The descent into the underground tunnels felt endless. The deeper they went, the more the Academy above seemed to fade—its laws, its structure, its expectations—all dissolving into the cold stone beneath Sandra's feet. The echoes of the Null Fangs' footsteps above finally quieted, swallowed by layers of earth and steel. Only then did her pulse begin to steady, though the System continued to vibrate under her skin like a living current.
Lyra led the way through a narrow passage reinforced with old metallic ribs, remnants of the Academy's earliest foundations. Tristan stayed just behind her, stance rigid, eyes darting to every shadow. Sebastian mirrored him on the opposite side of the corridor, silent, coiled like a spring.
Sandra walked between them—protected, surrounded, and yet frighteningly aware she was the least stable among the four.
Her fingers still tingled from the burst of energy she had unleashed minutes earlier. She didn't fully understand what she had done. The pulse had felt instinctive, urgent, almost as if something inside her had acted before she had time to think. The sensation lingered—warm, electric, a burning thread winding through her limbs.
Sebastian noticed. "Your hands are trembling."
She hadn't realized it.
Tristan slowed his pace, turning slightly toward her. "Any dizziness? Vision changes? Breathing irregularities?"
His tone was clinical, almost harsh, but beneath it she heard something else—fear. Not of her. For her.
Sandra steadied herself. "I'm not fainting. Just… overwhelmed."
Lyra glanced back. "That's normal. The Primordial resonance takes what you feel and amplifies it. Stress becomes energy. Fear becomes instinct. Instinct becomes power."
Sandra exhaled shakily. "It felt like losing control."
Lyra shook her head. "It was the opposite. The lineage was protecting you."
They reached a sealed door carved directly into the bedrock. Lyra placed her palm against a hidden panel, and the metal shifted with a low, ancient groan. A blast of cold air swept out as the passage opened.
Tristan positioned himself to enter first. "Stay behind me."
Sebastian followed, hand near the hilt of the knife hidden in his sleeve.
Sandra stepped inside—
—and froze.
The chamber was unlike any part of the Academy she had ever seen. Circular, domed, constructed of obsidian stone shot through with veins of metallic light. The walls pulsed softly, as if alive. Symbols—old, older than any modern clan sigil—glowed faintly, casting shifting shadows across the ground.
Sandra felt something tug in her chest.
Recognition.
Lyra watched her carefully. "This place responds only to our lineage. The Primordial's markings are embedded here. The chamber recognizes you."
Sandra swallowed. "It feels… familiar."
"You were born with this memory," Lyra said quietly. "Your blood carries it."
Tristan and Sebastian exchanged a look—uneasy, protective, and aware that they were standing in a place where their authority meant nothing.
Sebastian stepped closer to Sandra, voice low. "If you feel anything strange, you tell me immediately. Don't try to hide it."
Tristan added, "Or if the System changes its readings."
Sandra nodded, though neither man seemed satisfied. Their instincts were sharpening again, circling her like twin forces in a storm.
Lyra moved to the center of the chamber. "We don't have much time. The Null Fangs won't remain aboveground. They will search. They always search."
Sandra stepped forward. "Tell me what you know. Everything."
Lyra hesitated only a moment, then spoke with a clarity that chilled the air.
"The Primordial Beast was not a creature. It was a phenomenon. A living force of creation. It took shape only when it chose to, and those it touched—those it bonded with—became carriers of its potential."
Sandra listened, pulse quickening.
"The clans were born from its fragments," Lyra continued. "Each one took a piece of its essence—strength, agility, perception, adaptation. But the Primordial lineage kept the whole. The balance. The ability to create new life outside the rules. Children who didn't inherit weakness. Children who didn't require the System."
Tristan's voice hardened. "And the Council feared them."
Lyra nodded. "The first Primordial heirs threatened to unify clans. End wars. Remove the Council's need to control bloodlines. So they hunted them. Erased them. Used the System to track and limit every bloodline except the Primordial, which it cannot fully read."
Sebastian's jaw set. "And Sandra is… the last one?"
Lyra's eyes softened. "Yes. And the most dangerous."
Sandra felt her stomach twist. "I never asked for any of this."
"No," Lyra agreed. "But you're the only one capable of breaking the System's restrictions. That is why they fear the possibility of an heir more than anything else."
Sandra's breath caught. "An heir… with who?"
Lyra met her gaze, then shifted her eyes toward Tristan and Sebastian.
Both men straightened, expressions tightening.
"The Primordial resonance chooses potential partners based on instinct," Lyra said. "Not clan rank. Not political power. Not alliances."
Her gaze sharpened. "It chooses who you trust. Who you respond to. Who your blood believes can protect the lineage."
Sandra felt heat creep up her neck. The chamber suddenly felt too small. Too intimate.
Tristan's voice dropped into a quiet, possessive register. "And the resonance has identified candidates."
Sebastian took a step toward her. "Two of them."
Sandra looked away, pulse chaotic.
Lyra continued, unbothered by the tension rising between the three. "But this is not about romance. The lineage sees something in both of them that you do not yet understand."
Sandra forced herself to face Lyra. "What happens next?"
Lyra's expression darkened. "The Council will issue a formal lockdown. They will claim it's for student safety after the Null Fang intrusion, but the real reason will be you."
"And the Null Fangs?" Tristan asked.
"They'll attempt another breach within twenty-four hours," Lyra said. "They'll come better armed, and they'll come with orders."
Sebastian's tone lowered. "Orders to capture her."
"No." Lyra shook her head. "Orders to eliminate her before the resonance stabilizes."
Sandra felt coldness slide down her spine.
Tristan moved to stand directly in front of her, blocking her view of Lyra for a moment. "You won't be touched. Not while I'm alive."
Sebastian stepped beside her. "They'll have to kill me first."
Lyra watched them with silent acknowledgment. "Your instincts are aligning with hers. That's good. She'll need both of you."
Sandra's voice trembled. "For what?"
Lyra walked closer until she stood only a meter away, eyes glowing faintly in the chamber's light.
"For the next phase of the awakening. Your body is changing. Your senses. Your instincts. And soon… your biology."
Sandra froze.
"What does that mean?" she whispered.
Lyra spoke gently, but the weight of her words crushed the space between them.
"The Primordial lineage awakens in stages. The first is instinct. The second is energy. The third…" Her gaze dropped to Sandra's abdomen. "…is fertility."
Sandra's knees nearly buckled.
Tristan caught her elbow instantly.
Sebastian steadied her other side.
Lyra continued, voice quiet and merciless. "You will become capable of conceiving an heir outside System parameters. And if that happens… every faction will come for you. Every clan. Every Council member. Every Null Fang."
Sandra's breath fractured. "I'm not ready for any of this."
Lyra touched her shoulder gently. "No one ever is. But the lineage does not wait."
The System pulsed violently under Sandra's skin.
PRIMORDIAL RESONANCE STAGE 2: PENDING
BIOLOGICAL SHIFT DETECTED
TRIAD PROXIMITY: INTENSIFYING
COUNCIL ACTIVITY: INCOMING
Tristan drew closer, eyes locked on hers. "Whatever happens next, you face it with us."
Sebastian stepped forward, voice firm. "We protect you. Even if the whole Academy turns against us."
Sandra looked between them—Tristan's fierce certainty, Sebastian's unwavering resolve—and felt the weight of what was forming around her.
A triad not chosen by desire alone, but by instinct, lineage, and danger.
Lyra exhaled softly. "Then the three of you need to prepare. Because the next 24 hours will determine everything."
Sandra nodded slowly.
Fear remained. Confusion remained. Instinct burned hotter than ever.
But for the first time…
She didn't feel alone.
The chamber trembled faintly—reacting to her resolve.
The System flashed one final update:
PRIMORDIAL AWAKENING: PROGRESSION CONFIRMED
POTENTIAL HEIR PATHWAY: UNLOCKED
THREAT LEVEL: SEVERE
Sandra lifted her chin.
"Tell me what I need to do."