to hum as if it could sense the tension in the air.
Elias checked the magazine of the gun at his side, then closed the trunk with a sharp thud.
"We have a few hours' advantage. If we leave now, we might get there before the sun falls."
His voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed something darker, an unspoken dread he couldn't shake off.
Adrian nodded without answering. He was holding Clara's hand as if it were the only thing keeping him anchored to reality.
She turned toward him, her chocolate-colored eyes reflecting the gray morning light: deep, tired, but alive.
"It's going to be okay," she whispered.
Adrian wanted to believe her.
They got in the car, Elias driving, Luca beside him; Clara and Adrian in the back. No one spoke. Only the sound of the tires on the wet asphalt filled the silence, carrying along that heavy sense of urgency that followed them like a shadow.
The road toward the Sanctuary crossed forgotten lands: sun-burnt fields, silent woods, ruined farmhouses.
Elias drove without a map, as if the place itself were calling him back.
"It's hidden deep in the mountains," he explained. "The entrance is disguised inside a natural ravine. The tunnel goes down for miles, and beneath it… a whole complex. Labs, dormitories, and other things."
Clara squeezed Adrian's hand.
"What kind of things?"
Elias hesitated. "Experiments. People kept for months, tested, pushed beyond their limits. If they weren't useful, they disappeared. Officially natural deaths. In reality, they were eliminated… or used for other purposes."
His voice trembled ever so slightly.
"I was one of them. Until I escaped."
Silence followed: heavy, unreal.
Adrian stared out the window, but he wasn't looking at the landscape. He imagined his daughter, Aurora, with his same blue eyes, trapped in a place designed to break what made people human. The thought crushed his chest. I'll find you, little one. I swear.
The paved road turned to dirt, then stopped abruptly behind a line of fallen trees.
"From here, we walk," Elias said.
He stepped out first, scanning the woods ahead. The air was damp, dense. Every rustle felt like a warning.
Clara paused for a second, closing her eyes.
A tingling filled her mind, a thin whisper, like a chorus of distant voices. Not imagination.
Minds. Minds searching for her.
"Elias," she murmured. "They… they know I'm coming."
He spun toward her.
"Of course they do. They feel you. They fear you."
He took one step closer, without touching her.
"Clara, we need to shield ourselves. You and I. If we don't, they'll pinpoint our location immediately."
She nodded. She kept her fingers intertwined with Adrian's, as if to remember who she was. Then she closed her eyes.
No movement was needed: no gesture, no contact. Just will. Just power.
The air between her and Elias began to vibrate, as though invisible currents were trying to reach one another. A deep pressure spread through the forest. Birdsong ceased.
Wind stopped. The world itself held its breath.
Clara felt the power rising inside her, thick, fluid, like liquid light. She felt it merge with Elias's, intertwining in a perfect balance.
No touch, only a connection of minds, two shields fusing into one.
Adrian sensed the change in the atmosphere. The forest dimmed. Sound faded. Only Clara's heartbeat, synchronized with his, kept him grounded. Then, slowly, the world returned, wind, birds, life.
Elias opened his eyes first.
"They can't track us now. Not right away."
They moved forward. Every step took them deeper into the territory of something that no longer belonged to logic.
Half an hour later, the ground sloped downward. The forest thickened, roots twisting like skeletal fingers.
Clara suddenly stopped, a hand on her chest.
"I heard her," she whispered.
Adrian turned sharply. "Who?"
"Aurora. She called me. She said… Mama, I'm scared."
Tears filled her eyes, though her voice remained firm.
"She's alive. She's alive, Adrian."
Hope and terror erupted inside him. He held her, resting his forehead against hers.
"Then we'll never stop. Never."
Elias motioned them forward. "Come. We're here."
Before them, hidden behind a curtain of ivy, was a rock wall. But at its center, in the faint dawn light, something gleamed: a slab of metal, smooth and unnatural.
Elias stepped closer.
"This is it."
He touched the surface with his mind, not his hand. A pulse rippled through the air; the stone vibrated. Slowly, a rectangular opening appeared.
A dark tunnel stretched downward.
Luca stiffened.
"Looks like the entrance to a nightmare."
Elias didn't turn. "It's the entrance to the truth."
Clara and Adrian shared a glance, their fingers still interlaced, fear in their eyes, but something deeper too.
A vow. A silent oath.
Elias looked back at them.
"Once we go inside, there's no turning back. From this point on, everything changes."
They slipped into the darkness. Neon lights flickered along the concrete walls, slick with condensation.
The distant hum of machines mixed with faint echoes: footsteps, maybe screams.
The air smelled of metal and disinfectant, like a hospital outside of time.
Adrian walked ahead, Clara right behind him. Elias followed, alert to every sound.
No one dared speak.
Every meter was a step toward either the end, or salvation.
At last, the tunnel opened into a wider corridor sealed by a massive steel door.
On its surface, etched into the metal, was a symbol: a broken circle.
The same emblem found in Rinaldi's files, the crest of the experiment that had destroyed their lives.
Clara staggered, clutching her head.
A sharp pain cut through her skull like a blade.
"Clara!" Adrian shouted, stepping forward, but Elias grabbed his arm.
"Don't touch her! It's a mental contact. Someone… something is calling her."
Clara gasped, bending forward. Her vision dissolved. Only a voice remained: clear, distant, fragile.
Mom… come get me.
The pain vanished. Clara raised her head, tears streaking her cheeks.
"It's her… Aurora is here."
A single second of absolute silence. Then, as if recognizing their presence at last, the door opened on its own. A metallic hiss. A flood of white light.
Luca raised his gun, ready to fire.
Adrian placed himself in front of Clara.
Elias, voice steady, murmured: "Welcome to the Sanctuary."