Chapter 2609: Story 2610: The Origin Chamber

The fortress shook again.

A deep rumble rose from beneath the floor, followed by a violent crack that split the control room in two. Computer screens flickered before exploding into sparks.

“Everybody out!” Ethan shouted.

Kael grabbed Lena and pulled her away from the widening crack.

Adrian stumbled toward the main console.

“Wait!”

Kael turned.

“What?”

Adrian pointed at the screen.

The recording had changed.

Marcus Veyr was no longer standing in the laboratory.

The screen showed an underground chamber.

At its center stood a massive black stone structure covered with ancient symbols.

Adrian’s face became pale.

“That’s the Origin Chamber.”

Mara looked at him.

“You’ve seen it before?”

“Only in the research files.”

A metallic voice suddenly echoed through the fortress.

“ORIGIN PROTOCOL INITIATED.”

The floor collapsed.

Kael, Mara, Ethan, Adrian, and Lena fell into darkness.

Kael landed hard on a stone platform.

He immediately raised his shield.

“Everyone alive?”

“I am,” Mara answered.

“Still breathing,” Ethan said.

Adrian groaned from nearby.

Lena didn’t respond.

Kael found her lying unconscious beside a broken pillar.

He rushed toward her.

The black veins had spread across her face.

Adrian knelt beside her.

“Her heart is slowing.”

“Fix it.”

“I don’t know how!”

A deep sound rolled through the chamber.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The enormous black structure ahead began opening.

A red light appeared inside it.

Then a hand emerged.

Mara lifted her crossbow.

“What is that?”

Adrian whispered, “Don’t shoot.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know what it is.”

The structure opened completely.

A gigantic figure stepped forward.

Unlike the zombies, it looked almost human.

It was covered in black armor-like flesh, with glowing red veins running across its body. Its face was hidden beneath a bone-like mask.

Kael stepped forward.

The creature stopped.

It stared directly at him.

Then it lowered itself onto one knee.

Every undead creature hidden within the fortress suddenly began screaming.

Ethan looked around.

“They’re responding to it.”

Adrian’s eyes widened.

“No.”

Kael stared at the kneeling creature.

“What?”

Adrian looked at him.

“It’s responding to you.”

Kael’s grip tightened around his sword.

The creature slowly raised its head.

A voice emerged from beneath the mask.

“King.”

The word echoed through the chamber.

Kael shook his head.

“I am no king.”

The creature bowed deeper.

“Blood of the Origin.”

Suddenly, Lena screamed.

Her body rose from the ground.

Black veins flashed red beneath her skin.

Adrian shouted, “Kael, get away from her!”

Too late.

Lena’s eyes opened.

They were completely black.

She looked at Kael.

Then she whispered in a voice that wasn’t hers.

“Awaken.”

The entire chamber erupted.

Thousands of undead voices answered from beneath the fortress.

Kael raised his shield as the stone walls began breaking apart.

Mara grabbed Adrian.

“What’s happening?”

Adrian stared at Lena in horror.

“The Origin has chosen its vessel.”

Kael looked at Lena.

“Bring her back.”

“I don’t know if that’s Lena anymore.”

The masked creature suddenly stood.

Behind it, an enormous stone door opened.

Beyond the doorway stretched a vast underground city filled with thousands of motionless infected.

All of them turned toward Kael.

All of them bowed.

Then a voice echoed through the chamber.

Not Veyr’s.

Not Elias’s.

Something older.

Something buried beneath the world.

“THE HEIR HAS RETURNED.”

Kael looked at the endless army.

For the first time, he understood the truth.

The apocalypse had not created the dead.

It had awakened them.