The alarm inside the facility was no longer just a warning sound. The energy lines running through the walls trembled like a living network of veins beneath the red lights, and the metallic hum spreading through the corridors touched the nerves of every being inside. When Elara heard the heavy footsteps outside the door, she did not turn her head. Because she did not need to see who was coming. The real guardians of the facility had awakened, and their arrival did not resemble the panic of ordinary officers. These footsteps were older. More disciplined. More merciless.

The satisfaction on Adrian’s face did not escape Elara’s attention. Adrian knew that this chaos had slipped out of his control, but he did not seem completely disturbed by it. On the contrary, he looked like a researcher who had reached the most dangerous stage of a great experiment. "You will understand when you see them," he said. "This facility is not protected only by walls. This place is protected by the oaths of beings left behind from the old wars."

Elara’s eyes moved to the door. "Old wars?" she asked. Her voice came out calm, but the Moon Spirit inside her reacted to the word. A faint, deep, ancient vibration stirred inside her chest. As if it had not only heard of these wars, but somehow remembered them.

Adrian noticed this. "So it knows this too," he said, as if speaking not to Elara, but to the being inside her. "Centuries ago, when creatures hunted each other, the World Government bound some of them as guardians to establish order. Witches, wolves, shadow carriers, old warriors sworn by blood... They are all still here. To make sure something like you does not get out."

The lock mechanism above the door released with a heavy sound. The blood on Elara’s wrist had not dried yet. There were still burn marks on her fingertips. But there was no panic on her face. Because if there were old powers behind that door coming to kill her, there were also two alphas outside trying to get in. And at the center of the system stood a power Elara did not yet fully understand, but had already started to use.

When the door opened, the first thing that entered looked human, but it was not human. A tall, gray-haired woman carried a chain woven from thin metal rings in her hand. Her eyes were almost colorless. Behind her were two wolves; they were not old, but the scent coming from their bodies was not like the scent of new-generation wolves. It was heavier, wilder, older. Behind them stood a third being whose face was covered with a black veil. When Elara looked at it, she saw the lights in the room bend for a moment.

The Moon Spirit whispered inside her. "Shadow carrier." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Elara did not ask. Because this time, there was no time to wait for an explanation. When the gray-haired woman raised the chain, the metal surfaces in the room answered her. The rings of the chain suddenly lengthened, merged with thin lines rising from the floor, and formed a circular trap around Elara. Adrian did not step back. He only shifted one step to the side. He did not want to stand at the center of this battle, but he wanted to be the first person to see the result.

At the same time, on the stairs leading up to the main floor, Kael encountered the first real obstacle. The wolf in front of him was not one of the patrols. He was a warrior with old scars running along his neck and nothing but command in his eyes. When Kael caught his scent, the alpha reflex inside him rose directly. This was not an officer. This was a weapon kept for war.

When the wolf attacked, Kael did not wait to respond. Two bodies collided in the stairwell. The metal railing bent, the lights on the wall shattered. Kael’s shoulder struck the concrete hard, but he did not fall back. He clenched his teeth and lunged for his opponent’s throat, but the old warrior was faster than he expected. He drove his knee into Kael’s ribs and pushed him a few steps down. When the pain spread through his chest, Kael’s eyes darkened. This time, he did not think about holding himself back. Everything in his path had to break for him to reach Elara.

Rowan was at the screens in the system room, but he was no longer alone. The footage coming from the corridors was rapidly blending together, and cameras were going dark one by one. With the awakening of the old guardians, the system had changed its own protocol. The paths Rowan had opened were closing again, and the doors he had locked were responding to another command. After Elara’s touch, this facility was not only fighting against her. It was changing sides within itself.

On one screen, he saw Kael fighting on the stairs. On another screen, the door to Elara’s room was open. The orange energy field inside was growing, and three dark markers were moving beside it. A cold fear rose inside Rowan. For a moment, he wanted to abandon the entire plan and run directly to Elara. But if he did that, Kael would fall too, the path would close, and the opportunity Elara had opened would be wasted. So he held his breath and pressed his hands harder against the control panel.

"Hold on," he whispered. He did not know who he was saying it to. Elara, Kael, himself... maybe all of them.

When the chains in Elara’s room fully formed the trap, the Moon Spirit released the silence inside her. This time, it did not want to step forward. It did not attack. It gave the sensation of standing behind Elara. This support was strange. Elara did not feel it like possession, but like a cold hand placed on her shoulder. It was frightening, but at the same time, it was balanced.

The gray-haired woman was the first to speak. "The carrier is unstable. The physical form will be preserved. The inner entity will be suppressed.". Elara tilted her head slightly. "Everyone who comes to suppress me thinks it will be very easy at first."

The woman’s face did not change. She pulled the chain. The rings around Elara began to narrow. Even before the metal touched her skin, its pressure could be felt. This was not an ordinary binding spell. It did not cut the power off; it reversed the direction of the power. For the first time, Elara felt her knees tremble slightly. Adrian’s eyes lit up. Because this reaction was new data. Because he was still learning. Because even in the middle of all this battle, everything was still an observation to him.

When the shadow carrier moved, the lights in the room distorted even more. Behind Elara, the shadows stretching across the floor stirred like something alive. The device gripping her wrist tightened again. The metal rings pressed into her bloodied skin. The pain cut Elara’s breath for a moment. But this time, the pain did not scatter her. It passed through her. It carried her somewhere.

The Moon Spirit whispered. "These are beings of old oaths. If the oath breaks, their bodies break too." Elara’s eyes moved to the chain. "Where is the oath?", "Inside this facility. Beneath the system. Written in blood.".

Elara understood. She had already felt that this facility did not operate only with electricity, technology, and protocol. But now she was seeing that beneath that structure, there was an older layer. If this place was a body, then the old oaths were its bones. And if the bones broke, the body could not stand.

As Rowan searched for the central security layer on the control panel, symbols written in an old language suddenly appeared at the bottom of the screen. It was not English. It was not a modern magic code either. The letters seemed to emerge not from the screen, but from the darkness behind the screen. Rowan could not read them. But he remembered the unknown words Elara had spoken before. Sol thera... nox vel... aris...

With an instinct, he opened the microphone channel. Instead of the entire facility, he found the old service frequency leading only to Elara’s room. "Elara," he said in a low voice. "There is another layer beneath the system. Written in an old language. Can you see it?"

When Elara heard Rowan’s voice, her heart did not quicken the way it used to. But somewhere inside her reacted. This reaction was weak. Human. Maybe it was still there. Her eyes moved to Adrian. Adrian had heard the voice too. His brows furrowed slightly. He had not expected Rowan to approach the system this quickly.

Elara pressed her hand back onto the metal surface. This time, she did not care about the burns on her fingers. As the system answered her, she felt the vibration of the old writings in the lower layer. The Moon Spirit completed the words in her mind. Their meanings were not exact, but the intention was clear. Protection. Closure. Possession. The oaths of this facility had not been written to chain those outside, but those awakening inside.

As Kael struggled with the old warrior in the stairwell, Rowan’s voice came through the speaker. "Kael, break the second power line on the right wall." Kael took another punch, and his lip split. "I’m a little busy right now.", "If you break it, the thing in front of you will weaken.".

Kael did not answer. He drove his elbow into the old warrior’s throat, threw himself to the side, and saw the thick cable line on the right wall. It was not a cable, but more like a metal vein covered with magic. Kael drew the warrior’s attack toward himself, ducked at the last moment, and made the man’s claw sink into the wall. Then he tore the line apart with all his strength. An orange spark burst through the stairwell.

At the same moment, one of the chains in Elara’s room trembled. For the first time, a crack formed on the gray-haired woman’s face. Elara saw it. Rowan saw it too. One of the bones of the facility had cracked. Adrian’s voice hardened. "Stop her."

The shadow carrier moved toward Elara. The floor darkened, and beneath its feet, not shadow, but something like liquid night spread out. Elara did not step back. The Moon Spirit inside her remained completely silent this time. This silence was not fear. It was waiting. Elara understood this and looked at that darkness without closing her eyes. Then she directed her own energy not to the chain, but to the wall behind the shadow carrier. She was now applying what she had learned from the system to magic. She did not have to touch it. It was enough to touch the surface carrying it.

The wall cracked. The shadow scattered for a moment. The trap around Elara opened. The opportunity lasted less than a second. But Elara no longer experienced seconds like old humans did. Even in that small opening, she was able to do enough. She slammed the device on her wrist against the metal surface, the energy rising from beneath her burned skin filled the rings, and the device cracked. Her blood smeared onto the metal. The system recognized the blood. The Moon Spirit pushed the power. Elara gave it direction. And the entire room exploded with orange light.