The Delta-9 ruin no longer pulsed like a cage.It hummed—like a mind breathing, slowly syncing to Kael's rhythm.
He stood alone in the central chamber. Light from the ceiling shimmered in spectral patterns, illuminating his figure like a schematic under construction. Around him, the walls of thoughtsteel and rune-glass had stilled, waiting.
His team watched from the platform's edge.
Tessia had her arms crossed, tail twitching nervously. Dren's sword rested across his knees, expression unreadable. Sera paced in small circles. Only Zarith sat still, mouth ajar, whispering things Kael couldn't yet hear.
Kael opened his eyes. They weren't glowing. They were focused.
"The ruin's core is passive now," he said, voice low. "We're not in its trial anymore."
"Then what are we in?" Dren asked, standing.
Kael turned slightly. "Its memory. And its design room."
He reached toward the terminal-like platform at the center. Runes unfolded like blooming steel-lilies. The Primed Lens in his chest reacted—light threading from his sternum to the ruin floor.
"I have access now. Not full control… but a seat at the table."
The ruin responded with motion. Panels shifted. A central schematic appeared—an atlas of the Mind-class ruins spread across Exarune, most still dormant.
"This… this is where they were planning it," Kael murmured. "The architecture of an entire network."
Sera approached. "What do you mean 'they'?"
Kael gestured to the shimmering blueprints. "Not gods. Not mages. Thinkers. Echo Architects. They didn't just build ruins. They seeded patterns—learning machines disguised as tombs. Trial sites. Vaults."
Zarith whispered behind them.
"They feared something. That's why they buried it so deep."
Kael's thoughts sharpened. "They didn't just build this for power. They built it because something was coming. Something they couldn't outfight… only outthink."
The room went still.
Outside, thunder cracked—the artificial storm controlled by Veinhold's skiffs had begun forming overhead. The ruin's walls dimmed, flickering like a heartbeat preparing for war.
Kael pressed his hand to the interface.
"We're no longer hiding," he said. "Let's move the ruin."
Tessia blinked. "Move it?"
He smirked.
"Let's see how well their armies track something that doesn't stay still."
Moments Later — Ruin Exterior
The scouts watching the ruin perimeter felt the tremor first.
Veinhold's skiff engines faltered mid-air. Crimson Vulture hounds began whining, backing away from the cliff edge. Even the Runeblade mages pulled their sigils tighter to their bodies.
Then, the entire plateau beneath Delta-9 shuddered—crystals dimming, then flaring to life.
One by one, the floating spires of the ruin began to lift.
"It's phasing!" a scholar from the Veinhold outpost shouted.
A slow, high-pitched tone rang through the air.
Not magic. Not alarm.
Permission.
Then, in a blast of inverted light, Delta-9 vanished—phased out of space, into a layer between dimensions known only to the oldest ruin-scholars: the Interlace.
Back Within the Ruin
The team staggered as gravity shifted.
They were no longer in Exarune's physical plane.
Kael remained calm, staring at the coordinates floating before him.
"Now," he said. "Let's see what's hidden where no map dares to mark."
He turned back to the others.
"We're no longer hunters. We're off the board. And we move next."
[ END OF CHAPTER 12 ]