Volume 1 – Chapter 16: Whispers of the Abyss

[April 23 – 7:00 AM]

This city buzzed now — but not as I might know it on the page. It was a sub-audio hum deep in the ground, something dark, an unnamed growling under every cracked sidewalk and broken window. Whatever calm had prevailed now felt like a simmering tension, even the dust that dulled the air now felt different. It was not just a haze; it was thick with secrets, including “whispers of things that weren’t to be.”

We were quiet, our footsteps silent and quick. I was swinging my head around every alley, every corner, every reflecting surface in the windows that just looked as if it were, fan, watching us. We couldn’t be casual — we couldn’t afford to be, not now, not after all the horrors we had witnessed. The darkness was closing around us; something pursued, simply waiting for us to be in the right place.

It was Rika who broke the silence first. “Are we being followed?”

Her voice was low but taut, unlike anything I had ever heard. The sort that could smash an unanchored human.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking around again. The streets were empty, but the emptiness was wrong. Like the whole world was waiting to see what would happen. “But we have to act as if we are.”

Rika nodded but didn’t reply; I could see the taut knot of her jaw, her muscles coiled like a spring. She wasn’t afraid. Not quite like anyone else ever on Earth. She seemed awake, alive, but her movements hardly stumbled. If anything, she was more scrupulous.

Then a tiny sound broke the silence — as if someone had dropped a marble onto a tiled floor. A low thrumming noise, as of a machine being wound up, mechanical whirs that crackled in the air like static.

I froze.

Sensing my stagnation, Rika too stopped and turned back to me, brow quizzical.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered, my voice tight.

Her expression slid, and she nodded. "It’s coming from ahead. We need to check it out."

I didn’t have to ask if she was sure; the expression in her eyes answered all I needed to know. Something in our dynamics had shifted, become nearly palpable. And now our movements had a higher purpose. This took us well beyond just taking off. We were hunting.

But I had to ask — were we looking for answers, or had we been lured into a trap?”

We crept closer to the source of the sound. It seemed to be issuing from a narrow side street, too narrow to see through the sagging buildings. As we approached I could see it — a dim glow, whirling shadows through the cracks of a boarded door. The hum now had to be heard to be believed — low and vibrating, like some giant thing driving away in the interior.

Rika motioned for me to stay behind her, and I obeyed. We did some fun things with that character: She was confident, and moved forward, in silence, in precision. I crept as close as I dared, all my senses afire, every nerve tuned to the slightest sound.

We reached the door. Inside, the light beat, a heart, the drums of it steady, relentless. But… something wasn’t right about it. This was not the type of light I knew. It was not the soft glow of a streetlamp, the warm hue of a home No, this was something else.” It was cold, alien. Mechanical.

Rika gently tested the door. It was locked.

But that didn’t stop her. She turned around and gestured for me to back off. I did, and into the shadows. She knelt beside the door, rooting in her pocket — came out with a something-feathered thing, something shiny — metal. She was fast, deliberate. After a few seconds, it clicked and she slowly opened the door.

The noise was louder now. The hum, the whirring, the sort of creepy pulsing — all go.

“Stay close,” Rika said in a whisper too soft to hear. I nodded, walked in and we were both prepared for what came next.

It was a small room cluttered with boxes and machines, quiet yet thrumming with life. It was the dusty storeroom of some long-dormant corporation, but no less critical for being underutilized. Strange symbols and markings adorned the walls, none of which I recognized. They were scratched into the metal and stone, as if someone, with great care, wanted to make sure no one would read them.

A giant lump of equipment sat in the center of the room — an intricate-device with wires and glowing panels draped over the outside. Captioning Light Source ~ Pulse (One — in October 2023 — on-time for captioning. It sat there, as if waiting, its hum reverberating through the room.

“What is this?” I breathed, stepping forward.

Rika hesitated; she did not answer immediately. She squinted at the device, when her eyes narrowed, trying to get it right. Then she talked about it, her voice low, almost reverential. “I think this is it. The source of everything.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. “What is this device? What does that have to do with Project Eclipse?”

Rika’s eyes came at me, her sober face. “I think it has something to do with the Project.” This isn’t a half-baked experiment. And it is part of a much larger puzzle. Something dangerous.”

A chill ran down my spine. “We have run away from this. From this... thing?"

Rika nodded. “Kaito, this is not a piece of technology — It is a weapon. And if I’m correct, then it’s what’s brought everything down.”

I withdrew, her words dense in the space between us. It was now more than just a quest for answers. It was a challenge not to allow something to happen — something that could end it all.

Rika’s hand brushed against mine again and I didn’t pull away. We were in this together. And it was something we had to face, no matter how dangerous, no matter how impossible it seemed.

“We have to rip it up,” I said, vacating this panic coursing through my insides.

Rika didn’t hesitate. “I agree. But we need to be careful. Whatever has its claws into this thing... it’s not going to let us go. Not without a fight.”

I took a deep breath. “And then we know that we don’t take the opportunity.”

And with that we were prepared to start tackling the crux of the mystery. To face whatever it is, lying under.

And there may be no turning back.

[April 23 – 7:30 AM]