In Another World With Omnitrix

The silence after the battle was suffocating.

Crimson mist clung to the ruined battlefield, slowly curling around the shattered remnants of the obsidian construct. Its ruined core flickered faintly, like an eye twitching in its final dream. Above, the cavern's crystal-studded dome still pulsed in that eerie, heartbeat rhythm—steady and wrong.

Lyra Veyla and Saria Vorn moved cautiously through the aftermath, their footsteps echoing against the fractured ground. The terrain ahead sloped downward, gradually shifting from jagged stone to something smoother—blackened tiles set into the floor, almost ceremonial.

"Whatever this place used to be," Saria muttered, "I'm starting to think it wasn't built for people."

"Or not by them," Lyra replied quietly.

The deeper they walked, the more unnatural the environment became. Towering archways—half-collapsed—lined the sides of the descending path, etched with angular glyphs that shimmered faintly when approached. The walls occasionally flickered, revealing brief illusions—fractured scenes of unknown machinery, tall figures in dark robes, and swirling, violet-hued stars.

Lyra stopped at one such glyph.

She ran a gloved hand over the etched stone. "These aren't dungeon-born."

Saria gave a snort. "You think everything's a relic."

Lyra ignored the jab. "This one predates all known relic scripts. And it's not reacting to mana."

"Then how's it glowing?"

Lyra's answer came in the form of a silence that said: I don't know yet.

They continued forward.

After another few minutes, the path ended abruptly. Before them stretched a massive open cavern, easily half a kilometer across. At its center rose a singular, impossible structure—a black gate embedded into the ground itself, wide enough for giants. The walls surrounding it curved inward like a funnel, drawing focus to the sealed entrance below.

And the door…

It was not made of stone or crystal. Instead, it shimmered with an unnatural sheen, like liquid metal trapped in time. Runes crawled across its surface, rearranging themselves every few seconds in patterns too complex to follow. No hinges. No cracks. No keyhole.

Just power.

Both women stopped at the ridge overlooking the chamber. A faint vibration ran through their boots, not from an external source—but from within the gate itself.

"Now that…" Saria murmured, "is definitely not dungeon-made."

Lyra's gaze narrowed. "This is why Nova Arcanum flagged this zone."

"You knew something like this was here?"

"No. But the readings pointed to a convergent frequency—something old. Something… dormant."

Saria stepped closer to the edge. "And now it's waking up."

Without warning, the ground shivered beneath them. A pulse radiated from the door—stronger this time. Not hostile, but almost like… a heartbeat.

Both instinctively stepped back.

"The door is alive," Lyra said flatly.

Saria raised an eyebrow. "That's not comforting."

They moved to a nearby ledge where jagged platforms rose like crooked stairs toward the edge of the sealed chamber. From this angle, they could see faint lines carved into the space around the gate—massive grooves, almost like slots or docking points.

"Looks like something's supposed to go here," Saria said, crouching to inspect the patterns.

Lyra pulled a small scanning prism from her side pouch and activated it. Light danced across the space—then flickered and died.

"Signal interference?"

"No. Something suppressed it." She pocketed the device and looked around warily. "We're being watched."

Saria turned sharply. "You sense something?"

"No… that's the problem. The ambient mana cut off the moment we reached this platform. We're inside a field—one meant to suppress abilities, detection, maybe even time perception."

Saria rose, sabers half-drawn. "So if anything jumps us now…"

"We fight without backup."

They stood still for a moment, listening.

Nothing stirred.

Just the quiet shimmer of the gate and the soft hum of the glowing symbols crawling across its surface.

Then, from the far end of the chamber, high above on a shadowed balcony, a faint echo reached them.

A voice.

No words. Just a hum. A resonance. Familiar yet indecipherable.

Lyra turned slowly, expression shifting from wary to disturbed. "I've heard that tone before…"

Saria's eyes sharpened. "Where?"

"In the remains of a collapsed relic vault in Northern Velen. Right before the surviving researchers went insane."

Saria exhaled sharply. "Fantastic. So we've found the crazy door."

They stood in silence again.

Then Lyra spoke, quieter this time. "I think this is the gate to the dungeon's true core."

"You mean the bosses we've fought so far…"

"Were guards. Outer shell defenses."

Saria paced once, rubbing a hand through her hair. "So if we open this thing, we're not just facing another elite."

Lyra nodded. "We'll be waking up the architect."

They both stared at the sealed gate, its runes rearranging themselves again—this time in a pattern that pulsed in sync with Lyra's own heartbeat.

She stepped back.

"I think it's trying to synchronize."

"You think it wants to open?"

"I think it wants someone to open it."

Saria's voice dropped to a dry murmur. "Please don't say it's picking you."

Lyra didn't reply.

End of Chapter.

Thank you for reading.