The air in the subterranean nest of the Ancient Original didn't just feel heavy; it felt ancient, thick with the scent of wet earth, petrified bone, and a predatory musk that predated the very concept of the "Grey Zone." Astra lay on a slab of jagged obsidian, her breath hitching in the dark. The silver-eyed army she had claimed at the surface was a world away, separated from her by miles of winding, lightless tunnels that seemed to swallow the very essence of her Lunar pulse.
Every time she tried to reach for the spark in her chest, the walls seemed to pulse back, a rhythmic, low-frequency vibration that acted like a dampener on her soul. This wasn't the High-Rise, where power was measured in glass and gold. This was the deep earth, the belly of the beast, where the Original Alpha the pr
