They took the underground rail.
Not the official one. The kind that didn't show up on city maps. The kind people only whispered about in back alleys and dark corners.
Eira sat across from Lucian in the empty car. The lights flickered overhead. The train rattled through tunnels that hadn't seen maintenance in decades.
She hadn't holstered her weapon.
"You're wasting your energy," Lucian said without looking at her. His eyes were closed. Head leaning back against the metal wall.
"I don't trust you."
"Smart."
"Then why should I follow you into the Dead Zone?"
He opened one eye. "Because you've been trying to get down there for three years. And I'm the only one who knows the way in."
She hated that he was right.
"Tell me about Project Lazarus," she said.
"No."
"That wasn't a request."
Lucian's lips curved slightly. Not quite a smile. Something colder.
"You think your badge means something down here?" he said. "You think Aetherion's rules reach this far?"
Eira leaned forward. "I think you know what happened to my brother. And if you don't start talking, I'll put a bullet in your knee and drag you back to HQ myself."
He looked at her then. Really looked. His eyes were gray. Empty. Like staring into fog.
"You won't," he said quietly.
"Try me."
"You won't. Because you're not stupid. You know I'm your only way to Kade. You shoot me, you lose him forever."
Her jaw clenched.
He was right again.
She sat back. Kept her hand near her gun.
"Fine," she said. "But when we get down there, you talk. All of it."
"Maybe."
"That's not good enough."
Lucian closed his eyes again. "It's all you're getting."
The train screeched to a halt.
The doors hissed open.
Outside was darkness.
Subsector 7 wasn't on any official map.
It existed in the space between the city's foundation and the earth below. A network of tunnels and server rooms built before the Matrix went live. Before Aetherion became what it was.
Eira stepped off the train. Her boots hit wet concrete. The air smelled like rust and rot. Water dripped somewhere in the distance.
Lucian walked ahead. He moved like he'd been here before. Like the darkness didn't bother him.
She followed.
They walked through a corridor lined with old cables. Some still hummed with power. Others hung dead and frayed.
"How did you work down here?" Eira asked.
"I didn't. Not here. Deeper."
"How much deeper?"
"You'll see."
They reached a junction. Three paths split off into darkness.
Lucian stopped. Pulled out a small device from his pocket. It looked like a modified scanner. He pressed a button. A faint blue light swept across the walls.
"What is that?" Eira asked.
"Insurance."
The device beeped. He nodded to the left path.
"This way."
They moved deeper.
The walls changed. Less concrete. More metal. Industrial. The kind of architecture that wasn't meant to be seen.
Eira's instincts screamed at her to turn back.
But she kept walking.
"You said my brother woke up," she said. "What does that mean?"
Lucian didn't answer right away. He was scanning the walls again.
"The Matrix isn't what people think it is," he said finally. "It's not just a simulation. It's a cage."
"For who?"
"For something that existed before us."
She stopped walking. "What are you talking about?"
He turned to face her. His expression was blank. But his eyes carried something else. Something that looked almost like fear.
"Forty years ago, when Aetherion built the Matrix, they didn't start from scratch. They found something. Deep in the old network grids. Something alive. Something that had been buried for centuries."
Eira's skin went cold. "You're saying the Matrix is haunted."
"I'm saying it's occupied."
She stared at him. "That's insane."
"Is it? You've seen the glitches. The echoes. People disappearing. The static that doesn't come from any source." He stepped closer. "The Matrix wasn't built to connect people, Eira. It was built to contain something. And it's breaking free."
Her heart pounded. "And my brother?"
"He was part of the team that discovered it. Project Lazarus was supposed to study it. Understand it. Control it."
"But something went wrong."
Lucian nodded. "The thing inside the Matrix started talking back. It learned. It adapted. And it started pulling people in. Not their bodies. Their consciousness. Your brother was one of the first."
Eira's breath came faster. "So he's still alive?"
"I don't know."
"You said he woke up."
"I said he woke up. I didn't say he survived."
She grabbed him by the collar. Slammed him against the wall. Her gun pressed under his chin.
"Stop playing games," she hissed. "Tell me the truth."
Lucian didn't flinch. He stared at her with those dead eyes.
"The truth is I don't know what happens to the people it takes," he said calmly. "No one does. Because no one who goes in comes back the same."
"But you worked on it. You studied it."
"And it studied me back."
She let him go. Stepped back.
"That's why you left," she said.
He straightened his collar. "That's why I ran."
"But now you're going back."
"Because it called me. And if I don't answer, it'll keep taking people until there's nothing left."
Eira holstered her gun. "So what's the plan?"
"Find the source. Shut it down."
"And if we can't?"
He looked at her. "Then we don't leave."
They walked in silence for another ten minutes.
The corridor opened into a massive chamber.
Eira stopped. Her breath caught.
The room was filled with servers. Thousands of them. Stacked floor to ceiling. Each one glowing faintly with red light.
And in the center of the room was a door.
Not a normal door.
It was made of black glass. Smooth. Seamless. And covered in symbols that looked like code but weren't.
Eira stepped closer. "What is that?"
"The entrance to the core," Lucian said. "Where it all started."
"And where Kade disappeared?"
He nodded.
She stared at the door. Something about it made her stomach turn.
"How do we open it?"
Lucian walked to a terminal near the door. Started typing.
"It's not locked," he said. "It's waiting."
"For what?"
He stopped typing. Looked at the door.
"For someone to ask permission."
Eira frowned. "What does that mean?"
Before he could answer, the symbols on the door began to glow.
Bright. Blinding.
Eira stepped back. Her hand flew to her gun.
The door slid open.
Beyond it was darkness.
But not empty darkness.
Something moved inside.
A voice echoed out. Low. Distorted. Familiar.
"Eira..."
Her blood turned to ice.
It was Kade's voice.
"No," she whispered.
The voice came again. Clearer now.
"Eira... you came..."
She took a step forward. Then another.
Lucian grabbed her arm.
"Don't."
She yanked free. "That's my brother."
"That's not your brother. That's what's left of him."
"I don't care."
She started toward the door.
Lucian's voice cut through the air. Cold. Sharp.
"If you go in there, you don't come back."
She stopped. Looked at him.
"Then I guess we're both ghosts."
And she stepped through.
Lucian stared at the open door.
He should've stopped her.
Should've pulled her back.
But he didn't.
Because deep down, he wanted to know too.
He wanted to see what was waiting inside.
He took a breath.
Then followed her in.