Chapter 36 Full Party Dynamics #2
“Not just continuing,” Levi said, holding up another document. “Expanding. Look at these power requirements. Whatever he built down there needed massive amounts of electricity.”
Their radios crackled suddenly, Jasper’s voice cutting through the silence: “Guys, you need to check this out. I’m picking up some seriously weird readings from the central courtyard.”
“Define ‘weird,’” Levi responded, pressing the talk button.
“Like, off-the-charts EMF spikes. And the temperature’s dropping crazy fast. Something’s happening out there.”
Levi hesitated. The courtyard wasn’t on their immediate agenda, but Jasper’s instincts proved useful in previous loops. The NPCs weren’t just cannon fodder.
“Should we head back to base?” he asked.
“Negative,” Jasper replied. “But bring a UV light if you’ve got one. There’s something on the monitoring equipment... some kind of pattern showing up on the thermal imaging.”
Levi glanced at Asher, who shrugged. “We’re not finding much else here anyway,” he admitted. “We should check out the Specimen Storage room at some point, though. Might be relevant to these biometric protocols.”
They packed up the most relevant documents and headed toward the courtyard, Levi leading with Faine’s journal open in one hand.
“Wait.” He stopped at an intersection of corridors. “Faine mentions a ‘Specimen Storage’ in the east section. We should probably check it after the courtyard.”
“You want to split up?” Asher asked, eyebrow raised.
“No,” Levi replied too quickly. The thought of navigating the darkened halls alone sent a cold spike of fear through his stomach. “No, we should stay together. The courtyard first, then circle back to Specimen Storage.”
Asher nodded and stepped closer, fingers brushing Levi’s wrist in a gesture that could have been accidental but definitely wasn’t. “Together, then.”
Levi didn’t pull away this time.
The courtyard was bathed in ghostly moonlight.
Stone benches arranged in a circular pattern surrounded a central fountain, its basin dry and filled with dead leaves and debris. The temperature dropped, their breath visible in small clouds that dissipated in the still air.
“Over here,” Maddie called, waving from the fountain’s edge. She and Owen must have received the same message from Jasper. “We’ve been recording EVPs. Listen to this.”
She held up a digital recorder, pressing play. Static crackled, then a low grinding sound emerged—like massive gears turning beneath the earth.
“That’s not an EVP,” Levi said. “That’s the building.”
“What do you mean?” Owen asked, brow furrowed in confusion.
Before Levi could answer, Jasper’s voice came through their radios again: “Guys, use the UV light on the courtyard stones.”
Maddie pulled a handheld UV light from her equipment bag and switched it on. The purple beam swept across the flagstones, revealing nothing at first. Then she aimed it at the fountain.
Glowing symbols blazed to life—intricate geometric patterns etched into the stone but invisible to the naked eye. They formed concentric circles around the fountain, with a triangular shape at the center.
“Holy shit,” Owen breathed, adjusting his glasses. “These markings weren’t on any of the historical documentation.”
Levi crouched, examining the nearest symbol. It matched the mark on cabinet thirteen—a triangle within a circle.
“There’s writing,” Maddie said, pointing to a series of characters circling the fountain’s base. “It looks... Latin, maybe?”
Owen knelt beside her, squinting at the glowing text. “Not Latin. It’s a substitution cipher.” He pulled out a notebook and began copying the characters. “Give me a few minutes.”
Levi was impressed despite himself. Owen’s analytical skills proved genuinely useful—something he’d need to remember when Asher inevitably suggested sacrificing him later.
“Jasper,” Levi called into his radio, “how did you know to check with UV?”
“The thermal imaging showed cold spots in a pattern,” Jasper’s voice replied. “Like, unnaturally cold, in a perfect circle. Figured it might be reactive to light on a different spectrum.”
This has to prove to Asher that we need to keep them. They’re not obstacles.
“I’ve got it,” Owen announced after several minutes of furious scribbling. “It’s English, just encoded. It says: ‘Three Guardians stand before the threshold. Blood of the Creator. Voice of the Creator. Flesh of the Creator. Only when all three bow will the path reveal itself.’”
“Three Guardians,” Levi said slowly, meeting Asher’s eyes across the fountain. The phrase connected with what they found in the file cabinet. “The biometric checkpoints.”
“What do you mean?” Maddie asked, looking between them.
“We found documents in the Research Wing,” he explained. “About a security system Dr. Faine designed. It requires three different biological samples to access some hidden floor beneath the building.”
“Biological samples?” Owen’s face scrunched in disgust.
“Biometric authentication. The files mentioned it requires ‘three-point biological verification’ to access something called the sanctum. And this,” Levi gestured to the glowing text, “says the same thing. Blood, voice, and... flesh.”
“That’s seriously messed up,” Tyler muttered.
“But it makes sense,” Asher chimed in. “Biometric security would be impossible to bypass, especially in an era before digital hacking was common.”
“There’s more,” Owen continued. “A second ring of text: ‘The first Guardian resides in frozen slumber, awaiting the touch of flame to release its essence.’”
“Frozen slumber,” Maddie repeated, tapping her finger against her lips. “If the first ‘guardian’ is blood, it would need refrigeration to preserve it.”
“Specimen Storage,” Levi nodded, impressed by her deduction. “That has to be where Faine kept his blood samples.”
Elliot and Tyler joined them in the courtyard entrance, drawn by the activity. “What’s going on?” Tyler asked, eyeing the glowing symbols.
“We’ve found a clue,” Maddie replied excitedly. “About three guardians and—”
A low rumble interrupted her, vibrating through the flagstones beneath their feet. The symbols pulsed brighter for a moment, then faded as the rumbling subsided.
“What the hell was that?” Elliot demanded.
“The building,” Levi and Asher said simultaneously.
“It’s changing,” Levi continued. “Reconfiguring itself.”
“That’s impossible,” Owen protested. “Buildings don’t—”
“This one does,” Asher cut in. “And we need to move. Now.” He caught Levi’s eye, a silent message passing between them. The mechanisms were activating earlier than expected.
“Let’s get back to base camp,” Levi suggested, trying to keep his voice calm. “Compare notes, make a plan.”
As the group moved toward the exit, Asher’s fingers wrapped around Levi’s wrist, holding him back until the others were several paces ahead.
“We could slip away,” Asher suggested. “Just the two of us. Leave them at base camp where they’re relatively safe.”
The offer was tempting. Asher was right—they’d move faster alone, without having to explain their knowledge or protect the others. But something in Levi resisted.
“We need them,” Levi said. “Owen figured out the cipher. Jasper noticed the pattern. Even Maddie made the connection to cold storage.”
Asher’s lips thinned with displeasure. “They’ll slow us down and get themselves killed. Or get you killed.”
“Maybe,” Levi conceded. “But they might also see something we miss. We can’t do this alone, Asher.”
Something complicated flickered across Asher’s face—frustration mixed with reluctant acknowledgment. His fingers tightened around Levi’s wrist, then released.
“Fine,” he said. “But when—not if, when—they start dying, remember this conversation.”
He stalked ahead to join the others, leaving Levi alone in the courtyard. The UV light caught one last symbol as Levi turned to follow—a crude drawing of an eye, watching from the fountain’s center.