The undercity was never meant to be found.
Built beneath the shining towers of Helion, it stretched like a labyrinth of rusted steel and forgotten light — a graveyard of technology that once ruled the world.
Rian walked through the narrow tunnels in silence, guided only by the faint holographic projection flickering from the data chip Lyra had given him. The air was damp, thick with the scent of metal and decay. Pipes hissed softly overhead like whispers of ghosts.
"Signal's unstable," Lyra muttered beside him, adjusting her wrist device. "We're deep enough to jam standard comms."
"That's the point," Rian replied. His eyes glowed faintly in the dim light. "They can't trace us here."
Behind them, Selene followed quietly, her expression unreadable. Her silver hair caught the faint light, giving her an almost ethereal presence — a ghost walking in her own creation.
She was the one who discovered this place, after all.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Lyra asked.
"A fragment," Selene answered softly. "An echo left by the First Sovereign."
Lyra frowned. "You mean a myth."
"No," Rian said quietly. "A memory."
They turned a corner and entered a vast chamber — circular, its walls lined with pillars carved from black stone. In the center stood a sealed gate, covered in intricate patterns that pulsed faintly with blue light.
It wasn't ancient. It was alive.
Selene stepped forward, brushing her fingers against the patterns. The lines reacted instantly, flaring in recognition.
"This script… it's not Nexus code," she whispered. "It's pre-digital."
Rian knelt, tracing the runes with his own hand. They felt familiar — almost like the pulse that sometimes throbbed in his veins when he used his power.
"It responds to resonance," he murmured. "To blood."
Lyra looked uneasy. "You're not thinking—"
Before she could finish, Rian pressed his palm to the surface.
Light flared, blinding and cold. The gate screamed, not with sound, but through every atom in the room — and suddenly, the world fell away.
He was standing in a void.
Stars surrounded him — endless, beautiful, dead.
Fragments of memories flickered like broken glass: claws tearing through mist, a silver moon drenched in blood, and a voice, soft but commanding.
"You were not meant to sleep."
Rian turned. A silhouette stood before him — humanoid, but vast, her form made of light and galaxies. The same presence that had haunted his dreams for years.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"A question with no time left for answers," the voice said. "But you carry what was once mine — the essence of the Star Wolf. And they will come for you because of it."
"Then tell me how to stop them."
The being raised her hand, and light surged toward him, weaving into his skin, into his very core.
"You cannot stop them," she whispered. "You can only awaken first."
The world shattered.
Rian gasped, falling back to the cold floor of the chamber. His body trembled — veins glowing faintly like liquid starlight beneath the skin. Lyra and Selene were kneeling beside him.
"Rian! Hey, stay with me!" Lyra shouted.
"His resonance output's unstable!" Selene warned. "He absorbed something — a full data signature!"
Rian clenched his fists. Visions burned behind his eyes — not just memories, but knowledge. Symbols, equations, blueprints of energy flow… all flooding in at once.
He rose slowly, eyes glowing brighter than before. "I know what this place is now."
"What?" Lyra asked breathlessly.
"It's not a ruin. It's a vault."
"For what?"
"For the code that governs the world."
A deep rumble answered his words.
The floor began to crack, runes flaring to life around the chamber. Something ancient was waking.
Selene's eyes widened. "No, no, that can't be right. The vaults were supposed to be sealed forever—"
The sound of footsteps echoed from the tunnel behind them. Metallic, rhythmic, deliberate.
Lyra spun, hand reaching for her weapon — but the moment she saw who stepped out of the shadows, her breath caught.
A squad of armored enforcers, insignia gleaming with crimson wings — Division Omega, the Director's elite unit.
At their front walked a man with a calm smile and silver hair streaked with black.
His gaze locked on Rian.
"You found it, didn't you?" the man said, voice low and amused. "The Nexus Core Alpha."
Rian's pulse quickened. "You were following us."
"Of course," the man replied. "You think we'd let the last Sovereign's host wander freely?"
Lyra's eyes widened. "You're the Director's son."
The man's smile didn't waver. "Lucen Helion. And unfortunately for you, this vault belongs to us now."
He snapped his fingers.
The enforcers raised their rifles — but before they could fire, the vault itself roared.
Energy exploded outward, tearing the chamber apart.
Rian instinctively raised his arm, summoning a barrier of light.
Selene screamed something — words lost in the storm — and Lyra pulled Rian behind a collapsing pillar.
The last thing Rian saw before the world went white was Lucen's smirk — calm, confident, and absolutely sure of his victory.
Then, darkness.
---
Silence.
For a few heartbeats, there was only the sound of settling dust and the slow hum of power echoing through broken stone. The air smelled of ozone and burnt circuitry.
Rian opened his eyes.
His body lay half-buried beneath the debris of the collapsed vault. The world above him glowed faintly with threads of light — energy flows twisting like veins in the air. His chest burned where the resonance mark had flared, searing through flesh and fabric alike.
Lyra's voice came through the haze. "Rian! Can you hear me?"
He pushed himself up, coughing. "Still alive."
She exhaled sharply, relief mixed with frustration. "Barely. The whole chamber nearly imploded."
Rian glanced around. Half the vault was gone — torn apart by an explosion of spiritual feedback. The Director's enforcers were scattered, their armor cracked and sparking. Selene crouched nearby, holding a damaged data core close to her chest, her expression pale but determined.
Then he saw him — Lucen Helion, still standing amidst the wreckage, barely scratched. The crimson insignia on his armor gleamed through the smoke.
"Impressive," Lucen said, voice calm as ever. "The resonance almost killed you, yet you survived. That confirms it — you're the real thing."
Rian rose slowly, his eyes glowing faintly gold. "The real what?"
Lucen tilted his head slightly. "The lost vessel of the Star Wolf. The final key to unlocking the core beneath this world."
Lyra stepped forward, blade drawn. "You talk too much."
Lucen smiled faintly. "You wouldn't understand. This world isn't what you think. The Nexus isn't a system — it's a containment field. A prison built by gods who feared what we once were."
His words made Rian pause. "Prison?"
"Exactly," Lucen continued. "Every life, every soul, every drop of spirit energy is recycled by the Nexus loop. Controlled, regulated, chained. But with your bloodline… we can break the loop."
Selene's eyes widened. "You'd collapse reality."
Lucen's smile grew colder. "Reality is already dying."
He raised his hand — and the air behind him shimmered. A massive construct materialized, its frame made of silver armor and living light: a Nexus Guardian, the autonomous weapon once used to hunt rogue entities.
Its single eye locked onto Rian, and the floor shook with the weight of its steps.
Lyra cursed softly. "You've got to be kidding—"
Rian took a step forward, his gaze steady. "Get behind me."
"You can't take that thing alone!" Lyra snapped.
"I'm not alone."
He closed his eyes, drawing in the remnants of the vault's energy. The runes across the broken walls pulsed in response, resonating with the mark on his chest.
A faint, wolf-like silhouette shimmered behind him — silver fur woven from starlight, eyes burning with cosmic fire.
The Guardian roared and charged.
The impact shook the chamber. The machine's claw came down like a meteor, but Rian met it head-on, catching the blow with one glowing hand. Sparks exploded in every direction. The ground cracked beneath his feet.
"You shouldn't exist," Lucen hissed.
"Then I'll remind you why I do."
Rian's voice was low, but it carried through the storm.
He clenched his fist — and light burst outward, forming a blade made of condensed spirit.
He swung once, cutting clean through the Guardian's arm. The machine reeled back, screaming in metallic pain.
Selene stared in disbelief. "That's impossible… that output is beyond human range!"
"He's not human," Lyra said quietly, watching the silhouette of the Star Wolf coil protectively around him. "Not anymore."
Rian didn't stop. He surged forward, moving faster than his body should allow, slicing through armor and steel. Each strike echoed with energy that wasn't just physical — it was ancestral, ancient, a fragment of a time when beasts ruled the stars.
Lucen raised his hand to counterattack, but Rian's blade stopped an inch from his throat. For a heartbeat, neither moved.
Then Rian spoke.
"If you ever come near them again," he said quietly, "you won't leave breathing."
Lucen smiled faintly, unafraid. "You'll understand soon. The Nexus doesn't protect. It devours. And when it hungers again, you'll see which side you truly stand on."
He vanished into the light, his body dissolving into digital static.
The silence that followed was almost suffocating.
Rian's sword of light faded. His knees buckled, exhaustion crashing over him all at once. Lyra caught him before he fell.
"Hey. Don't you dare pass out again."
"Just… taking a break," Rian muttered weakly.
Selene knelt beside them, clutching the damaged core. "You shouldn't have survived that resonance wave. That's not normal."
Rian looked at her, eyes dim but steady. "Nothing about me ever was."
Lyra frowned. "What now?"
He glanced at the cracked vault door, still faintly glowing. "Lucen wasn't lying about one thing. The Nexus isn't what it seems. We need to find out who built it — and why they feared the beasts enough to bury our history."
Selene nodded slowly. "Then we go deeper."
Rian looked up at the faint light filtering from the ceiling. For the first time, the world above didn't feel like safety. It felt like the surface of a cage.
"Yeah," he whispered. "Let's find the bottom of this world."
---