Chapter 14 - The DoorThe chamber was enormous.
No walls visible.
No ceiling.
Only darkness and blue light.
Mariana stepped out of the elevator.
Water surrounded the structure on every side.
Yet none of it entered.
The black door stood hundreds of feet away.
Three symbols glowed above it.
Mariana.
Mateo.
Elena.
Not names.
Genetic sequences.
Gabriel stared.
“That's impossible.”
The doctor shook his head.
“This place was never built for humans.”
Elena stepped forward.
“It was built for us.”
Mariana grabbed her hand.
“Don't.”
Elena looked at her.
“They've been waiting.”
“For what?”
“For the third.”
Mariana's heartbeat stopped.
“The third?”
Elena nodded.
Mateo stared at the door.
“He's inside.”
“Who's inside?”
“The first.”
Gabriel looked at the doctor.
“You said there were two survivors.”
The doctor lowered his eyes.
“I was wrong.”
Mariana felt sick.
“Who is the first?”
A sound echoed behind them.
Clapping.
Adrian walked out of the elevator.
“Excellent.”
Gabriel raised his gun.
Adrian smiled.
“You brought all three.”
Mariana moved in front of the children.
“Stay back.”
Adrian laughed.
“You still think this is about hurting you.”
“It is.”
“No.”
He looked at the black door.
“This is about opening it.”
“With what?”
He pointed at Mateo.
“The boy.”
Mariana raised her weapon.
“Why?”
“Because the first child failed.”
“The first?”
Adrian's smile faded.
“Your sister was second.”
Elena frowned.
“Then who's first?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Rafael appeared behind him.
Older.
Bleeding.
But alive.
“Me.”
Everyone turned.
Rafael stepped forward.
“I was the first.”
Mariana stared.
“You?”
“I was exposed to the structure seventy years ago.”
“And you survived.”
“I changed.”
Adrian interrupted.
“Not enough.”
Rafael glared at him.
“I built Meridian to continue the work.”
“You built it because you were afraid to die.”
Rafael looked at Mariana.
“Yes.”
Mariana felt disgust.
“You used my family.”
“I preserved it.”
“You destroyed it.”
“I protected the bloodline.”
“By murdering children?”
Rafael looked at Mateo.
“No.”
He whispered:
“By finding the ones who could survive.”
Mariana stepped forward.
“You want to open that door.”
“Yes.”
“What's behind it?”
Rafael's face became unreadable.
“The reason humans became human.”
The room fell silent.
Adrian smiled.
“A discovery older than civilization.”
Mariana shook her head.
“This is insane.”
“No,” Rafael replied.
“Insanity is believing you are the first intelligent species to walk this planet.”
Mariana stared at the black door.
“So what happens when it opens?”
Rafael looked at the three children.
“It remembers.”
The symbols above the door began glowing.
Mateo cried out.
Mariana pulled him closer.
Elena's eyes rolled back.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Now.”
Gabriel fired.
The bullet struck Adrian's shoulder.
Adrian fell.
Rafael turned toward Gabriel.
“You've just doomed us all.”
The black door opened one inch.
A sound poured through the chamber.
Not a roar.
Not a voice.
A memory.
A thousand voices speaking at once.
Mariana heard her mother's voice.
Her father's.
Mateo's.
Her own.
Then one final voice.
A whisper that came from inside the door.
“Daughter.”
Mariana froze.
Lucía began crying.
“No.”
Mariana turned.
“What?”
Lucía looked at her.
“That voice…”
She covered her mouth.
“It belongs to your grandmother.”
Mariana stared at the opening.
“But she's dead.”
Lucía shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
The black door opened wider.
“She was never human.”
