The Forbidden Ruins
Wind howled across the outskirts of Greyhaven.
Dust rolled through the abandoned streets like ghostly waves. Cracked asphalt split the ground into jagged lines, and rusted warning signs hung crookedly on broken buildings.
DEAD ZONE – ENTRY PROHIBITED
No one obeyed those signs anymore.
Because almost no one came here.
Except scavengers.
Kain Arcturus stepped over a collapsed barricade and adjusted the hood of his coat.
A small handheld scanner blinked faintly in his palm.
"Come on… just one decent signal."
Most people in Greyhaven survived by working factory shifts or joining the city militia.
Kain had tried both.
Neither paid enough.
So he searched ruins.
Ancient technology could sell for thousands of credits on the black market.
If you were lucky enough to find any.
The scanner suddenly beeped.
Kain stopped walking.
A thin blue line flickered across the screen.
"…Energy?"
His eyebrows rose.
That shouldn't be possible.
The Dead Zone had been picked clean decades ago. Power grids had collapsed long ago, and any working technology would have been looted.
Yet the signal on the scanner pulsed again.
Stronger this time.
Kain followed it through a narrow alley between two ruined apartment towers.
Halfway down the alley, he froze.
"…What?"
A metal door stood at the end of the alley.
It was half-buried under rubble.
But that wasn't the strange part.
The strange part was that Kain had never seen it before.
He had scavenged this area many times.
There had only been a collapsed wall here.
Now there was a sealed metal door embedded in the ground like an ancient bunker entrance.
Kain knelt and brushed away the dust.
Under the rust, thin glowing lines appeared.
Circuit patterns.
Ancient circuitry.
His heartbeat sped up.
"If this is real…"
Even a single intact component could be worth a fortune.
He took out a compact cutting tool and forced the door open just wide enough to slip inside.
Cold air rushed out from the darkness.
The moment he stepped across the threshold—
CLANG
The door slammed shut behind him.
Kain spun around.
"Hey—!"
Before he could react, the corridor lights flickered.
One.
Two.
Three.
A line of dim white lamps ignited along the ceiling.
Kain stared at them.
"…That's impossible."
The entire district had no electricity.
Yet this corridor clearly did.
He walked forward slowly.
The narrow hallway opened into a vast chamber.
And Kain's breath caught in his throat.
It wasn't a bunker.
It was a city.
A massive underground metropolis stretched into the darkness. Steel towers rose like silent giants, connected by suspended bridges and elevated railways.
Dust covered every surface.
But the structures were intact.
Perfectly intact.
"How did nobody find this…?"
Kain stepped onto the platform overlooking the city.
His scanner suddenly screamed.
The signal had spiked to maximum.
At the center of the underground city stood a towering structure of dark metal.
A circular platform surrounded it.
And in the middle—
A pedestal.
Resting on top was a small metallic sphere.
Smooth.
Black.
Untouched by time.
Kain approached slowly.
Every instinct told him to turn around.
But curiosity was stronger.
He reached out.
The moment his fingers touched the sphere—
The entire city trembled.
A deep vibration rolled through the underground cavern.
Lights exploded across the skyline.
Machines roared back to life.
The sphere glowed with blinding blue light in Kain's hand.
Then a voice echoed inside his mind.
Cold.
Artificial.
Emotionless.
"Unknown biological entity detected."
Kain staggered back.
"What the—"
The voice continued.
"Scanning genetic signature…"
A holographic interface burst into existence before his eyes.
Lines of data streamed through the air.
Kain stared in disbelief.
"…A system?"
The voice paused.
Then the interface changed.
Compatibility confirmed.
Civilization Evolution System initializing.
Kain felt the ground tremble again.
Far across the underground city, massive engines began spinning for the first time in centuries.
More text appeared in the air.
Lost Civilization Identified
Kain read the final message slowly.
Civilization Name: Ancient Mechanic Civilization
Restoration Progress: 0.01%
Silence filled the chamber.
Then the system spoke again.
"Administrator candidate confirmed."
"Welcome."
"Please restore the civilization."
Far above the ruins…
The ground of the Dead Zone began to shake.
And for the first time in a hundred years—
Lights appeared beneath Greyhaven.