Truth swirled about them as Thorne's crystal surged with blinding force. Maya's instincts screamed chance a mere second before the ground underneath them collapsed.
They plunged through the crackling darkness, Maya's stomach lurching as gravity altered and whirled. Her arms gripped empty air until she smacked hard against a steel surface, knocking the wind out of her lungs.
"all people alive?" She gasped, blinking to adjust to the dim blue lighting of what appeared to be an ancient Elyrian room.
She received groans in response. Marcus lay sprawled close, and Lyra had somehow landed on her toes, the Resonance Crystal's brightness illuminating her resolute expression. Dr. Reeves held her injured facet, blood oozing through her palms.
However, Thorne and his warriors were nowhere to be seen.
"He deliberated this," Lyra explained, assisting Maya up. "precipitated some form of transport system."
Maya examined their surroundings, her engineering mind already noting information. Curved partitions with inert movable panels. Thick cables snake through the ceiling. In the center of the chamber, there is a big cylindrical structure that vibrates with barely contained electricity.
"That is a reactor middle," she whispered, her popularity growing. "Exactly like the schematics in Thorne's files, but larger. "A lot bigger."
A rumbling rumble shook the room. Caution lights flashed as ancient machinery groaned in response to lifestyles.
"It's no longer correct," Marcus murmured.
Maya ran to the nearest manipulation panel, her fingertips racing over symbols she'd seen at other Elyrian locations. "The reactor is powering up, but the containment systems are deteriorating. "If it achieves complete capability—"
"How long?" Lyra interrupted.
"Twenty mins, perhaps much less." Maya's throat clenched. "And the blast radius... it would make the exceptional Resonance appear to be a firecracker."
Dr. Reeves stumbled to every other panel. "The exits are sealed. "There was no response from emergency protocols."
"Can you close up it down?" Marcus requested Maya.
She shakes her head. "I'm not from here anymore. We need to become the best managed room." She pointed to a schematic that was pulsating on one of the display screens. "stages up."
"Then we higher move," Lyra replied, but as she improved, electricity crackled across the chamber's roof. Thorne emerged as a holographic picture, his altered shape making it much more disturbing at large scale.
"playing the resorts?" His voice echoed. "This institution carried tremendous promise before the Elyrians abandoned it. Now it will serve a greater purpose."
"You are insane," Marcus yelled. "This location will kill all and sundry inside one hundred miles!"
Thorne's giggle sent thrills down Maya's back. "demise? No. Evolution. The high-quality Resonance became only a catalyst. This..." His photo gestured toward the reactor. "This can finish our change. Those who continue to exist become something greater.
The hologram flickered. "You have a desire." Try to avoid the answer, or utilize the final minutes to just embrace your ascension. Select swiftly."
His portrait vanished, leaving them in the pulsating glare of warning lights.
Maya's brain raced through calculations and possibilities. "The maintenance shafts," she said suddenly. "Each reactor desires access to maintenance routes. They may not be on the main security grid."
She dashed to a section of wall panel, wrenching it apart with shaky fingers. A slim tube stretched into darkness behind it, exactly as she had hoped.
"it's an immediately shot to the control stage," she told me. "However, these shafts were not meant for humans to enter. They will be tight and, most likely, no longer stable by the conclusion of these years.
Dr. Reeves placed a touch on her wound. "I will most effectively ease you down. pass. I'll watch the reactor from here and attempt to shop for your time."
"We're no longer leaving you," Lyra objected.
"you have to." Reeves maintained a vulnerable smile. "Thorne wants us to fail." Show him the wrong thing."
The reactor's roar intensified, underscoring the gravity of their situation.
Maya led the way into the shaft, her heart hammering as they crawled through the confined space. The metal creaked ominously beneath them. They came to a halt after what seemed like hours but might only have been minutes.
"Left," Maya directed, according to her mental map. "we are nearly—"
A powerful tremor shook the shaft. Steel shrieked as parts started to break away.
"flow!" Maya shouted, but it was too late. Marcus' hand just brushed across the fractured shaft's threshold as the ground sank underneath him. Under him, an infinite drop into the reactor's superheated core.
Maya lunged, seizing his arm, while Lyra anchored them both. Together, they hauled him to safety, all three gasping as they passed over.
"OK," Marcus said, panting. "I formally hate maintenance shafts."
They persevered, eventually reaching their goal. Maya smashed up an access panel, and they burst into a large circular area governed by an important control pillar.
However, these were not done by myself.
"I hoped you'd make it," Thorne remarked, emerging from behind the pillar. The crystal in his palm pulsed in time with the reactor's increasing frequency. "Now you can witness the beginning."
"The most effective element for starting is your failure," Lyra stated, raising her personal crystal.
Maya ignored both of them, her recognition of the management hierarchies. While Thorne and Lyra clashed in a breathtaking display of crystal energy, she worked tirelessly to understand the reactor's regulations.
A message from Dr. Reeves flashed across the screen: "Containment failing." Five minutes at most."
Maya's hands flew faster, desperation pushing her past her usual bounds. She'd always addressed problems with logic and ability. Now, those equal abilities were all that stood between them and disaster.
Then she discovered it: a pattern within the reactor's code. Not a shutdown sequence, but something else. Something the Elyrians had built into the fundamental foundations of their era.
"Lyra!" she called out, cowering as crystal electricity crackled overhead. I need your crystal. "The reactor is more than just an energy source; it is a key!"
"A key to what?" Lyra shouted again, deflecting one of Thorne's attacks.
"the whole thing!" Maya's voice trembled with realization. "The Elyrians did not merely build reactors. They built doorways. techniques for channeling and redirecting tremendous amounts of strength."
Lyra's eyes lit up with knowledge. She twisted away from Thorne's subsequent punch and raced toward Maya. The Resonance Crystal vibrated with building electricity.
"No!" Thorne raced forward, but Marcus tackled him, saving vital seconds.
Maya led Lyra's fingers to precise spots on the manipulating pillar. "Focus the crystal's energy. We cannot stop the reaction, but we can direct where it goes.
The chamber filled with dazzling light as crystal and reactor energies mingled. The reality itself appeared to stretch and flex around them.
"What have you ever finished?" Thorne yelled, his voice distorted.
Maya met his eyes and allowed herself a bitter smile. "Exactly what you wanted. Just not the way you wanted it."
The arena melted into pure power, and Maya's final thought was a prayer that she had calculated everything correctly.
The equation was not finished. The real question was: where would they go if the light went out?
More importantly, what might they uncover there?
The metamorphosis had begun, but this time they were in control.
The gentle became impossibly brighter, followed by...
the entire thing has been modified.