The door groaned as it slid open.
Beyond it, dim lights flickered along a long corridor. The air smelled of rust and old machinery, and a faint hum vibrated through the floor.
Kain and The Wraith exchanged a look. No guards. No weapons aimed at them. Just an open path forward.
But that didn't mean it wasn't a trap.
The Wraith touched their hidden blade. Kain's fingers itched for his gun—but it was gone. Confiscated.
A deep breath. No choice but to move forward.
They stepped through.
---
The Architect
At the end of the corridor, a heavy metal door slid open, revealing a room unlike anything Kain had expected.
A control center.
Monitors lined the walls, each displaying different areas of the underground facility. Some showed mechanical arms working on strange machinery. Others showed the tunnels they had barely escaped from—and the creatures still lurking within.
A single figure stood in front of the screens.
Tall. Gray streaks in his slicked-back hair. Sharp eyes that gleamed with intelligence and amusement. He wore a high-collared uniform, pristine despite the grime of the facility.
He turned toward them, smiling.
"Welcome. You can call me the Architect."
Kain's jaw tightened. "That name's supposed to mean something to us?"
The Architect chuckled. "Not yet. But it will."
He gestured toward a circular table in the center of the room. "Sit. We have much to discuss."
---
A Dangerous Proposal
Neither Kain nor The Wraith moved.
The Architect sighed. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have wasted my time saving you."
Kain narrowed his eyes. "Saving us? Looked more like you locked us up."
The Architect smirked. "A precaution. You two have a habit of breaking things. I needed to make sure you weren't going to blow up my facility before we had a chance to talk."
The Wraith crossed their arms. "Talk about what?"
The Architect leaned forward, clasping his hands together.
"A job."
Kain scoffed. "We're not for hire."
The Architect's smile widened. "That's what everyone says—until they hear the terms."
A screen flickered to life behind him. Blueprints. Diagrams. A layout of something massive.
The Architect tapped the screen. "You want out of this place alive? You'll help me secure this."
Kain studied the image. His blood ran cold.
It was a containment vault.
And inside?
Something was still moving.
---
The Vault's Secret
The Wraith spoke first. "What the hell is inside that thing?"
The Architect's expression turned serious.
"Something that should never have woken up."
He turned back to them, voice calm, almost casual. "You've seen what lurks in the tunnels. You know this facility was built to contain things humanity was never meant to understand. But recently…"
He glanced at the monitors, where the creatures skittered in the dark.
"The locks are failing. And if they fail completely… the surface won't survive."
Kain exhaled. "Let me guess. You need us to go down there and fix it."
The Architect chuckled. "Not quite. I need you to go down there and make sure what's inside… stays inside."
Kain frowned. "And if it doesn't?"
The Architect's smile faded. "Then you run. And you pray it doesn't follow."