The corridor beyond the side door wasn't like the rest of the bastion. This was smooth stone, cut so precisely you couldn't fit a knife blade in the seams. Runes glowed faintly along the baseboards, pulsing in time with Mathew's footsteps.

  Rudy traced one with his eyes as he followed his father deeper. The glow was oddly soothing. "I've never seen this part before."

  "This leads to the actual part of the bastion, and few have clearance for this place. Besides, you wanted in on this, didn’t you?" Mathew said, not breaking stride. His voice was flat, but there was steel underneath.

  "Yeah, I did," Rudy confirmed, pushing doubt away. "Given what's happening, there's not much I can do chasing after Jin and Reyana if I don't even know where they are. The best course is to find any advantage here and relay it. Trust them to act on it."

  Mathew grunted in acknowledgment. Rudy couldn't see his face with him leading, but he was sure his father had a smile on his face.

  "Vienna was built right on top of this bastion," Mathew said. "The founders knew how important this place was. They poured everything into restoring it. Alas, the last two generations of city lords were more entranced with money and political power than the well-being of Vienna's future."

  “He ran away, didn’t he?” Rudy said, and he couldn't keep the venom out of his voice.

  "Yes. The lord's family was evacuated early. Along with the riches, the treasures, and all the competent higher-ranking personal guards." Mathew's tone didn't change, but something heavy settled in the air between them.

  Joe walked on Rudy's other side, his crimson eyes tracking the runes with the intensity of someone reading a language only he understood. He hadn't spoken since they left the main levels, but Rudy caught the way he focused on the structure—touching the walls, studying the patterns.

  “What is it?” Rudy asked Joe.

  Joe didn't answer immediately. He kept studying the corridor before fixing his gaze on Mathew. "This place is related to the Dregoran Empire, isn't it?"

  Rudy frowned. The name meant nothing to him—probably just another piece of history he'd slept through in school—but the intensity in Joe's body was palpable. Even his dad went rigid for just a second.

  "Yes," Mathew said. "This has been confirmed as one of the last bastions of the Order of Lethariel."

  "Order of Lethariel?" Joe mumbled. “The watchers of lost faith?”

  Mathew nodded, surprise flickering across his face. "I wasn't aware you understood the lost tongue."

  "Heh… I’m sort of an explorer," Joe said with his usual smile back in place. "Besides, what a twist of fate…it fits us perfectly, doesn’t it?”

  “It does?” Rudy asked, unsure what Joe meant.

  Joe said with a chuckle, “We're also watchers of lost faith and sparks for the new dawn."

  No one added anything new. The weight of that statement settled over them as they reached an elevator shaft and started descending.

  "Ever since the attack," Mathew said quietly, "the revelation that all significant authorities are gone has caused... complications. It's not easy when the pillar of faith keeping you sane wavers."

  "You've done a splendid job, Commander," Joe said, respect clear in his voice. "Holding people together like this."

  Rudy nodded along. "Yeah, Dad. I'm glad you're okay."

  Mathew only chuckled.

  The elevator opened into a wide chamber. Mathew stopped at a biometric lock—it looked way too old and out of design to Rudy, like something that shouldn't still function. It thoroughly scanned Mathew.

  "The facility is self-sustaining to a degree," Mathew said, stepping through. "Designed to hold around a hundred thousand under siege. Automated defenses. Purge systems for contamination. And many more we haven't opened yet."

  “It was built for a war, Commander,” Joe said. “A war that never came… or if it did, wiped out everything about that period."

  "Leaving behind these behemoths," Mathew added. "Complex machines with no guides."

  “True.”

  A monotone voice blasted from speakers somewhere overhead. "Commander Mathew Whitehart. Bastion-Seven-Seven-Omega. Access granted."

  The lock hummed, then cycled open with a sigh of pressurized air.

  Rudy followed his father through, and he stopped cold.

  "Whoa," he exhaled.

  The room was massive—not in height so much as depth. The walls were covered in projected maps, real-time essence flows across Vienna pulsing in veins of light. A central holo-table displayed the entire bastion network in three dimensions, each level breathing with faint luminescence. Consoles ringed the space, manned by officers and specialists. The air hummed with essence channeling through crystal conduits.

  Ten people stood at attention when Mathew entered. He recognized most of them from his time training at the wall.

  Lieutenant Jorn was the first person he saw, his sharp eyes scrutinizing both him and Joe. Sergeant Vans was beside him, blonde and clean-shaven. Rudy could feel the man was big on order and military discipline.

  Captain Silas stepped in from the side, tar finally scrubbed from his armor, but exhaustion written into every line of his face.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Then he saw a broad-shouldered man with a scarred jaw, whom he didn’t know, but his father introduced as Captain Lennon Smith.

  By his side was a young woman, probably not much older than him, with her blue hair pulled into a tight bun, cold brown eyes that watched everything. Specialist Corporal Vera, his father introduced her, and Rudy felt her gaze pass over him like fingers probing a wound.

  The next was a middle-aged woman with red hair, fixed to the screen in front of her, and Rudy recognized her as Master Artificer Illiana Valnar.

  Rudy smiled as he matched her dead-tired gaze… despite the war and their situation, she still looked like she'd been awake for three days straight and was running on spite.

  There were three other young and new faces Rudy didn't recognize. All of them looked like they'd been through hell and came back meaner.

  They saluted as Mathew approached. Fists to chests, sharp and uniform.

  "At ease," Mathew said, waving them down. "We don't have time for a ceremony."

  Rudy hung back by the door with Joe, suddenly aware of how young they both looked in this room. Joe caught his eye and mouthed something. Rudy read it off his lips: Comms up. Mostly.

  That meant Joe had nearly completed his part. That meant Jin and Reyana could hear them now—if they weren't already fighting something underground that would tear them apart before the message came through.

  Rudy pushed the thought aside. Salvatore had drilled it into his brain to focus on the present and not worry about things his sword couldn't reach.

  Mathew strode to the central table and slammed both palms down. Essence erupted—not the warm, vibrant gold Rudy remembered from before the attack. His essence was warm and comforting, golden like the sun's rays, not this cold and hungry with gray streaked through it like veins of old iron.

  The entire room woke up.

  Runes ignited floor-to-ceiling, sequencing in brutal efficiency. Projections snapped into focus—Vienna's grid above, bastion vitals below. Alarms silenced. Systems synced. The hum of the room shifted from idle waiting to purposeful action.

  Vera took a step forward and saluted, her eyes shining with a soft, silvery glow. "Sir! The psychic net is live. We have double-checked the suspects, and it is now confirmed. We have seventy-three confirmed cultists."

  Seventy-three.

  Master Illiana's hands flew over a side console. "Ward anchors at sixty percent. Rerouting power now."

  "How long until full capacity?" Mathew asked.

  "Ten minutes," she said without looking up. "Maybe less if the damn control systems stop fighting me… and just in nine hells happened in the control room, Commander? The space is in such disarray that restoring our systems is turning out to be a frustrating ordeal.

  "Something… that shouldn’t be possible," Mathew said quietly, and Rudy saw Silas flinch hard at that. Everyone knew Trish was the granddaughter of the previous commander.

  And Rudy could feel that especially after he had heard Hobbs sacrificed himself to hold back the cult, and now his only next of kin is a monster. He wondered just how his father and his men must be feeling.

  Not now… Rudy mentally chided himself as he edged closer to the table, studying the red dots scattered like roaches across the projected bastion map. Medical bay. Supplies. Guards. Detention. Positioned like a web designed to strangle the resistance from the inside.

  "Dad," Rudy said carefully. "What exactly are we looking at? Are these the locations of cultists?"

  Mathew's gaze stayed locked on the display. "That’s the map of the bastion updating in real time. The red dots are not the cultists but the areas we confirmed them at."

  “We all concurred it was too much of a risk of exposure if we placed any sort of live tracking on them.” Master Illiana added.

  "But we have them marked," Mathew said. "And we have contingencies in place for when we move."

  "And that brings us to the task at hand," Mathew straightened, voice taking on authority. "Every system. Every contingency. Activate them now."

  "Sir!" Every soldier except the master artificer, Rudy, and Joe saluted and whirled into action.

  Rudy watched his father—bandaged eye, battered armor, standing like stone — and he could feel this place, or rather this bastion, recognizing him and his will.

  Mathew straightened fully, voice filling the chamber. Not shouting, but carrying weight. "We are not holding. We are cleaning. When this operation is done, there will not be a single vermin left breathing in my bastion."

  Then Silas slammed fist to chest. "Yes, Commander!"

  Jorn. Vans. Lennon. Vera. The specialists. Fists thundering against armor. "Yes, Commander!"

  Mathew turned to Rudy and Joe. "Status on your friends?"

  "No idea, should be somewhere in the underground levels. Comms are still down, but I trust them enough to handle themselves."

  "Lower levels, that was their last position," Joe said from his console. "Still no direct contact, but the comms are broadcasting now. If they hear it, they'll respond."

  Joe nodded and bent back to his work, fingers moving across essence-carved interfaces.

  Mathew turned to the broader room. "Where is she?"

  Master Illiana's eyes flicked up from her screens, a quiet sadness and regret in her eyes, but she pushed them down and spoke. "Sector Seven. Moving deeper."

  "Toward the civilian sectors?" Mathew asked.

  "Yes, sir. Right toward them." She said. “Elenor is there. , Should she encounter her, I’ve given certain items that should stall her for some time, even if she is an ORDER IV entity.”

  “Elenor?… Illiana, in normal conditions, I would have said yes, but that thing is unlike anything I’ve seen before.” Mathew said quietly.

  “Then we can only put our trust in our preparations and our people, Commander.” She added.

  Mathew nodded and turned to the room. "Have her relay the information of new allies as soon as comms are back up.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “And why is it you need those locations?” Mathew asked his son.

  Rudy chuckled, “Well, Jin has this one really stupid marked skill, and I’m damn sure he would light up every cult better than the tags… permanently.”

  Mathew gave Rudy an amused smile. “Sure, we will send you the location, but we will not hold off on our operations. As long as you don’t get in the way, you are welcome to do whatever you want.”

  Rudy's smile stretched as he knew his father was underestimating them. No worries, he thought, Jin's actions would be more than enough.

  Mathew took a deep breath and faced the room.

  “All contingencies to the maximum. I want every automated defense between her and those people active." Mathew commanded.

  "Sir—" Illiana hesitated. "That will draw enormous power. It might overload the—"

  "I know what it will do," Mathew cut her off. "Do it anyway. Bring our systems online."

  The room shifted. The humming intensified. Runes that had been glowing softly began to burn brighter, pulsing with an urgent rhythm. On the central table, a new set of markers appeared—defensive positions, essence conduits, structures activating in sequence.

  Seeing everyone focused on a task, Rudy found a space for himself and fell into meditation after taking a couple of potions. The short fight with Trish had seriously expended his reserves, and he put all his focus on bringing himself back to 100% fighting capability.

  Within a couple of minutes, an unexpected, deep rumble, akin to distant thunder, vibrated through the underground shelter.

  Rudy's eyes snapped open as he jumped to his feet to see that the war room was all red from the alarms and various reports coming in.

  Another pulse. The whole bastion shook. The war room trembled. Dust fell from the ceiling.

  Rudy knew in his gut the battle had started as he tuned out all voices in the room and tried comms only to be greeted by static when he felt a cold hand firmly gripping his shoulders.

  "Rudy," Joe said quietly. "Change of plans. I’ve managed to send the location to Jin, and Trish is in contact with Reyana. We need to move.”

  Rudy's flames roared to life without his conscious command. The mantle of colossus stirred behind his eyes.

  A door hissed open beside the table. Not to the elevator. To something deeper. Something faster.

  "Go," Joe said. "I'll keep comms open."

  Mathew gave Rudy a nod. "Rudy. Take care. Find Winters. Find the girl. You move together or not at all."

  “Yes.”

  Rudy plunged through the door, and Joe turned back to the screen, his fingers moving even faster.

  Behind him, Mathew watched the map. The pulse of white light grew more intense. The surrounding darkness twisted, fought, and reached.

  "This ends tonight," he said quietly. "We've bled too long."

  ~~~

  PS: Psst~ Psst~ Advanced chapters are already up on patreon, you can read upto one month ahead... It would be awesome if you guys, you know...

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