They reached the rendezvous bunker just before dusk — a crumbling warehouse on the south rim of Calligro, where chimneys belched rust instead of smoke and the streets smelled of oil and ozone.
Ilia pushed open the steel hatch and descended first.
Rien followed, quiet for once.
Inside, six people sat around a scorched table. Maps, coffee, a half-burned deck of playing cards — it looked almost domestic. But the eyes that turned to her weren't warm.
And Vex was among them.
He rose immediately, crossing the room in two strides. "Where the hell have you—"
Then he stopped.
She knew what he saw: the strange color in her eyes, the unnatural stillness in her posture. She wasn't limping, though she should be. She wasn't even cold.
"You touched it," he said flatly.
Ilia nodded once. "And it touched back."
Vex swore under his breath and turned to the others. "Clear the room. Now."
They obeyed — all but one woman who remained at the table, arms folded. Her cropped silver hair gleamed like wire.
"She should be quarantined," the woman said. "You know that."
"She's not infected," Rien snapped.
"She's unstable," the woman countered. "You want another collapse like Sentesh?"
Ilia stepped forward. "If you think I'm dangerous, say it to my face."
The woman did. "You're dangerous."
Ilia smiled thinly. "Good. Then you'll listen."
She dropped Sevran's name into the silence.
That silenced even Vex.
"He's dead," he said.
"I met him," Ilia replied. "Or what's left of him. He remembers me."
Rien added, "He said she was the lock. That he was the door. And someone's opened it again."
Vex looked away. "So it's real."
"You knew," Ilia said quietly. "You knew about Myel."
"I suspected. Not about Sevran. Not… like this."
Ilia crossed to the table, unrolling a map of Calligro and the ruins they'd visited. "The seal is fraying. There's a pressure building under the plaza. I don't know what happens when it breaks, but I think we've all felt it."
"We need to bury it again," Rien said.
"No," Ilia said.
Vex's gaze sharpened. "What?"
She looked up. "We don't need another lock. We need to know what's behind the door. Why it was made. What it wanted."
The room chilled.
"You're suggesting we let it out?" the silver-haired woman asked, aghast.
"I'm suggesting we stop repeating history we don't even understand."
Silence.
Then Vex stepped forward.
"If you go down that road, Ilia… you're not coming back the same."
Ilia met his eyes — steady, unflinching. "Then come with me. Make sure I don't lose myself."
Vex didn't answer right away.
But something passed between them — a memory, maybe, that hadn't yet happened. Or one that had happened long ago.
Finally, he said, "We'll move at first light."
Ilia exhaled.
The fault had shifted beneath them all. But this time, she wouldn't let it close.