The facility had been sealed for seven years.
Riven stood outside its entrance and stared at the doors.
Rust covered the metal.
The old security lights were dead.
Even the cameras had been removed.
But the building remained.
Waiting.
Councilor Maeron Voss stood beside him.
Behind them, six armed soldiers prepared equipment.
Serah approached carrying a tablet.
“The outer systems are offline.” Voss looked at the building.
“Then we’ll use the old entrance.” Riven frowned.
“You brought soldiers.” “Yes.” “You expect a fight?” “No.” Voss looked at him.
“I expect a place that was abandoned for seven years to have consequences.” Riven almost smiled.
“That’s the closest thing to optimism I’ve heard from you.” Voss ignored him.
“Open it.” Two soldiers moved toward the doors.
They forced the emergency mechanism.
Metal groaned.
The doors slowly opened.
Cold air escaped from inside.
Riven’s expression changed.
He knew that smell.
Disinfectant.
Metal.
Old blood.
He had smelled it before.
Seven years ago.
Inside the facility, the lights flickered back to life one section at a time.
A long corridor appeared.
Rooms lined both sides.
Observation windows.
Laboratories.
Storage chambers.
Everything had been left exactly where it was.
Serah looked at the walls.
“This place wasn’t abandoned.” Riven glanced at her.
“What?” She pointed toward the floor.
Dust covered everything.
Except for a narrow path leading deeper inside.
Someone had walked through recently.
Voss looked at the soldiers.
“Stay alert.” They moved forward.
The first room contained medical equipment.
The second held broken restraints.
The third was empty.
Then Riven stopped.
A number was painted above one of the doors.
**07** His breathing slowed.
“No.” Serah looked at him.
“What?” Riven stared at the door.
“This wasn’t on the maps.” Voss approached.
“It wasn’t meant to be.” He entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was a small observation room.
A chair sat behind thick glass.
The chair was still strapped to the floor.
Riven looked through the glass.
He remembered Kael.
Not the man he had seen in the Abyss.
The boy he had known before.
Quiet.
Annoying.
Always asking questions.
Always looking like he already knew the answer.
Riven looked at Voss.
“He sat there.” Voss nodded.
“You knew.” “Yes.” “You knew this whole time.” “Yes.” Riven stepped toward him.
“You let everyone believe Kael was just another soldier.” Voss didn’t deny it.
“He wasn’t.” Serah looked between them.
“What happened here?” Voss walked toward the control panel.
“This facility was built to study Abyssal exposure.” Serah frowned.
“And K-07?” Voss looked through the glass.
“K-07 was the seventh successful subject.” Riven shook his head.
“No.” Voss turned.
Riven’s voice was quiet.
“He wasn’t the seventh.” Voss said nothing.
“He was the only one who survived.” Voss nodded.
“Yes.” Serah looked at the chair again.
“What happened to the other six?” Voss’s answer was immediate.
“They died.” Riven looked away.
“Of course they did.” Serah moved toward the control panel.
“There are archived files.” “Open them.” The screen flickered.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Most were corrupted.
Serah searched for K-07.
A single file appeared.
**SUBJECT K-07** **AGE: CLASSIFIED** **EXPOSURE: SUCCESSFUL** **MEMORY RETENTION: 93%** **ABYSSAL REJECTION: NONE** **PSYCHOLOGICAL STABILITY: ACCEPTABLE** Serah scrolled.
Then stopped.
“There’s a second section.” Voss walked over.
“What does it say?” She read it aloud.
“Subject demonstrates abnormal resistance to memory degradation.” Riven looked at her.
“That’s why he remembered.” Serah continued.
“Subject also demonstrates the ability to maintain independent consciousness while exposed to Abyssal influence.” Voss nodded.
“That was the breakthrough.” Riven stared at him.
“You called it a breakthrough.” Voss looked at him.
“Because it was.” “You put a child in that chair.” Voss’s expression remained cold.
“And he survived.” Riven stepped closer.
“That doesn’t make it right.” “No.” For the first time, Voss looked tired.
“It makes it possible.” Serah scrolled further.
A final report appeared.
**PROJECT STATUS: TERMINATED** **REASON: SUBJECT CANNOT BE CONTROLLED** Riven stared at the screen.
“Cannot be controlled.” Voss nodded.
“What did they want him to do?” Voss didn’t answer.
Riven looked at him.
“What did they want Kael to do?” Voss finally spoke.
“Enter the Abyss.” “And?” “Return.” Riven laughed bitterly.
“That was the whole experiment?” “No.” Voss turned toward the glass.
“They wanted to know what would happen if someone entered the Abyss willingly.” Serah looked at him.
“And what happened?” Voss stared at the empty chair.
“He came back.” Riven’s expression changed.
“Then why was the project terminated?” Voss looked at him.
“Because Kael came back remembering things that had never happened to him.” Silence filled the room.
Serah lowered the tablet.
“What things?” Voss walked toward another terminal.
“We don’t know.” “You just said he remembered them.” “We couldn’t identify where the memories came from.” Riven’s face tightened.
“Because they weren’t his.” Voss looked at him.
“No.” He entered another command.
“They belonged to the Abyss.” The terminal unlocked.
A video appeared.
The recording was old.
Grainy.
A young Kael sat inside the chair.
His eyes were open.
A researcher stood outside the glass.
“Subject K-07.
Begin recall test.” Young Kael stared at him.
“What do you want me to remember?” “Your first exposure.” Kael frowned.
“I remember.” “Describe it.” Kael looked toward the camera.
“The room was white.” The researcher nodded.
“And then?” Kael’s expression changed.
“It wasn’t.” “What wasn’t?” “The room.” The researcher leaned closer.
“What did you see?” Kael stared directly into the camera.
“I saw twelve people.” Riven froze.
Serah looked at Voss.
Young Kael continued.
“They were standing in a field.” The researcher asked, “Who were they?” Kael looked confused.
“I don’t know.” “Do you recognize any of them?” Kael nodded.
“One.” “Who?” Kael’s face became pale.
“Me.” The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Riven slowly turned toward Voss.
“That was before Expedition Seven.” “Yes.” “Before Kael entered the Abyss with us.” “Yes.” “He had already seen the twelve.” “Yes.” Riven stared at the dead screen.
“Then the expedition wasn’t the first time.” Voss shook his head.
“No.” Riven looked at him.
“Then what was Expedition Seven?” Voss closed the file.
“The second attempt.” Serah’s eyes widened.
“You sent them in knowing what happened during the first?” Voss looked at her.
“We sent them in because the first attempt had failed.” Riven’s voice was barely audible.
“And Kael?” Voss looked through the glass.
“He volunteered.” Riven closed his eyes.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
All those years.
All those lies.
All those people who had believed Kael was simply another soldier who had died during an expedition.
He had never been.
He had been the reason they went.
The facility lights flickered.
Serah looked toward the corridor.
“Voss.” He turned.
“What?” She held up the tablet.
“The archive has one more file.” Voss frowned.
“What file?” She looked at the screen.
“Expedition Seven.” Riven stared at her.
“We already have that.” “No.” Serah shook her head.
“This is the original file.” She opened it.
The first page appeared.
**EXPEDITION 07** **OBJECTIVE: RECOVERY** Riven’s eyes narrowed.
“Recovery?” Serah scrolled.
The next line appeared.
**PRIMARY SUBJECT: K-07** Riven stopped breathing.
Voss looked at the screen.
For the first time since entering the facility, his composure broke.
Riven noticed.
“You didn’t know.” Voss stared at the file.
“No.” Riven looked at him.
“Then who changed the objective?” Voss didn’t answer.
He simply reached for the tablet.
But Riven pulled it away.
“No.” Voss looked at him.
Riven held the file tightly.
“We’re reading all of it.” Voss stared at him for several seconds.
Then nodded.
“Open the next page.” Riven did.
The screen filled with the original expedition orders.
And for the first time, Expedition Seven’s real purpose was no longer hidden.
They had not been sent to find Kael.
They had been sent to recover him.
### END OF CHAPTER 23 ### Author’s Thought The facility finally gives us something concrete.
Kael’s connection to the Abyss existed before Expedition Seven.
And the expedition wasn’t originally about exploration.
It was a recovery mission.
The important part now isn’t adding another mystery.
It’s answering the one we just uncovered: **Why did they need Kael back?** CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Okikiayo_Fadiji The facility finally gives us something concrete.
Kael’s connection to the Abyss existed before Expedition Seven.
And the expedition wasn’t originally about exploration.
It was a recovery mission.
The important part now isn’t adding another mystery.
It’s answering the one we just uncovered: **Why did they need Kael back?**