The echoes faded. Silence reclaimed the hollow halls of Adra-9, but Rotham's breath was uneven, his body trembling with the aftershocks of the Echo Reversal.
He rose slowly, scanning the dim glow of the Core chamber. The monolith had vanished — or perhaps retreated, hiding in shadow. But deep inside his mind, a persistent signal pulled him, faint but insistent.
"There's something else," Rotham whispered. "Something the Eye didn't want me to see."
Selin's projection blinked back to life, steadier now.
"The Eye was a guardian... or a gatekeeper. If there's a corridor beyond it, it must be the true heart of the station."
Rotham traced a mental map — a dark, uncharted passage buried beneath the Phantom Layer. It had been erased from every system log, every record. A secret corridor no one knew existed.
With determination, Rotham found the hatch hidden behind a twisted tangle of wires near the Core.
The cold metal slid open, revealing a passage lit only by his flickering wrist light.
He stepped in.
The air was thick and cold, charged with a strange energy. The walls pulsed faintly, almost breathing, alive with unknown circuitry and ancient symbols.
"This corridor waits," he said softly, "for the next echo... the next memory... the next voice."
As he moved forward, whispers rose—soft but unmistakable, a choir of distant voices beckoning him onward. Not threats. Not commands. Invitations.
Rotham's heart pounded.
What lies at the end of the forgotten path?
His journey was far from over.
Because beyond the Eye, beyond the Code, lay the true secret of Adra-9.
And Rotham was ready to find it.