Hello everyone, this is my very first chapter .
I hope you enjoy this 😊
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"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises…" — The Tempest, William Shakespeare
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[Start of Chapter I ]
[Location: VAULT 7 | Latitude 82°S | Underneath the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica][Date: June 2 | 08:41 GMT]
A mechanical groan echoed through the corridor — low, metallic, like a beast turning in its sleep. Frost clung to the steel like skin, as if the hallway itself had breath. The air was still, save for the hum of cold light and the slow crunch of boot soles on grated floors.
Major Lyla Vance stepped through the final security door, her coat still beaded with fine Antarctic snow, her face unreadable beneath layers of fatigue and formality.
"You're late."The voice came from a speaker overhead — clipped, genderless, emotionless. Vault 7 was alive, in its way, and every breath within it was measured.
"I'm early," she muttered. "Just not early enough to avoid the babysitters."
A retinal scan pulsed white over her left eye. Approval granted. The inner vault hissed open.
Beyond lay a tomb of light — all white metal, stainless steel, and lines of recessed panels blinking with unreadable symbols. The sterile scent of ionized air filled her lungs. It smelled like secrets.
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📓 Classified Journal Entry — Internal Transfer File #M-Vance-UN42
"It's colder here than anywhere I've ever been. Not just the weather — the people, the silence, the eyes watching from walls that don't have windows. Vault 7 doesn't feel like a lab. It feels like a punishment waiting to be earned."
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Lyla's fingers brushed the ID lanyard at her chest.UN OPERATIONS: MAJOR L. VANCESECURITY LIAISON, VAULT 7
She'd taken this post out of guilt. That's what her ex would say, anyway — Ronan with his venomous clarity, always knowing exactly where to stab with words. "You like being in control because you never controlled the things that mattered." Maybe he wasn't entirely wrong.
She blinked the thought away like frost from lashes.
"You are now entering Level III containment. Please do not touch unauthorized panels."
The automated voice returned. She ignored it. She already hated the voice.
Vault 7 had been described in the briefing as "a multidisciplinary research and containment nexus designed to study deep-core biological anomalies."Translation: a box with something inside it they didn't understand — and maybe never would.
Scene Shift — Observation Wing, South Pod
Dr. Lira Myles stood beside a curved glass window, watching as a massive, hermetically sealed chamber sat in eerie silence.
Inside it lay a body.Not decomposed. Not fossilized.Preserved. Breathing?
Lira hadn't blinked in twenty seconds. The others took notes, adjusted thermal readings, recalibrated DNA scrubbers. But she watched. She felt it.
Behind her, a voice broke the silence:"Is that the ice queen?"The tone was sarcastic. Familiar.
Adeel Chowdhury, Vault 7's field engineer and walking commentary track, approached with coffee and a grin far too alive for this place.
"She hasn't moved since yesterday.""Neither has the thing in the tank. Maybe they're syncing."
Lira didn't look away. "Leave sarcasm to those who aren't replaceable."
Adeel smiled anyway. "Harsh. You must really like it here."
"I don't."
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[Security Wing | Lyla's Internal Monologue]
Lyla's first briefing began with a visual feed.
What she saw should have been impossible.
An entire theropod body, massive and coiled like a sleeping curse, lay beneath transparent cryo-glass.Its hide was black-green, almost iridescent, laced with a network of small, scale-like mesh. Its claws were dragonic — not oversized, but perfect. Designed.And the teeth — rows of them. Curved like hooks. The jaws didn't just open.They articulated.
"Discovered seven months ago, 3.2 km below the Ross Shelf," said the speaker."Estimated origin: composite lineage, Trans-Cretaceous. We're calling it Venenosaurus alpha-one."
"That's not a dinosaur," Lyla whispered.
"No," said the researcher. "It's something we don't have words for."
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📓 UN Memo #VIREX001-A (Restricted Access)
The specimen shows advanced neuro-connectivity beyond expected structures. Cellular decay rate is statistically zero. Muscle tissue remains viable. At time of discovery, internal temperature was 5.6°C — ambient, not preserved. Repeat: it was not frozen. It was waiting.
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Footsteps. Lyla turned. A teenager stood there, arms crossed, jacket slung over one shoulder.
"Wow," said Tessa Monroe, unimpressed. "Another adult who's here to pretend nothing's wrong."
Lyla raised a brow. "You must be Monroe's kid."
"And you must be the security babysitter."
The girl walked off, boots clanging, leaving behind a faint echo — not from her voice, but from something else.
Lyla glanced again at the tank.The creature hadn't moved.But something about its position was different.
As if it was watching.As if it knew.
"Arrival protocols completed. Vault 7 is now sealed. No ingress or egress permitted until further clearance."
The door slammed shut behind her.The world above faded.The silence beneath the ice deepened.
And far behind the glass, in a tank that was not as empty as it seemed,a second eyelid flickered open.
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[End of Chapter I — "Arrival Protocol"]
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It is my very first time writing journals in novels. I have seen them in some survival games so thought of adding it . Give your feedback ..... :)
If you liked this chapter, hurry up and add this to your library ... More chapters are coming soon.....