The eye opened wider.
I couldn't breathe.
It was enormous.
Not a machine.
Not a screen.
An eye.
Something alive was beneath the sanctuary.
The golden light pouring from the cracks illuminated the chamber, revealing shapes moving underneath the floor.
Something massive.
Something that had been sleeping.
Lena tightened her grip on my arm.
"Ariana…"
"I see it."
The Architect stumbled backward.
"No."
His voice was barely audible.
"It can't be awake."
Adrian turned toward him.
"What is it?"
The Architect didn't answer.
I looked at him.
"You know what that is."
He shook his head.
"We were never supposed to reach this chamber."
"Then why did you come?"
His eyes moved toward me.
"Because of you."
The floor suddenly split.
A deafening roar shook the sanctuary.
Everyone fell.
I hit the ground hard.
Dust filled the air.
The golden eye disappeared beneath the collapsing floor.
Then something struck the underside of the sanctuary.
BOOM!
The entire city moved.
Buildings shifted.
Ancient pillars cracked.
The First Generation struggled to remain standing.
"Move!" Adrian shouted.
I pushed myself up.
"Where?"
"Anywhere away from the center!"
We ran.
Another impact sent me crashing against a wall.
Lena grabbed me before I fell.
"Are you okay?"
I nodded.
Then I heard it.
A whisper.
Not from the Source.
Not from the sanctuary.
From beneath us.
Heir.
I froze.
Lena noticed.
"What?"
"Something called me."
Her face tightened.
"What did it say?"
I didn't answer.
Because the voice came again.
You finally returned.
My blood went cold.
Returned?
I had never been here before.
Had I?
A memory suddenly flashed through my mind.
A little girl.
Standing in this same sanctuary.
My little hands pressed against the glass of a chamber.
Someone was holding my shoulders.
My mother.
But she wasn't afraid.
She was crying.
And in front of us stood the first Heir.
The woman who looked exactly like me.
She placed her hand against the glass.
"Not yet," she whispered.
The memory vanished.
I gasped.
"My mother brought me here."
Lena stared at me.
"What?"
"When I was a child."
My mother heard me.
Her face changed.
"You remembered."
I turned toward her.
"You brought me here."
She slowly nodded.
"Once."
"Why?"
"Because I needed to show you where you came from."
"Then why don't I remember?"
"Because I made sure you wouldn't."
I stared at her.
"You erased my memory?"
"No."
She shook her head.
"I hid it."
The difference felt meaningless.
"You lied to me."
"I protected you."
"You made me believe Elara was my mother."
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
"Elara agreed to protect you."
"From what?"
She looked toward the broken floor.
"From that."
Another roar came from beneath us.
This time, the sanctuary lights exploded.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then golden symbols appeared across the walls.
One after another.
Ancient writing.
The First Generation began whispering among themselves.
The silver-haired woman stepped forward.
"We need to leave."
"No," I said.
She looked at me.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
She pointed toward the floor.
"That isn't the Source."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"The Source is inside you."
She looked toward the darkness beneath the sanctuary.
"That thing is what the Source was created to protect us from."
A terrible silence followed.
Adrian stared at her.
"You knew?"
She nodded.
"We all knew."
I looked at my mother.
She lowered her eyes.
"What is it?"
My mother whispered:
"The First Hunger."
The ground trembled.
A deep sound rose from below.
Not a roar this time.
A laugh.
Slow.
Ancient.
Hungry.
The golden eye opened again.
And this time, another eye appeared beside it.
Then another.
And another.
Hundreds of golden eyes opened beneath the sanctuary.
Lena stepped backward.
"How many are there?"
My mother shook her head.
"Those aren't eyes."
I looked at her.
"Then what are they?"
She stared into the darkness.
"Doors."
My stomach dropped.
One of the golden circles beneath us began to open.
A black hand emerged.
Long fingers wrapped around the edge of the broken floor.
Then another hand appeared.
Something began pulling itself upward.
The First Generation raised their weapons.
The Architects did the same.
Adrian shouted for everyone to retreat.
But I couldn't move.
Because the creature stopped climbing.
It looked directly at me.
And in a voice that sounded like thousands of voices speaking at once, it said:
"Daughter."
I stopped breathing.
Lena looked at me.
Adrian looked at me.
Even the Architects froze.
And then the creature smiled.
"I've been waiting for you."