The brilliant white light swallowed everything.
For one terrifying moment...
Lily couldn't see.
Couldn't hear.
Couldn't even feel the ground beneath her feet.
Only silence.
An endless, overwhelming silence.
Then...
Slowly...
The light faded.
She blinked several times before her vision finally returned.
The first thing she noticed was that the alarms had stopped.
The countdown had disappeared.
Even the air felt different.
Cool.
Still.
Almost sacred.
She slowly stepped forward.
The enormous bronze doors stood fully open behind her.
Beyond them lay a place no one had entered for over twenty years.
The Final Archive.
---
No one spoke.
Not Jonathan.
Not Ethan.
Not Lucas.
Not even Richard Cross.
Each of them stared at the enormous circular chamber stretching far beyond
