Dan casually led the group toward the building entrance, one hand tucked inside his pocket while the other lazily gestured toward the weapons hanging from the sirens' hands. "Those weapons y'all have are kinda primitive." He glanced back over his shoulder with an amused grin. "Bringing sticks and stones to a gunfight, eh?"
Lysander met the man's smile without the slightest hint of offense. "Have you never heard the saying..." he replied calmly, "...don't judge a book by its cover?"
Dan chuckled beneath his breath. "Fair enough." His gaze lingered over the group for another moment before he asked, almost casually, "Y'all Skindrifters too?"
The question brought the procession to an abrupt halt.
Lysander stopped walking. For only a heartbeat, his eyes shifted toward Raine... then Warren.
No words were exchanged, none were needed.
The three of them had already reached the same conclusion.
Several paces ahead, Dan noticed the silence and turned around. "What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Y'all gonna stand there all night?
Lysander's attention returned to him. "Are you a Skindrifter as well?"
Dan stared for a second before bursting into laughter. "You kiddin' me?" He waved the idea away with obvious disgust. "Those foul-smelling bastards?" He scoffed. "Hell no."
His grin returned.
"I'm just the mercenary." He tapped a finger against his own chest. "My loyalty lies with..." He paused briefly. "...Genesis."
Lysander's expression remained unreadable. "... Genesis?"
Dan blinked. "Are y'all newborns?"
"No," Lysander answered evenly. "We've been alive for quite some time."
"Huh."
Dan resumed walking, forcing the others to follow. "Fair enough." He shrugged. "Newborns don't usually have the critical thinking to act the way y'all do." He glanced over his shoulder again. "I'm guessing you've never met Genesis?"
"No."
Dan gave a slow nod, as though the answer confirmed something he'd already suspected. "I figured." He scratched the back of his neck as they continued.
"That's actually pretty normal, y'know." He shrugged. "When we capture groups, every now and then we run into Skindrifters who don't even know Genesis exists." A faint grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Almost always newborns."
He slowed his pace for a moment, studying Lysander with open curiosity. "Hm...how long have y'all been alive?"
"Six months."
Dan nodded as though the answer settled something in his mind. "Ah." He chuckled. "No wonder."
The group rounded the corner, where a massive reinforced steel elevator had been built directly into the side of the concrete structure. Its doors were thick enough to withstand artillery fire.
Dan stepped forward and pressed the call button.
While they waited, he glanced over his shoulder at the soldiers behind him. "Some of y'all scout the perimeter. He pointed toward the compound entrance. "The others, secure the entrance, rest, follow me."
The men and women acknowledged the order without hesitation, immediately splitting into their assigned groups.
Lysander watched them disperse before turning his attention back to Dan. "Are you taking us to the girl?"
Dan let out an amused chuckle. "Depends." He folded his arms. "What's she to y'all anyway?"
"She's one of us."
Dan frowned. "What do you mean?"
Lysander's expression remained unreadable. "She's one of us." For the briefest instant, his pupils contracted into thin predatory slits before returning to normal.
Dan caught it. His eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly. "...Well." A crooked smile spread across his face. "That's fascinating." His curiosity only seemed to grow. "Huh..." He tilted his head. "We checked her and she ain't a Skindrifter…is she?"
Lysander answered without hesitation. "No." A brief pause followed. "She's human."
For the first time since meeting them, genuine confusion flickered across Dan's face. "...Human?"
The elevator arrived with a deep metallic clang.
The reinforced doors slowly slid open.
Inside, the lift was far larger than any ordinary elevator, its reinforced steel walls scarred by years of use. Thick support beams lined the ceiling, while industrial floodlights cast a cold white glow over the spacious interior.
Dan stepped inside first before glancing back at the crowd gathered outside. "Well..." He spread his arms. "Unless one of y'all figured out how to fold space, we ain't all fitting in here."
A few of his men chuckled.
Dan continued. "Halfsies?"
Lysander didn't respond immediately. Instead, he looked toward Raine.
Raine understood instantly. She turned to the others and began quietly dividing the group, selecting which sirens would accompany Lysander while she remained behind with the rest.
Dan watched the exchange with quiet interest before turning toward his own men. "You heard me. Half of y'all stay topside."
The soldiers split into two groups without question.
Moments later, everyone stepped inside.
Dan stood near the control panel while Lysander positioned himself opposite him. Behind them, both humans and sirens stood in uneasy silence.
Before the doors closed, Lysander looked back one final time. His eyes met Raine's.
Neither expression changed. Yet something passed between them all the same.
Dan noticed.
So did several of his men.
The heavy doors sealed shut.
The elevator lurched before beginning its descent.
For several seconds, only the low mechanical hum of cables echoed through the confined space.
Then Dan broke the silence. "So..." He glanced sideways at Lysander. "How'd y'all end up befriending a human?" His brow furrowed. "I thought Skindrifters killed 'em... then ate 'em."
Lysander never looked away from the closing doors. "You ask a great many questions."
Dan immediately lifted both hands in mock surrender. "Whoa, whoa..." he laughed. "Why so hostile? I'm just making conversation." A grin spread across his face. "Just making conversation."
Lysander finally turned toward him. "How did you gather thousands of Shriekers above the compound?"
Dan shrugged as if the answer were obvious. "Shriekers are easy." He leaned casually against the wall. "Give 'em something loud enough to chase, keep moving the sound around the building, and they'll follow it all day."
A dry laugh escaped him.
"Took a lotta people to pull it off." His tone never changed. "Lost plenty of my men keeping the herd together."
Another shrug. "Worth it." He nodded toward the ceiling. His eyes drifted back to Lysander. "And the fact y'all survived all that..." A slow smile spread across his face. "...that's what really has me interested."
A bell chimed.
The elevator slowed. With a dull metallic thud, it came to a stop.
Then the doors slid open.
Dan stepped out first, followed by the sirens, then the guards.
Then they stopped.
The underground stretched far beyond anything they had expected.
The ceiling soared several stories overhead, disappearing into darkness where enormous roots and vines intertwined like the ribs of some impossible beast. Thick woody tendrils descended from above, branching into towering pillars that supported the cavern in place of steel columns. Every surface seemed alive.
The walls pulsed.
Not violently, but slowly, rhythmically,
With every pulse, something shifted beneath the fleshy surface.
A human hand. A distorted face. The curve of a ribcage. A skull.
The shapes emerged beneath the translucent walls for only an instant before sinking back into the living mass, as though countless bodies had been swallowed alive and were still struggling somewhere deep inside.
Then the smell reached them.
Every siren froze.
Kair staggered first, immediately covering his nose. Corina doubled over, one hand braced against the wall as her stomach lurched violently. Even Warren grimaced.
The odor wasn't merely foul.
It burned.
It invaded every heightened sense they possessed, flooding their minds with the overwhelming stench of rot, wet earth, infected flesh, old blood, mold, and something far older they couldn't even identify.
Lysander shut his eyes, taking in a slow breath. Then another. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword until the leather creaked beneath his grip. The nausea subsided, barely.
Dan had already noticed. His eyes wandered over the sirens one by one before one eyebrow slowly climbed.
Silence lingered for a heartbeat.
"What is this place?" Lysander asked.
Dan turned and began walking. "Follow me." He waved them onward. "We're taking another ride." His grin widened. "Further down."
They fell into step behind him.
Armed guards stood at regular intervals throughout the cavern, rifles slung over their shoulders as they watched every passing movement.
Between them shuffled dozens of workers.
No.
Slaves.
Thin, filthy, malnourished slaves.
Some hauled wooden crates. Others dragged heavy cables across the damp stone floor. A few carried buckets whose contents none of the sirens wanted to identify.
None of them spoke.
Most didn't even look up.
"How far underground are we?" Lysander asked.
"About sixty meters beneath the surface."
Lysander glanced upward toward the ceiling that no longer resembled rock. "And we're going deeper?"
Dan didn't even look back. "Oh, yeah."
"We want the girl first."
Dan chuckled. "Y'all really need to learn some patience."
The deeper they walked, the stranger the underground became.
Several enormous diesel generators sat recessed into reinforced chambers, their engines rumbling continuously as they fed electricity to rows of industrial lights and ventilation systems that kept the sprawling underground settlement alive.
The technology belonged to humanity but everything growing around it did not.
One elderly man stumbled and his knees struck the ground.
He didn't get back up.
Nobody rushed to help him, nobody called for a medic.
The slaves simply stepped around the body and continued working as though nothing had happened.
Two guards approached only after several long minutes.
One crouched beside the man, pressed two fingers against his neck. Then silently shook his head.
Without a word, they lifted the corpse by its arms and legs and disappeared into one of the countless tunnels branching deeper beneath the earth.
The tunnel eventually widened into what appeared to be an abandoned mining station.
Twin steel rails disappeared into a yawning tunnel that sloped steadily downward, vanishing into darkness. Several heavy minecarts rested on a short loading platform, their reinforced frames showing decades of wear. Thick electrical cables ran alongside the tracks, feeding power to rusted guide rails mounted against the tunnel walls. Every few seconds, small warning lights blinked amber before disappearing into the depths below.
Dan walked straight toward the lead cart. Without hesitation, he climbed inside and rested one hand against the control console mounted beside the seat. He looked over his shoulder. "Get in." His grin returned. "We've still got a long way to go."
The sirens exchanged brief glances before climbing into the remaining carts. Their guards followed, taking positions behind them until every seat had been filled.
Dan reached forward and pulled a thick metal lever.
A low mechanical hum answered him.
Somewhere deep beneath the tracks, powerful motors awakened. The carts jolted once before beginning to roll.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Steel wheels rattled over the rails as the convoy disappeared into the tunnel, descending deeper beneath the earth.
~~~
The elevator chimed softly before its heavy doors slid open once more.
Raine looked back, only to find half a dozen rifles immediately rising toward her chest.
One of the guards jerked his head toward the elevator. "Get in."
Without protest, the remaining sirens obeyed.
The guards followed close behind, crowding into the confined space until the elevator felt noticeably smaller.
The doors rumbled shut.
Silence settled over the compartment, only the steady vibration of the descending lift disturbed the stillness.
One of the guards glanced sideways.
His eyes wandered toward Adeline, lingering far longer than they should have. A crooked grin slowly crept across his face as he shamelessly looked her up and down. "You got a pretty face on you."
Without waiting for permission, he reached toward her.
Adeline calmly stepped back, creating just enough distance to avoid his hand. "Please keep your hands off me."
The other guards laughed.
"Ooh..." one of them grinned. "She feisty…I like that."
The first guard stepped forward again, deliberately invading her space. The elevator offered nowhere left to retreat. When his hand reached for her a second time, Adeline placed both palms against his chest and pushed him back just enough to make her point.
His smile disappeared. In an instant, he seized both of her wrists.
Raine let out a long, disappointed sigh. "...You idiot."
Adeline slowly raised her eyes. The instant their gazes locked, the mark on the back of her neck emitted the faintest pulse of silver-blue light.
The guard froze.
His fingers loosened.
The anger draining from his face gave way to something far stranger.
Confusion.
He blinked once.
Then again.
His breathing became uneven as his eyes searched Adeline's face, yet somehow seemed unable to recognize what they were seeing.
Fragments of memory collided violently inside his mind. Faces no longer belonged to names. Voices detached themselves from the people who had spoken them. Yesterday blurred into childhood before dissolving into moments that had never happened at all.
He tried to remember why he was standing there.
The answer slipped away before he could grasp it.
One of the other guards frowned. "Frank?" Receiving no response, he reached out and grabbed Adeline by the shoulder.
The effect was immediate.
His expression emptied just as quickly. He stopped moving.
Another guard grabbed him.
Then another.
Within seconds, every man who had laid a hand on Adeline stood perfectly still. Their eyes remained open while their bodies remained upright.
Yet behind those vacant stares, their minds were collapsing beneath an endless flood of rewritten memories. Thoughts unraveled before they could be completed. Certainties dissolved into contradictions. Every answer they reached for became another question.
None of the sirens seemed particularly alarmed. If anything, they reacted with practiced familiarity.
August quietly stepped farther away from Adeline and Alastair followed without a word.
Even Dahlia instinctively increased the distance between them, careful not to brush against her. She glanced toward Raine, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Myrrens."
Raine merely shrugged. "She did warn them."
The elevator finally slowed before coming to a smooth stop. A soft chime echoed through the compartment, followed by the heavy groan of steel doors sliding apart.
Several armed guards waiting on the platform immediately turned toward the arriving lift.
For a brief moment, no one moved.
The guards' eyes swept over the sirens before settling on the men inside the elevator. Everything appeared perfectly ordinary. Every rifle remained slung over a shoulder. Every uniform sat exactly as it had before the descent. Nothing looked out of place.
One of the entranced guards stepped out. His movements were perfectly natural. Almost too natural. He walked toward the men waiting outside until he stopped directly in front of them. "Boss said to take them to Genesis."
His voice carried no emotion whatsoever. Every word emerged with the same measured cadence, neither hurried nor relaxed, as though someone had carefully taught him how to imitate human speech without ever understanding it.
One of the waiting guards frowned. "...You alright?"
The man simply stared back. "...Boss said to take them to Genesis."
The guard studied him for another second. Something about the exchange felt... off. He couldn't explain why. Yet an uneasy feeling settled somewhere deep in his gut.
It vanished almost as quickly as it came.
He shrugged. "Alright." With a wave of his rifle, he motioned for the sirens to follow. "This way."
Raine exchanged a quiet glance with Adeline before the group fell into step behind their new escorts.
The deeper they ventured into the underground complex, the more unbearable the air became.
The smell struck first.
Unlike the humans, who walked through the tunnels without the slightest reaction, every siren instinctively recoiled just like how the first group of sirens did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note
The contest is officially over!
A little over a month ago, I challenged everyone to figure out what was happening inside Dylan's body. Now that Dr. Jenkins has finally started examining Dylan's blood under a microscope, I think it's safe to say the mystery has reached the point where I can officially close the contest. (Forgot to put this Author's note in CH 86 so it's a little out of place)
I've published Chronicles of the Realms across multiple platforms, and while I was secretly hoping more people would dive into the mystery, I'm genuinely happy that at least a few readers did.
Congratulations, NBJ! 🎉
Out of everyone, your theories came the closest. Some of them were reaaaaally long (seriously, I enjoyed reading every one of them), and I could tell you were paying close attention to the details. That kind of dedication means a lot to me as an author.
As promised, I'd love to include your name as a character in COTR. It won't happen in Book 1 since all of the major characters have already been established, but your name will absolutely appear in a future book.
Who knows? Maybe years from now, if this series grows the way we all hope it does, we'll look back at this little author's note and laugh.
If you're reading this, NBJ, leave a comment or like this author's note so I can reach out to you through a private message. I'd love to get your preferred name and maybe even chat a little about the character who'll carry it.
Thank you again for reading, theorizing, and being part of this journey. (And to my other reader, you know who you are. I didn't forget my promise. YGN never forgets HSAHHAHA)
P.S. I also just uploaded my very first video on my YouTube channel, Beyond the Realms! If you'd like to dive even deeper into the world of COTR, feel free to check it out. More lore, theories, and behind-the-scenes content are on the way.
https://youtu.be/GT5FO_S_Ads?si=qc_Il6VqRFWHCo9r