"Let me get this straight."
Daniel Cross limped down a narrow staircase, leaning heavily against Arlen while Dr. Elias Voss walked several steps ahead.
"You appear out of nowhere, tell me you helped create me, offer to restore my ability to transform into a giant monster, and then announce that we need to visit the birthplace of my mysterious supernatural powers."
Elias glanced over his shoulder.
"That's a reasonably accurate summary."
Daniel nodded thoughtfully.
"Excellent. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't suffered a concussion and started hallucinating an entire medical conspiracy."
"You did suffer a concussion."
Daniel stopped.
"What?"
"Possibly. I haven't examined you."
"Could you stop saying things like that?"
"Which things?"
"Things that make me want to hit you."
Elias smiled.
"Your personality appears to be intact. That's encouraging."
Daniel turned toward Arlen.
"Can I hit him?"
"No," Arlen replied immediately.
"Traitor."
"I'm trying to keep us alive."
"Then you're doing a terrible job. Look where we are."
They continued descending.
Above them, Trost was collapsing into chaos.
The sounds of battle followed them through the stone passageways. Explosions shook dust from the ceiling. Somewhere in the distance, soldiers shouted orders that were quickly drowned out by the screams of civilians.
Daniel knew he should have been trying to reach safety.
Instead, he was following a suspicious doctor into an underground passage with no guarantee that they would ever return.
He could practically hear his common sense filing a resignation letter.
Unfortunately, common sense had been remarkably unhelpful since his arrival in this world.
He needed answers.
And Elias appeared to have several.
Whether the doctor intended to provide those answers voluntarily was another matter.
"How far?" Daniel asked.
"Not much farther."
"You said that five minutes ago."
"Then we must be making progress."
Daniel stared at the back of the doctor's head.
"Arlen."
"What?"
"If I die down here, I want you to remember something."
"What?"
"Never trust a man who wears expensive boots during an apocalypse."
Arlen glanced at Elias's footwear.
"They're not particularly expensive."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is the point?"
Daniel sighed.
"Forget it."
The staircase ended at a metal door.
Unlike the wooden doors they had encountered earlier, this one was thick, reinforced, and completely free of rust.
A small panel had been installed beside the handle.
Elias placed his palm against it.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then a faint blue light illuminated his fingers.
A quiet mechanical click echoed through the passage.
The door unlocked.
Daniel stared.
"All right."
He pointed at the panel.
"That."
Elias opened the door.
"What about it?"
"That is technology I would very much like explained."
"Perhaps later."
Daniel stepped into the room.
Then stopped.
The chamber beyond the door was enormous.
Metal walkways stretched across its upper levels. Thick pipes ran along the walls, disappearing into the darkness. Strange cylindrical containers stood behind reinforced glass, their interiors filled with pale liquid.
Some contained animal remains.
Others held objects Daniel couldn't identify.
At the center of the chamber stood a massive circular machine surrounded by cables and metal supports.
Its surface was covered in unfamiliar symbols.
And beneath it, carved into the floor, was the same marking Daniel had seen on the dead man's forehead.
Three vertical lines.
One horizontal cut.
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
The symbol wasn't merely similar.
It was identical.
He took a cautious step forward.
"What is this place?"
Elias closed the door behind them.
"A research facility."
Daniel turned toward him.
"That is the least informative answer you could possibly give me."
"It is also accurate."
Arlen moved closer to one of the glass containers.
Inside it floated the skeletal remains of a small animal.
He frowned.
"Why are there dead things in jars?"
"Biological specimens," Elias replied.
"Why?"
"Research."
Arlen looked at Daniel.
Daniel shrugged.
"Apparently, the doctor believes answering questions is an optional feature of scientific education."
Elias ignored them and approached a metal console.
He pressed several buttons.
Lights flickered across the chamber.
A low mechanical hum began.
Then a series of screens illuminated along the wall.
Daniel stared.
The images displayed unfamiliar diagrams, medical scans, and rows of data.
He recognized some of the structures.
Others resembled nothing he had ever seen.
One image showed a human body.
Another showed the same body with its internal organs replaced by a network of branching structures.
A third displayed something that looked disturbingly like a Titan's skeletal framework.
Daniel's mouth went dry.
"What am I looking at?"
Elias stood beside him.
"The evolutionary architecture of the Devourer."
Daniel studied the image.
The human figure was surrounded by dozens of branching pathways, each leading to a different anatomical structure.
Some resembled claws.
Others resembled muscular systems, reinforced bones, or elongated limbs.
A few looked distinctly animalistic.
The entire diagram resembled a tree.
A tree whose branches were made of living creatures.
Daniel swallowed.
"Those are potential adaptations?"
"Correct."
"All of them?"
"Not all. The diagram represents a theoretical model, including pathways that have never been successfully integrated."
Daniel looked at one branch.
It depicted a skeletal structure surrounded by thick plates of armor.
Another showed a set of elongated limbs with enlarged joints.
A third displayed a dense network of sensory organs.
He recognized the implications immediately.
The system wasn't simply giving him random animal abilities.
It was constructing an evolutionary framework.
One that could theoretically combine compatible biological traits into increasingly specialized forms.
"How far can it go?" Daniel asked.
Elias was quiet for a moment.
"That depends on the host."
Daniel looked at him.
"Meaning?"
"Some adaptations are incompatible with others. A trait that improves strength may interfere with flexibility. Reinforced bones may increase body weight. Enhanced sensory organs may overload the nervous system."
Elias pointed toward the diagram.
"Every evolutionary improvement creates new limitations. The Devourer was designed to manage those conflicts."
Daniel stared at the branching pathways.
For the first time, the system began to make sense.
It wasn't an unlimited source of power.
It was a biological engineering system.
Every advantage had a cost.
Every improvement required a compromise.
And every mistake could destroy the host.
Daniel almost smiled.
It was terrifying.
But it was also fascinating.
Then he remembered the bodies in the underground chamber.
The thirty-seven previous subjects.
His smile disappeared.
"How many people died trying to develop this thing?"
Elias didn't answer.
Daniel turned toward him.
"Doctor."
The man slowly lowered his eyes.
"Thirty-seven recorded subjects were involved in the initial compatibility trials."
"And how many survived?"
"None."
Daniel felt his stomach twist.
"Then how am I alive?"
Elias looked at him.
"Because you were different."
"That's not an explanation."
"No. It's the beginning of one."
Daniel clenched his jaw.
"You keep doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Giving me just enough information to make me ask another question."
Elias considered this.
"Would you prefer that I lie?"
"I'd prefer that you stop treating my life like a research paper."
For several seconds, the doctor said nothing.
Then he nodded.
"Fair enough."
He turned toward the central machine.
"The Devourer was originally intended to be an artificial evolutionary framework. It was not supposed to possess independent consciousness, nor was it intended to communicate directly with its host."
Daniel frowned.
"Then why does mine?"
"We don't know."
"That seems like an important detail."
"It is."
"How did you manage to lose control of something you built?"
Elias looked at him.
"We didn't build the entire system."
Daniel's expression changed.
"What?"
"The framework was based on information recovered from an earlier discovery. Our researchers understood some of its principles, but not its origin."
He gestured toward the central machine.
"We reproduced what we could, adapted what we understood, and attempted to create a compatible host."
Daniel stared at him.
"You're telling me you built a machine using technology you didn't understand?"
"Essentially."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Of course you did."
Arlen looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
"It means intelligent people sometimes do incredibly stupid things."
Elias gave a faint smile.
"History has demonstrated that repeatedly."
Daniel opened his eyes.
"Where did the original information come from?"
The doctor's expression changed.
For a moment, he seemed uncertain whether to answer.
Then he pointed toward the far side of the chamber.
A reinforced glass wall separated the research facility from another room.
Beyond it stood a massive stone structure.
It resembled a tree.
Not a natural tree, but an enormous sculpted trunk with branching limbs carved from pale material.
Strange markings covered its surface.
At the center was a dark opening.
Daniel felt a chill run down his spine.
He recognized the general shape.
He had seen something similar before.
In the original story, the Founding Titan's power was connected to a mysterious coordinate and an enormous network that linked Eldians through something resembling paths.
The imagery had never made complete scientific sense.
But standing in front of this structure, Daniel felt a disturbing sense of familiarity.
"What is that?" he whispered.
Elias stood beside him.
"The original source."
Daniel turned.
"Source of what?"
"The biological information used to construct the Devourer."
Daniel looked back at the structure.
"Where did you find it?"
"Deep beneath the Walls."
Silence settled over the chamber.
Daniel stared at the artificial tree.
Then at the strange symbols covering its surface.
Then at the doctor.
"You found some kind of ancient biological structure buried beneath humanity's last refuge, and your response was to build a laboratory around it?"
Elias considered the question.
"When you put it that way, it sounds irresponsible."
"That's because it is irresponsible!"
Arlen raised a hand.
"Can we argue about this somewhere that isn't full of mysterious dead things?"
Daniel looked at him.
"Finally. Someone with priorities."
Then the central machine activated.
A deep vibration passed through the chamber.
The lights flickered.
One of the screens went black.
Then another.
Elias immediately turned toward the console.
"No."
Daniel stiffened.
"What is it?"
The doctor began pressing buttons.
"No, no, no..."
The machine's hum grew louder.
A series of red lights illuminated the walls.
Daniel's system appeared.
[WARNING]
[Foreign signal detected.]
[Source: Unknown.]
[Signal strength: Increasing.]
[Connection attempt: Detected.]
Daniel felt a familiar pressure building behind his eyes.
He stumbled backward.
"Doctor!"
Elias looked at him.
"Don't listen to it!"
"Listen to what?"
The chamber filled with a low, resonant sound.
It wasn't quite a voice.
It was more like a vibration traveling through Daniel's bones.
Then words appeared across the screens.
SUBJECT IDENTIFIED.
Daniel froze.
Another line appeared.
HOST COMPATIBILITY CONFIRMED.
Then another.
WELCOME BACK.
Daniel's blood turned to ice.
"No."
His head began to throb.
The system flashed.
[UNAUTHORIZED SIGNAL DETECTED.]
[Source classification: Incomplete.]
[Attempting to establish connection...]
Daniel grabbed the edge of a console.
"Shut it off!"
Elias was already working.
"I'm trying!"
The screen flickered again.
A new message appeared.
YOU HAVE BEEN ABSENT FOR A LONG TIME.
Daniel's vision blurred.
Memories erupted inside his mind.
A white room.
Metal restraints.
A child's hand.
A voice crying his name.
Then a forest.
An enormous tree stretching toward the sky.
And beneath it, a figure standing in a shallow pool of dark water.
Daniel couldn't see the figure's face.
But he could feel its attention.
It was looking directly at him.
Waiting.
The system screamed.
[CRITICAL WARNING]
[External connection bypassing defensive protocols.]
[Host autonomy threatened.]
Daniel dropped to his knees.
"Get out of my head!"
The voice answered.
Not through the speakers.
Through his own thoughts.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO FORGET.
Daniel clutched his skull.
"What do you want?"
The pressure intensified.
TO RETURN.
The lights exploded.
Glass shattered.
The chamber plunged into darkness.
Then something moved behind the reinforced wall.
The stone structure began to crack.
Elias stumbled away from the console.
"Impossible..."
A thin line appeared across the artificial trunk.
Then another.
Then a third.
The cracks spread rapidly, exposing a dark, pulsing substance beneath the surface.
Daniel stared.
It looked like flesh.
Living flesh.
The system displayed another message.
[ANOMALOUS BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE DETECTED.]
[Classification: UNKNOWN.]
[Estimated evolutionary complexity: UNMEASURABLE.]
Daniel could barely breathe.
The substance pulsed again.
And something inside the structure moved.
Arlen backed away.
"What is that?"
Nobody answered.
A sound emerged from the opening in the artificial tree.
A wet, scraping sound.
Then a hand appeared.
It was pale and slender, with fingers far too long to belong to an ordinary human.
The hand gripped the edge of the opening.
Something pulled itself forward.
Daniel stared in horror as a small figure emerged from the structure.
A girl.
Dark hair.
White dress.
Bare feet.
Daniel stopped breathing.
"Mira?"
The girl lifted her head.
Her eyes were completely black.
Not dark brown.
Not shadowed.
Black.
The same unnatural darkness he had glimpsed beneath her skin in the underground chamber.
She looked at Daniel.
Then she smiled.
"You came back."
Daniel felt his heart twist.
"No..."
Mira took a step toward the glass.
"You promised."
The glass began to crack.
Elias seized Daniel's arm.
"We have to leave!"
Daniel barely heard him.
He was staring at the girl.
At the impossible figure who claimed to know him.
At the person who might hold the key to his missing memories.
Mira placed her palm against the glass.
A thin web of cracks spread outward.
"Daniel," she whispered.
The glass shattered.
Arlen screamed.
Elias dragged Daniel backward.
The girl stepped through the broken barrier.
For one brief instant, her body flickered.
A child's silhouette.
Then a mass of pale, branching structures.
Then a human face again.
Daniel's system erupted with warnings.
[CRITICAL ALERT]
[ENTITY DESIGNATION: MIRA.]
[Biological classification: UNRESOLVED.]
[Relationship to host: UNKNOWN.]
[Warning: Entity possesses direct access to the evolutionary network.]
[Recommended action: FLEE.]
Daniel struggled against Elias's grip.
"Mira! Wait!"
The girl stopped.
For the first time, her smile disappeared.
Something resembling sadness crossed her face.
Then she looked beyond Daniel.
Toward the laboratory's central machine.
And she spoke in a voice that no longer sounded entirely human.
"He's waking up."
The entire facility shook.
Far beneath the laboratory, something enormous began to move.
The artificial tree split apart.
The screens went dark.
And a deep, thunderous sound rolled through the foundations of the Walls.
Daniel felt the vibration in his teeth.
The system displayed one final message.
[WORLD EVENT DETECTED.]
[THE FIRST IS AWAKENING.]
[WARNING: CURRENT HOST IS A POTENTIAL CATALYST.]
Daniel stared at the words.
Then he looked at Mira.
The little girl met his gaze.
And whispered something that made his blood run cold.
"Please don't let him find you."
Behind her, the darkness inside the broken structure opened like an enormous eye.
And somewhere in the depths beneath Trost, something answered.
END OF CHAPTER 20