Chapter 207 - 202: The Girl from the Ruins
The fire remained dead.
John stared at the pile of blackened wood.
Nobody had touched it.
There had been no wind.
No rain.
Yet the flames had simply disappeared.
Darius slowly lowered his hand.
"That wasn’t natural."
"No," John said.
He looked toward the girl.
She was sitting beside Sylvara, wrapped in a blanket. She looked exhausted, but she was awake now.
The girl noticed John staring.
"What?"
"What’s your name?"
She hesitated.
"Mira."
"Just Mira?"
She nodded.
John crouched in front of her.
"All right, Mira. I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
She looked down.
"My father and I lived near the western mountains."
"How long?"
"All my life."
"And your father?"
"He was a scholar."
Darius immediately became interested.
"What kind of scholar?"
Mira glanced at him.
"He studied old ruins."
John exchanged a look with Darius.
That was already too convenient.
"Did he know about Project Evolve?"
Mira shook her head.
"No. He didn’t know that name."
"Then what happened?"
She took a breath.
"A few weeks ago, people came to our village."
"How many?"
"I don’t know. Maybe twenty."
"Soldiers?"
"They weren’t wearing uniforms."
John nodded.
"Black armor?"
Mira looked surprised.
"Yes."
"Continue."
"They asked my father about the ruins beneath the old mining city."
Darius leaned forward.
"What did he tell them?"
"He refused."
"And then?"
"They took him."
The girl’s voice became quieter.
"I tried to stop them."
Lythriel frowned.
"What happened?"
"They found me."
Mira looked down at her hands.
"I escaped."
John didn’t interrupt.
"I’ve been running ever since."
"How did you survive?"
"I hid."
"For how long?"
"Three days."
John looked at her injuries.
Some were fresh.
Others were older.
She had been running for longer than three days.
"Why did they want your father?"
Mira hesitated.
"He found something."
"What?"
"A door."
John frowned.
"A door?"
"Beneath the ruins."
𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Darius exchanged a look with him.
"What kind of door?"
Mira shook her head.
"I don’t know."
Then she looked toward Specimen 001.
"But he said the creature came from there."
Everyone became silent.
---
Specimen 001 slowly approached.
Mira didn’t move away.
The creature lowered its head until its golden eyes were level with hers.
**Your father saw me.**
Mira nodded.
"He told me about you."
**What did he say?**
"He said you weren’t a monster."
The creature became still.
Mira continued.
"He said you were a guardian."
John looked at Specimen 001.
The creature said nothing.
Mira looked at John.
"My father believed you were protecting something."
John’s expression changed.
"Protecting what?"
"I don’t know."
Mira shook her head.
"He never told me."
John stood.
"All right."
Darius looked at him.
"That’s it?"
"No."
John looked toward the western mountains.
"We’re going there."
Lythriel sighed.
"I knew you were going to say that."
---
They traveled before sunrise.
The captured hunters were left with the local authorities in the nearest village.
John didn’t trust them completely, but the hunters were unconscious and restrained.
There was little else they could do.
The road west became rougher as they traveled.
The mountains grew larger.
The villages became fewer.
By late afternoon, they reached an old stone road.
Darius studied the map.
"The mining city should be another two days from here."
John looked at the road.
"Should be?"
"It hasn’t been inhabited for decades."
"Then the map might be wrong."
"It could be."
Specimen 001 stopped.
John noticed.
"What is it?"
The creature looked ahead.
**We are close.**
John frowned.
"We’re still two days away."
**Not to the ruins.**
The creature pointed toward the mountains.
**To the place where they found me.**
John stared at the distant peaks.
"You remember?"
**Fragments.**
"Tell me."
The creature remained silent for several moments.
**There was a city.**
**Humans lived there.**
**Then something happened.**
"What?"
**They opened a door.**
John’s expression hardened.
"Another one?"
**The same kind.**
Darius looked alarmed.
"Another breach?"
The creature nodded.
**Something came through.**
"What?"
**I don’t remember.**
John frowned.
"You don’t remember?"
**My memories were altered.**
Darius immediately understood.
"The experiments."
**Yes.**
The creature looked down.
**They erased parts of me.**
John’s expression darkened.
The organization hadn’t simply experimented on the creature.
They had deliberately removed its memories.
Probably because there were things they didn’t want it remembering.
John looked toward the mountains.
"Then we’ll find the answers ourselves."
---
They camped that night.
Mira slept beside Sylvara.
Aerion kept watch.
John sat near the edge of the camp.
Lythriel joined him.
"You’ve been quiet."
"Thinking."
"About Mira?"
"Partly."
"And the ruins?"
"Mostly."
Lythriel sat beside him.
"You think it’s connected to why you came here."
John looked at her.
"I don’t know."
"You’ve been asking yourself that question since Ravencross."
"Yeah."
She was quiet for a moment.
"You know you don’t have to figure everything out immediately."
John smiled.
"I know."
"Good."
She looked at him.
"Because you’re terrible at slowing down."
John laughed.
"Fair."
They sat quietly.
Then John noticed something.
A faint light in the distance.
He stood.
"Lythriel."
She followed his gaze.
"What?"
"There."
Between the mountains was a pale blue glow.
It lasted only a few seconds.
Then disappeared.
Lythriel frowned.
"Magic?"
"Maybe."
John woke the others.
Within minutes, everyone was ready.
Darius looked toward the mountains.
"That wasn’t there before."
"No."
Specimen 001 stared at the same location.
**The door.**
John looked at it.
"You think that’s the entrance?"
**Yes.**
John picked up his sword.
"Then we’re moving."
---
They reached the ruins the next afternoon.
The mining city was larger than John expected.
Broken stone buildings covered the valley.
Collapsed mine entrances dotted the mountainside.
Rusting machinery lay abandoned in the streets.
Nature had reclaimed most of the city.
But there were signs of recent activity.
Fresh footprints.
Broken branches.
Tracks from wagons.
Someone had been here recently.
Darius crouched beside one.
"Two days old."
John nodded.
"Maybe Mira’s father’s captors."
Mira looked around nervously.
"This place..."
"What?"
She pointed toward one of the ruined buildings.
"My father used to take me there."
John followed her finger.
An old library.
Its roof had partially collapsed.
They entered.
Most of the books were destroyed.
But several stone shelves remained intact.
Darius immediately began searching.
Mira walked deeper inside.
Then stopped.
She pointed toward the floor.
"There."
John looked.
A stone tile had been moved.
Fresh scratches surrounded it.
Someone had opened it recently.
John lifted the tile.
Beneath it was a staircase.
Darius stared.
"This wasn’t on any map."
John smiled.
"Of course it wasn’t."
They descended.
---
The staircase led beneath the city.
Unlike the facility beneath Ravencross, these tunnels weren’t constructed recently.
The walls were ancient.
No magical lights.
No machinery.
Only carved stone.
Mira walked beside John.
"My father came here."
"How do you know?"
"Because he showed me the entrance."
She pointed toward a symbol on the wall.
"He marked it."
John examined it.
A simple circle.
Three lines.
The same symbol again.
Project Evolve hadn’t created it.
They had copied it.
John’s expression hardened.
"They’ve been here."
Darius nodded.
"Definitely."
The tunnel continued.
Eventually, they reached a large chamber.
At the center stood a stone door.
Mira immediately recognized it.
"My father found this."
John approached.
The door had no handle.
No hinges.
Just a massive circular symbol.
Darius examined it.
"It’s sealed."
"Can you open it?"
"Not without knowing the mechanism."
John looked at the symbol.
Then something happened.
The symbol began glowing.
Darius stepped back.
"I didn’t do that."
John looked at his own hand.
A faint light surrounded his fingers.
He hadn’t activated anything.
The door was responding to him.
Lythriel whispered:
"John..."
"I know."
He slowly placed his hand against the stone.
The door opened.
Not with force.
Not with a spell.
It simply recognized him.
The ancient stone moved aside.
Beyond it was darkness.
And a voice came from within.
Not the same voice from beneath Ravencross.
This one was weaker.
Older.
Almost like a memory.
**Traveler.**
John froze.
Darius stared at him.
"What did it say?"
John didn’t answer.
The voice continued.
**You have returned.**
John’s heart skipped.
"I’ve never been here."
Silence.
Then—
**Not this you.**
John’s eyes widened.
"What does that mean?"
No answer came.
Instead, the chamber beyond the door began to illuminate.
Ancient symbols appeared across the walls.
And at the far end stood a massive statue.
It resembled a human figure.
But its face had been deliberately destroyed.
In its hands was a strange object.
A circular stone.
John recognized the pattern carved into it.
The same symbol he’d seen everywhere.
But underneath it was something else.
A second symbol.
One John had never seen before.
His body reacted before his mind could.
A strange warmth spread through his chest.
The symbol on the stone began glowing.
Specimen 001 suddenly dropped to one knee.
**I remember.**
John turned.
"What?"
The creature’s golden eyes were wide.
**This is where they found me.**
John looked at the statue.
"What happened here?"
The creature stared at the broken face.
Then answered:
**I was not born here.**
Everyone froze.
John slowly looked at it.
"What?"
**I came through the door.**
Darius’s breathing stopped.
Mira stared at the creature.
John looked at the ancient doorway behind them.
Then at the strange symbol.
The pieces were falling into place.
Specimen 001 wasn’t a creation of Project Evolve.
It wasn’t even a creature native to this world.
It had come from somewhere else.
Just like John.
Before anyone could ask another question—
The entire ruin shook.
A distant explosion echoed above them.
Someone had entered the city.
John turned toward the tunnel.
"They found us."
Darius listened.
"More than that."
He pointed toward the ancient chamber.
Something was moving behind the statue.
John drew his sword.
"Everyone stay together."
The stone floor cracked.
A deep growl echoed through the ruins.
Mira grabbed Lythriel’s arm.
"What is that?"
John stared into the darkness.
"I don’t know."
Then a figure stepped out from behind the statue.
It was a man.
Older.
Blood covered his clothes.
His face was exhausted.
Mira gasped.
"Father!"
The man looked up.
His eyes widened.
"Mira?"
She ran toward him.
John immediately moved to intercept her.
"Wait."
But the man didn’t attack.
He simply stared at Specimen 001.
Then at John.
His expression changed completely.
Fear.
Recognition.
And disbelief.
"You..."
John frowned.
"Do you know me?"
The man slowly shook his head.
"No."
His eyes moved toward the glowing symbol behind John.
"But I know what you are."
John’s grip tightened.
"What am I?"
The old scholar looked toward the ancient door.
Then whispered:
"You’re the reason that door opened."
A terrible silence filled the chamber.
And somewhere far beneath the ruins...
Something answered.
---
100 ps = 1 extra Chapter
200 ps = 2 Extra Chapter
1 Golden ticket = 3 Extra Chapter