"Choose."
The word echoed through the sanctuary.
Then everything went silent.
I stood in the middle of the chamber, staring at the darkness around me.
Thousands of awakened eyes watched me.
The First Generation.
The Architects.
The Continuum.
Lena.
Adrian.
Everyone was waiting.
Waiting for me to decide something I didn't even understand.
"What am I supposed to choose?"
No answer came.
I looked toward the Architect.
He was still staring at me.
"You know," I said.
His jaw tightened.
"I know what happens if you make the wrong choice."
"Then tell me."
"You'll destroy everything."
The words hung in the air.
Lena stepped beside me.
"Don't listen to him."
The Architect turned toward her.
"You don't understand what she carries."
Lena's expression hardened.
"Neither do you."
A low vibration passed through the floor.
The golden cracks widened.
Something beneath the sanctuary was getting closer.
Adrian looked toward the ground.
"We need to move."
"Where?" I asked.
He pointed toward the center of the chamber.
"There."
A circular platform had appeared.
I hadn't noticed it before.
Ancient symbols covered its surface.
At its center was a small depression shaped like a human hand.
My hand.
I knew it immediately.
My body moved before I could think.
I walked toward it.
"Ariana, wait."
Lena grabbed my arm.
I stopped.
She looked into my eyes.
"You don't have to do this alone."
I swallowed.
"I don't know what I'm doing."
"Neither do they."
She glanced at the Architects.
"And they're terrified of you."
I looked at them.
She was right.
Every Architect was afraid.
Not of the First Generation.
Not of Adrian.
Of me.
I slowly placed my hand against the platform.
The sanctuary exploded with light.
I screamed.
Images appeared everywhere.
Not inside my mind this time.
Above us.
The walls became screens.
I saw the ancient world.
The First Civilization.
People gathering beneath enormous towers.
The Source flowing through the earth like rivers of light.
Then I saw the first Heir.
The woman who looked like me.
She stood before the Council.
"They cannot control it," she said.
The Council members shook their heads.
"If humanity is given access to the Source, they will destroy themselves."
The Heir stared at them.
"Then teach them to choose."
"No."
The oldest Council member stood.
"Humanity cannot be trusted."
The vision changed.
The Council built the Design.
Machines.
Networks.
Control systems.
A structure designed to guide human behavior.
To suppress memory.
To limit access to the Source.
To prevent another awakening.
Then I saw something that made my chest tighten.
The first Heir was standing inside a chamber.
The same type of chamber where my mother had been preserved.
The Council surrounded her.
One of them spoke.
"Your bloodline will remain dormant."
She smiled.
"You can bury a memory."
Her eyes began to glow.
"But you cannot bury a choice."
The vision ended.
I pulled my hand away.
The platform went dark.
No one spoke.
Then my mother stepped forward.
She had been watching from the edge of the chamber.
"Ariana."
I turned toward her.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"You finally saw it."
"Saw what?"
"The truth about why you were born."
I stared at her.
"Why?"
She took a breath.
"You weren't created to carry the Source."
My heart stopped.
"You were created to free it."
The Architect suddenly raised his weapon.
"Enough!"
He fired.
The shot never reached me.
A golden barrier appeared between us.
The energy struck it and disappeared.
The Architect froze.
I looked at my hand.
I hadn't consciously created the barrier.
The Source had responded to my fear.
Or perhaps...
To my choice.
The First Generation moved.
Thousands of footsteps echoed through the chamber.
The Architects raised their weapons.
Adrian shouted, "Don't fire!"
But it was already too late.
The sanctuary erupted into chaos.
Energy tore through the air.
The First Generation advanced.
The Architects attacked.
The Continuum soldiers tried to stop both sides.
Lena pulled me backward.
"We have to get out of here!"
"No."
I looked toward the platform.
"Not yet."
"Ariana!"
"I need to understand."
Another explosion shook the chamber.
The floor cracked beneath my feet.
And then I heard something beneath all the noise.
A heartbeat.
Slow.
Massive.
Ancient.
Thump.
Everyone stopped.
Thump.
The lights flickered.
Thump.
The golden cracks spread across the entire floor.
Something was waking beneath us.
The Architect lowered his weapon.
His face had gone completely white.
"What is that?" Adrian demanded.
The Architect whispered:
"The thing we were built to prevent."
A massive golden eye opened beneath the floor.
And the entire sanctuary began to rise.