Chapter 116: The Ancient Gate

The silver words hovered above the smooth black console, casting a pale light across the underground passageway. The alien text shimmered in silence against the dark walls, reflecting brightly in Raviah’s wide eyes.

[SOURCE-BEARER IDENTIFIED.]

[WELCOME BACK.]

Raviah stared at the floating transcript, her fingers frozen against the cool metallic panel. "Welcome back?" she whispered, her brow furrowing. "I’ve never set foot in this place before."

The ancient structure offered no reply, its glowing interface remaining still.

Behind her, Rhyder stepped forward, raising his rifle as his sharp gaze swept the corridor. "Elias, are you receiving this feed?"

"Every single character, General," Elias answered through the comms earbud, his tone laced with disbelief. "However, our instruments aren’t picking up any conventional radio transmission. Whatever is generating those symbols, it isn’t utilizing standard frequencies."

"Can you trace its operating mechanism?" Rhyder asked, keeping his weapon steady.

"Not from our current telemetry," Elias replied. "Those energy spikes are emitting directly from the facility itself, specifically from the console panel under Raviah’s hand."

Rhyder glanced down at her hand. "Raviah, step back."

Raviah slowly pulled her fingers away from the interface.

The silver light dimmed slightly but did not vanish. Instead, luminous veins of energy spider-webbed further along the walls, racing toward the sealed gateway at the far end of the passage.

A mechanical groan resonated deep beneath the stone floor.

The surrounding soldiers instantly tightened their defensive circle, weapons drawn.

"Movement ahead!" a scout barked.

At the end of the corridor, the seamless black wall began to divide. No visible tracks or door hinges appeared, as the solid alloy simply separated down the center, its structure dissolving into thousands of floating silver motes that drifted upward like metallic dust.

Beyond the dissolving barrier lay a vast subterranean vault. ℯ

Raviah took an involuntary step forward, her breath catching in her throat.

The massive chamber stretched deep into the mountain, its vaulted ceiling swallowed by shadows. Monolithic pillars stood in symmetrical rows, each carved with intricate, spiraling energy pathways that mirrored cellular structures.

Suspended inside each pillar were massive transparent crystals, housing slow-moving threads of liquid light.

A giant circular platform dominated the center of the hall. Multiple concentric rings encircled the platform, spinning at varied speeds despite having no visible gears or mechanical supports.

The air inside the room felt crisp and clean. There was no scent of damp earth, no trace of water damage, and no signs of corrosion. The entire complex appeared untouched by the centuries it had spent buried beneath the soil.

"How is a facility like this even possible?" a soldier muttered, staring around in awe.

Raviah didn’t answer. Her internal root had begun to vibrate in resonance once again.

The sensation radiated outward from her core, weaving an invisible thread between her body and the crystalline pillars. With every step she took toward the threshold, the suspended lights flared brighter.

When a soldier inadvertently stepped across the threshold ahead of her, the nearest crystalline pillar remained dark.

Yet the moment Raviah crossed the same boundary, the pillar’s interior blazed into brilliant light.

A chain reaction cascaded down the hall. One after another, every pillar along the pathway ignited, illuminating the immense space in radiant silver.

"Everyone halt," Rhyder ordered firmly.

The squad froze in place.

Rhyder studied the glowing columns before gesturing to one of the Elemental soldiers. "Approach the nearest column and test it."

The Elemental soldier nodded, cautiously extending a thread of his own elemental aura toward the crystal. Nothing happened. He pushed harder, causing the air around his fingers to shimmer with active power, but the pillar remained dead to his touch.

"Fall back," Rhyder commanded.

The soldier retreated into formation.

Rhyder turned his gaze to Raviah. "Try using your root."

She hesitated briefly before extending a thin, translucent strand of energy forward.

The crystal pillar instantly erupted in blinding silver illumination.

Simultaneously, the concentric rings surrounding the central platform accelerated their rotation. A low vibration moved through the floor plates, and a cluster of holographic symbols materialized above the central pedestal.

Raviah immediately severed her energy connection.

The rotating rings slowed, and the floating symbols vanished into the air.

A tense silence gripped the expedition team.

"This system responds exclusively to you," Rhyder observed, his tone grave.

"Not necessarily to me as a person," Raviah corrected, examining the glowing column. "It might be reacting to the specific traits of my root, or perhaps the link between my core and the Primordial Source."

"Which means we have no way of knowing what will happen if you fully activate this complex," he replied.

"Precisely," she said.

"Then we move cautiously, one step at a time," Rhyder declared.

For once, she didn’t offer any rebuttal.

Back at the command center, Elias worked rapidly to analyze the incoming stream of structural data. He cross-referenced the energy profiles against modern geological surveys, historical archives, and the legacy files from Project Elemental Awakening.

Nothing in the records matched.

"General, you need to hear this," Elias reported through the comms channel.

"The energy distribution within that facility doesn’t match any known human technology, nor does the alloy composition of the walls. Even those crystalline structures were created on a manufacturing scale we couldn’t dream of replicating."

"Can you estimate a construction timeline?" Rhyder asked.

"Not precisely," Elias replied. "However, based on the sediment layers surrounding the outer shell, this structure was buried long before any recorded human civilization formed in this region."

Raviah looked up at the towering columns. "Are you saying this facility predates humanity?"

"I’m saying our recorded history has no explanation for it," Elias said, pausing. "If the surrounding geological strata are accurate, it may predate every civilization in our history books."

Rhyder’s jaw set into a firm line. "Keep those findings classified. No reports leave the command center without my direct clearance."

"Understood, General," Elias confirmed.

Raviah walked toward the central platform, her boots ringing softly against the seamless floor.

Unlike the glyph-covered walls, the circular platform was smooth, except for a shallow indentation in the middle. Surrounding the center were dozens of fine lines that resembled branching root structures.

She recognized the design instantly.

The pattern mirrored the precise energy pathways of her own root.

"Rhyder," she called softly.

He moved to her side, rifle lowered but ready. "What did you find?"

"This platform was crafted for a specific purpose," she explained.

"A control console?" he asked.

"Perhaps," she whispered, tracing the grooves with her eyes while keeping her hand pulled back into her jacket, where her mind touched her spatial storage space to ensure her medical gear was accessible.

"Look at the pathways. Every branch feeds straight into the center, matching the flow between my biological root, my core, and the living ecosystem within my spatial realm."

Her pulse quickened in her chest.

Before she could elaborate, the chamber’s lights plunged into sudden darkness.

A single crystalline column behind the pedestal released a sharp pulse of power. Deep beneath the subterranean floor, another distant pillar answered with an echoing pulse.

Then the entire vault fell dead silent.

A massive hologram flared to life above the circular platform, grander and far more intricate than the previous displays. Countless glowing glyphs orbited a radiant sphere of pale silver light.

Raviah felt her root tighten inside her chest as the central orb brightened.

The revolving symbols reconfigured themselves, translating their meaning directly into her consciousness.

A new message projected across her mind.

[PRIMORDIAL SOURCE STATUS: AWAKENED.]

Rhyder shifted closer, his shoulder pressing against hers. "Raviah, what does it say?"

She swallowed hard, her throat dry.

The central sphere flickered, and a second line of text materialized underneath.

[CYCLE INITIATION: CONFIRMED.]

The stone hall trembled beneath their feet.

Then, a final line of text locked into place.

[THE SOURCE HAS AWAKENED AGAIN.]