The night rain fell in sheets, brutally battering the asphalt of Aethel City as if the heavens were venting pure fury. Amidst the deafening roar of the storm, police sirens and the low hum of Aethel Corp scout drones echoed back and forth across the air, weaving a lethal symphony of panic.

Zulfa stumbled forward, his breath heaving and burning his throat raw. Every step felt agonizingly heavy, as though the earth's gravity had doubled to crush muscles already pushed to the brink of extreme exhaustion.

"Zulfa, hang in there! Don't stop here!" Naya shouted beside him. She yanked Zulfa's arm, forcing the tall youth's body to plow through the bone-chilling puddles of rainwater inside a squalid, narrow alleyway tucked behind a commercial district skyscraper.

Zulfa wiped the rain mixed with sweat and fresh blood from his temple using the back of his hand. His tactical jacket was soaked through and torn in several places from the brief shootout moments ago.

"My legs... my legs feel like they're about to snap, Nay," Zulfa groaned through his ragged breaths. He hunched over, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to force oxygen back into his empty lungs. "We just jumped from the tenth floor, got chased by a dozen corporate mercenaries, and now the whole city has plastered our wanted faces across every digital billboard. What other pleasant surprises does today have in store?"

Naya cast a sharp glance upward, where a drone searchlight cut low overhead, casting cold blue reflections against the walls of the old buildings.

"If you die of exhaustion in this stinking alley, your day will be complete, Zulfa! Get up!" Naya half-dragged Zulfa back to his feet. "We don't have time to complain. All our communication channels are tapped, and our bank accounts are frozen. Aethel Corp officially views us as omega-level threats."

Zulfa let out a dry snort, though a thin, sarcastic smile touched his pale lips. "An omega-level threat, huh? And here I thought we were just senior undergrads who happened to stumble upon their dirty secrets about illegal energy experiments."

"And that secret is precisely why they want to wipe us off the face of the earth," Naya fired back instantly. "Come on, run!"

They plunged forward once more, weaving through the labyrinth of narrow streets in the old district—a stark, forgotten neighborhood left behind by Aethel City’s towering futuristic architecture. The buildings here were constructed from last-century red brick, moss-covered and structurally crumbling. Yet, beneath their decay, this district held one absolute advantage for their escape: it was a dead zone for digital signals.

After weaving through turns and vaulting over a rusted iron fence, Naya suddenly turned sharply toward a dilapidated courtyard. Standing before them was an abandoned old shrine with traditional architecture nearly collapsing, swallowed by the massive roots of a banyan tree gripping its walls.

Zulfa looked skeptically at the building as they ducked through a broken doorway with its other half hanging off its hinges. "A shrine? Seriously, Nay? How on earth is a dump like this supposed to protect us from corporate thermal scanners?"

"Precisely because it's a dump and untouched by Aethel Corp's modern electrical grid, this place is the only blind spot in the entire city, idiot!" Naya guided Zulfa into the pitch-black main hall, which smelled thick with ancient dust.

The atmosphere inside the shrine stood in sharp contrast to the chaos outside. The pouring rain sounded only like a muffled rumble, absorbed by the thick walls of the ancient structure. The only source of illumination was lightning flashing intermittently through gaps in the ruined roof.

Zulfa shuddered—not from the cold, but because the room's atmosphere felt sacred yet suffocating. "This place... the vibe is so weird. It feels like someone's watching us from the dark."

"Focus, Zulfa. Don't start hallucinating from exhaustion," Naya scolded as she felt along the stone wall in the corner. "According to the ancient records I pulled from the underground library yesterday, our ancestors left an emergency escape route right here. Ah, found it!"

Naya shoved an old bookshelf leaning against the wall. Behind it stood a colossal stone altar choked with thick moss. The altar looked entirely out of place with its surroundings, carved from jet-black stone that refused to reflect any light at all.

Zulfa stepped closer, frowning as he studied the intricate carvings adoring the altar's surface. "Wait... these carvings..." His fingers traced the relief patterns etched into the stone. "This isn't just ornamental art. It's a mechanical design."

"Right," Naya nodded gravely. "Beneath this shrine altar lies an ancient stone door engraved with gear cogs interlocking with mythological beast motifs. Legend says this is a legacy technology from the era before corporations ruled the world—a fusion of ancient mechanics and esoteric energy."

Zulfa stared at the massive gear wheel carved permanently into the stone. Dead center in the gear sat a family-crest indentation—a geometric symbol deeply familiar to him.

"Gears and mythological beasts... this looks like an antique nuclear vault or time machine prototype," Zulfa muttered, trying to break the tension with a sarcastic quip. "You sure our ancestors weren't moonlighting as giant clockmakers back in the day?"

Naya snorted softly, though the corners of her lips twitched upward at Zulfa's absurd commentary in the middle of a life-or-death crisis. "How would I know? What I do know is that the records say this door can only be unlocked by a direct blood descendant of the Arditama lineage. Ordinary mechanical keys won't work, and dynamite would just bring this shrine down on our heads."

Zulfa let out a long breath, staring down at his own palms stained with dust and gunpowder ash. "The Arditama lineage... sometimes I hate bearing this name. My life hasn't known peace since the day Grandfather passed down that strange pendant."

"Stop whining. Without that name, we'd both be fish food at the harbor by last week," Naya replied firmly. She looked at Zulfa with hopeful eyes. "Try touching that indentation, Zulfa. We don't have much time. Aethel Corp drones are definitely combing this old district right now."

Zulfa nodded slowly. He stepped forward, casting aside the last remnants of doubt in his mind. The air around the altar suddenly grew heavier, making the hairs on his arms stand on end. Slowly, he raised his right hand, stretching his palm out toward the crest indentation at the center of the carved gear.

Their distance closed down to mere centimeters. Zulfa could feel a subtle vibration pulsing from within the stone, as though the altar were breathing and welcoming his presence.

"Bismillah..." Zulfa whispered softly.

The moment Zulfa's fingertips brushed the cold stone surface, the impossible happened.

Clank!

A deafening mechanical grind rumbled from deep within the earth, echoing throughout the old shrine. The carved gear cogs on the altar's surface suddenly spun automatically with flawless precision, producing the grating sound of ancient stone that rang shrilly yet felt strangely harmonious.

"Zulfa! Look!" Naya cried out, stumbling back a few steps in shock.

From the gaps between the mythological carvings and the gear cogs, a blinding blue light burst forth. It wasn't the glare of lamps or electricity, but a pure, warmly glowing energy that pierced through the inky darkness of the shrine hall.

That blue light crept upward, wrapping around Zulfa's arm as if recognizing the Arditama bloodline flowing through his veins. The pain and physical fatigue that had been shattering Zulfa's bones vanished instantly, replaced by a warm sensation that revitalized every cell in his body.

The massive ancient stone door slowly slid sideways, revealing a mysterious dark tunnel plunging deep into the earth's belly. From within the corridor drifted the clean scent of cold air mixed with ozone, sharply contrasting with the stale stench of the shrine.

Zulfa froze, staring down at his palm, which still flickered with lingering traces of blue light. He turned to Naya with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Nay..." Zulfa whispered in a trembling voice. "I think... our family inheritance is a lot crazier than we ever imagined."

Naya swallowed hard, staring down the dark tunnel before them—now their sole path to safety and the gateway to a much greater mystery. "Shut your mouth and let's move, heir of the Arditama lineage. Our wanted level just went up."