​"Are you... humans? Not the traitors?"

​The question hung heavy and suffocating in the stinging air of The Core. Elias’s voice was raspy, nearly drowned out by the hum of the machines sustaining the remnants of his life. Rianor stood directly in front of the gaping cockpit, staring at the withered old man pinned between a web of cables and hydraulic pipes. His skin was transparently pale, clinging to bone, and his eyes were sunken—yet within them lingered a spark of consciousness that refused to surrender to death.

​"We are not traitors," Rianor replied softly but firmly. He knelt on the hot metal floor, positioning himself so his gaze met Elias’s. "We come from the surface. From a newly established kingdom. We are here... to find the truth about this place."

​Elias remained silent for a long time. His eyes—human eyes that seemed to have witnessed thousands of years of history—studied every inch of Rianor’s face. He searched for a flicker of a lie, for any sign that these people were the same as those who had once come with swords and the fire of betrayal.

​A brief silence followed. Elias found none.

​"The truth..." Elias let out a long breath, a sigh that sounded painful. His chest rose and fell with great effort, aided by a mechanical pump that thudded thump... thump... thump... beside him. "The truth has long since rotted down here. But you... you’ve made it this far. Perhaps... it truly is time for someone to hear it."

​Arvid approached, his crystal tablet glowing blue. His fingers were ready to record, yet a faint tremor shook his hands. It wasn’t out of horror, but the realization that whatever came from this man’s mouth would shatter everything he knew about world history.

​"I was the first volunteer," Elias began. Every word was spoken with a heavy pause. "Before Orion. Before Legion Prime. Before this catastrophe began." He moved his head slightly—the only part of his body not tethered by cables—gesturing toward the silence of The Core. "They needed proof that humans without mana could bring giant machines to their knees. And I proved it."

​Rianor remembered the recording from the Lost City. "Orion... the pilot of Legion Prime. We saw his message. He said: ’We do not regret it. But the world turned against us.’"

​Elias’s eyes widened slightly. "You... found that recording?" A hint of pride flickered in his raspy voice, only to be replaced by sorrow a moment later. "Then you know a small piece of it. But a recording cannot convey the scent of blood. A recording does not tell how hell erupted."

​He paused, gathering his remaining strength. The machinery around him hummed louder, pumping chemical fluids into his frail body.

​"The Demon King. Satan. Have you heard that name?"

​Rianor and Arvid exchanged glances. Arvid cleared his throat, trying to moisten his dry throat. "Only fragments from the Silent City. No details."

​"Heh, of course. Because no one wishes to remember a nightmare." Elias stared at the dark ceiling, his eyes drifting far away. "He emerged from the south. From beyond mountains that were impossible to cross. Do you know The World’s End Mountains? Their peaks scrape the sky, shrouded in eternal blizzards. Nothing could pass—not on foot, and flight was impossible."

​"But Satan passed them," Rianor interjected.

​"He didn’t pass them, lad. He... simply appeared. Whether through an invisible rift or by tearing reality itself." Elias shook his head weakly. "We never knew. All we knew was that suddenly, the darkness was before our eyes. Along with an army that defied explanation. They were like shadows with mass, fire that could think. And they slaughtered anything that breathed."

​Elias coughed weakly, his breath growing shorter. Rianor waited patiently, unwilling to rush him.

​"Every race fell. The Elves with their arrogant magic. The Dragons with fire that could melt mountains. Even the mana-blessed humans who thought themselves gods." There was a bitter edge to his voice. "All failed. One by one, cities became ash. Satan moved north like an unstoppable black tide. No one dared stand in his way."

​"But you dared," Rianor said. It wasn’t a question, but an acknowledgment.

​Elias looked at him, and for the first time, a thin smile—barely visible—appeared on his aged face. "We had no choice. We had no magic, no dragons, let alone the blessing of a god. All we had was this." He gestured to his temple with a glance. "Intellect. The ability to ask ’how’. And we asked: how do we stop something that is impossible to stop?"

​"Project Legion," Arvid whispered.

​"Correct. Project Legion." Elias nodded weakly. "We gathered all the best minds. All the technology that the mages considered trash. We built machines the world had never imagined. We created soldiers who knew no fatigue and felt no pain. And we sought those willing to surrender everything to become pilots."

​"Like you," Rianor said.

​"Like me. And the others." Elias looked at his hands fused with cables. "Hah, some weren’t as lucky as I was. Some... only had their brains left. On Level 2. Did you see them?"

​Arvid swallowed hard. Gulp. "The Hive Mind. Hundreds of brains in tubes."

​"They were all volunteers." Elias’s voice trembled with emotions that had been locked away for millennia. "They knew the risks. They knew they would never embrace their families again. But they stepped into that fluid anyway. Because no one else would."

​Silence hung in the vast room. In the distance, Thorne and his troops stood frozen, listening to every word spoken.

​"And we won." Elias closed his eyes, as if replaying the memory of that victory. "Orion... led the final battle. I was trapped here, but I heard his final transmission. I heard how he decimated that shadow army. How he drove the Demon King back to the south and sealed the path behind the mountains forever."

​"That path... is it still sealed?" Rianor confirmed.

​"It should be. Orion ensured it before... before the betrayal erupted." Elias opened his eyes again. "But that is not your problem now. Because what happened after the victory... that is what truly destroyed us."

​Rianor leaned forward, his intuition darkening. "The betrayal."

​"Yes. Betrayal." The word came out like poison from Elias’s lips. "We thought that after saving the world, we would be welcomed as heroes. We thought they would see that humans without mana were also valuable." He shook his head bitterly. "A grave mistake. They were terrified. Elves, Dragons, Beast-kin... even our own mana-blessed kin. They saw Legion Prime, saw the Annihilator, and they trembled. Not at the machines, but at what humans could achieve without their magic."

​"The attack was sudden," Arvid whispered, remembering the footage he had watched.

​"Without warning, lad. They came while we were celebrating our victory. They slaughtered the scientists in the labs, the engineers in the workshops... even those who didn’t know how to hold a sword."

​Rianor remembered the skeleton at the reception desk. "E. Vance. We found him above."

​Elias closed his eyes, a single tear tracing a path down his wrinkled cheek. "He was just an administrator. His job was only to record logs of entry and exit... they even broke his neck."

​Arvid stopped writing, his hands shaking violently. "Where did the other survivors go?"

​"The systems began to fail then. But I managed to hear a final transmission... they evacuated the women and children to the north. To the continent across the sea. I don’t know if they survived. But if you are here... and these machines still recognize you... perhaps someone made it."

​Rianor and Arvid looked at each other. One name appeared simultaneously in their minds: The Iron Empire.

​"They survived," Rianor said heavily. "They returned thousands of years later. They call themselves the Iron Empire."

​Elias’s eyes widened. A flash of relief appeared, but it was quickly followed by deep sorrow. "Then... they do not know. They returned carrying a grudge, not carrying our lost knowledge."

​"They returned with steam engines. Technology that is far more primitive." Rianor pointed to The Core installations around them. "They lost their scientists. They only have ancestral stories about a stolen homeland and betrayal."

​"And now they come to seek revenge on the wrong people," Elias whispered faintly.

​The room fell silent again, heavier this time.

​"I am too old," Elias murmured finally. "This body is no longer mine. This machine is both a support and a prison. I cannot leave, but I can give you one final thing."

​He whispered a series of complex symbols and access codes. Arvid recorded them with lightning speed, his fingers dancing across the tablet screen.

​"Legion Prime. He is still down there. The Vault. The deepest level. Orion... he was the best pilot we ever had. He was the one who sealed the path in the south. And he... the one who endured the longest."

​"What happened to him?" Rianor asked.

​"I don’t know. All communication was severed. But I can feel him through the energy grid. Legion Prime is still breathing... in his own way." Elias stared sharply at Rianor. "Wake him up... or destroy him entirely. It is up to you. But do not let him be trapped there forever. He has been lonely for long enough."

​Rianor stored the code. "I promise."

​Elias gave a small smile, a strange expression of peace. "And... one more thing. I can feel it, you know. There is mana in your bodies. You are not like us." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

​Rianor fell silent, touching the Mana-Glove on his hand. An irony he couldn’t explain.

​"It’s alright," Elias whispered. "The reality is that you are here, and that is enough. Perhaps... this is truly what we fought for. Not so that humans without mana would win, but so that all humans could stand together regardless of what flows in their blood."

​He closed his eyes. The hum of the machinery around him gradually faded—then stopped entirely. The fluid inside the pipes froze. The indicator lights on his chest went out one by one with a soft click. Elias’s body went limp.

​Rianor stood up. With a very careful motion, he closed the old man’s eyelids.

​"He is at rest," he said softly.

​Arvid let out a long breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "We got the answers. Everything the Church taught... turns out to be garbage. They aren’t demons, Rianor. They were saviors betrayed by the world."

​Rianor turned toward the elevator leading to the deepest level. "We aren’t finished." He looked at his troops. "We have to meet Orion."

​Thorne stepped forward, his face hardening. "Troops are ready. Khulafa has been sent back to the surface. Eighteen men remaining... all ready to die if necessary."

​Rianor looked at them one by one. Eighteen men left. "We continue. For Elias. And for all those whose stories were erased from history."

​One by one they entered the final elevator. Rianor was the last to step inside. Before the door closed, he looked once more toward the now-dark Annihilator cockpit. Elias was at peace there.

​"So that all humans could stand together."

​The sentence echoed in his head as the elevator began its plunge into the deepest darkness. Toward The Vault. Toward Legion Prime. Toward the final truth that would change the face of the world forever.