Kaelen slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he felt was pain.
A sharp burning sensation spread from his side, where the curse wound had almost consumed him. His vision blurred for a moment before the unfamiliar ceiling above him came into focus.
Metal.
Broken lights.
Abandoned corridors.
He tried to move, but his body refused.
"You shouldn't be awake yet."
A voice came from the darkness.
Kaelen immediately reached for his weapon, but his hand stopped halfway.
A man stepped into the faint light.
He was tall, carrying a worn weapon on his back, his clothes covered with dust and old battle marks.
"Who are you?" Kaelen asked.
The man looked at him carefully.
"Aren."
Kaelen narrowed his eyes.
"Why did you save me?"
Aren glanced toward the damaged corridor behind him.
"Because leaving you there meant letting the curse kill you."
Kaelen studied him.
"You were inside this facility?"
Aren nodded.
"Yes."
Kaelen forced himself to sit up.
"Then tell me. Is this the Foundry?"
Aren became silent.
Then he shook his head.
"No."
The answer hit Kaelen harder than expected.
"No?"
"This place was a Foundry site once."
Aren looked around at the broken machines and empty chambers.
"Years ago, this was where they experimented, created hybrids, and processed curse energy."
Kaelen's expression darkened.
"Then why did the Guild records call it the Foundry?"
"Because they are outdated."
Aren looked directly at him.
"The Empire abandoned this location after it was exposed. They moved everything somewhere else."
Kaelen clenched his fist.
"So we followed a dead location."
"Not completely."
Aren pulled out a small data device.
"There are still traces here. Old records. Energy routes. Enough to reveal where they moved."
Kaelen looked at the device.
"Why help me?"
Aren smiled faintly.
"Because you are searching for the same thing I am."
"The hybrids?"
"The truth."
Silence filled the corridor.
After a moment, Aren stood.
"Your friend is nearby. He has been searching for you."
"SC?"
Aren nodded.
"He found another route into this facility."
Kaelen looked at him.
"Will I see you again?"
Aren turned away.
"Maybe."
Then he disappeared into the abandoned corridors.
---
Several minutes later, Kaelen finally found SC.
The moment SC saw him, he immediately moved forward.
"Kaelen."
"I'm fine."
SC looked at the wound.
"You almost died."
Kaelen ignored the comment.
"Tell me what you found."
SC opened his datapad.
"This location is not the main Foundry anymore."
Kaelen froze.
"You know?"
"I discovered it before losing contact with you."
SC displayed the information.
"The energy systems here are old. The production lines were removed. The Empire transferred everything somewhere else."
Kaelen nodded slowly.
"I met someone."
SC looked up.
"Who?"
"A man named Aren."
SC became serious.
"He was here?"
"Yes. He told me this place was abandoned after the Empire moved the Foundry."
SC studied the data.
"Interesting."
Kaelen looked at him.
"What did you discover?"
SC continued.
"I found the remaining records. The transfer was not random. They moved the entire operation closer to a new energy source."
"Where?"
SC pointed at the coordinates.
"The new Foundry location."
Kaelen stared at the screen.
"So our mission was never to destroy this place."
"No."
SC closed the datapad.
"It was to discover where they went."
Kaelen looked down the dark corridor where Aren had disappeared.
Another mystery.
Another enemy.
But now they had something they didn't have before.
A direction.
"The real Foundry."
SC nodded.
"And this time, we won't walk in blind."
Kaelen picked up his weapon.
The curse still burned inside him.
The pain was still there.
But so was his determination.
"Then we move."
Behind the abandoned walls, the old Foundry remained silent.
But somewhere far away...
The true one was waiting.