Akshat stood in the center of the primary east research bay, the analysis core humming faintly behind him like a sleeping giant. The chamber felt alive in its quiet way—consoles flickering with residual power, dust motes dancing in the thin beams of emergency lighting. His eyes scanned the walls methodically, the mask filtering the stale air into something almost breathable. The puzzles had led him here, each one unlocking like muscle memory from a childhood he barely remembered. But something nagged at the edges of his thoughts: the missing Aether Titans. The silence pressed heavier than any guardian could.
He moved along the far wall, gloved fingers tracing the seamless panels. One section felt slightly off—cooler to the touch, the faint outline almost invisible unless you knew exactly where to press. A secret door, hidden perfectly within the reinforced structure. Akshat's lips pressed into a thin line behind the mask. No hesitation. He located the lock mechanism: a recessed basin with the familiar Aether rune pattern, the same blood DNA reader he'd encountered throughout the lab.
Without a second thought, he drew a small blade from his suit's utility pouch and drove the point into his palm. Blood welled up, dark and steady. He placed his hand firmly on the basin. A sharp prick followed as the needle mechanism engaged, drawing a sample. The system processed for a tense few seconds, then a soft chime echoed. The wall section slid open with a whisper of hydraulics, revealing a compact hidden alcove.
Inside, tools and equipment lay arranged on metal shelves, untouched by time. Akshat stepped in, the confined space carrying a sharper scent of old electronics and preserved metal. His gaze landed first on a pair of advanced goggles—sleek, with a matte finish and adjustable straps. He picked them up, turning them over in his hands for a long moment. The lenses shimmered faintly under the light, hinting at layered optics and projection tech. He set them aside carefully and gathered the rest: a bulky arm watch that would cover half his forearm, heavy with embedded dials and ports, and a small pendrive, its surface etched with the Aether spiral.
He moved back into the main chamber, placing the items on a cleared console. Curiosity pulled him to the pendrive first. Akshat tapped it once against the nearby wall interface. It activated instantly, projecting a futuristic hologram that bloomed across the smooth surface in crisp blue light. The image stabilized into the figure of Orion Aether—tall, sharp-featured, with that same steel-gray hair and intense eyes Akshat recognized from the photo frame in his pocket. The recording looked recent, Orion's posture weary but composed, as if he'd made it in his final days.
"If you are seeing this, I am dead," Orion began, his voice steady and measured, carrying that familiar cadence of quiet authority. "I don't know who you are. You can either be Ritik or Akshat. But I hope that's not Akshat. So I am assuming it's you, Ritik Aether, my grandson."
Akshat remained motionless, watching. He already knew the threads connecting his father to all of this—conversations from before had laid them bare. No new shock rippled through him, only a deepening focus as the hologram continued.
"Ritik, you did a great job in hiding every Aether Titan. They shouldn't be captured, but there is a problem. One Aether Titan was missing from my accounts. I never did tell you this because I thought you would be worried. But now I am worried about what happened to that baby Aether Titan."
Orion paused in the recording, rubbing his temple as if the admission carried real weight even in death. "I don't think that baby Aether Titan lived, so I ignored it. But this talk just came out of my mouth as it is the last time talking in front of a camera. So, cringy feeling for me. I think you are here for the blood curse's treatment, if I am not wrong."
The words hung in the chamber. Akshat's breathing stayed even, though his mind turned over the implications—the missing Titan, the warnings from Kurana, the empty halls he had walked.
"A kshat is completely cured, but there's slight chances to open that blood disease once more. That's why I hope not to erase these data."
Orion leaned closer to the camera in the hologram. "See the briefcase with those glasses, goggles, and watch. In the briefcase there is a serum called 'Initiator'."
Akshat turned back to the alcove. Tucked deeper on the shelf was a compact, sealed briefcase. He retrieved it, setting it beside the other items. The latches clicked open under his fingers. Inside, nestled in protective foam, lay five syringes filled with a shimmering, silver-blue liquid. The label on each read "Initiator" in precise script.
The hologram Orion spoke on. "Those syringes contain the ultimate cure to any type of blood disease. I made the Initiator for the perfect body program, but that body lacks consciousness and it fails. So I thought, why not modify the human body? Then I, Orion Aether, developed this Initiator. After injecting, the patient gets cured of any disease."
A faint note of pride entered Orion's voice, tempered by regret. "There are concepts in my mind that I never got the chance to operate on. The next level of this serum—Stabilizer Serum and Executor Serum. But I can't make those."
Orion straightened, the hologram flickering slightly. "Okay, so much talk now, Ritik. Keep the briefcase and the goggles and the watch. There's a surprise hidden for you when you wear those goggles. Goodbye, grandson."