Elena climbed quickly down the narrow, small maintenance tunnel. The loud sounds of Kiran's fight with Lux came from above, muffled but still scary. The maps Echo had given them showed this secret level, called "Codex Containment." The name now filled her with a deep fear. She landed softly on a tight, clean hallway. The air was strangely cold and had a faint, sweet, metal smell. The constant hum here was different, deeper. It felt like an old power, coming from the floor beneath her feet. The path led straight to a single, huge, strong door with the clear, three-pointed Zero Cabal symbol on it. As she got close, her heart beating fast, the door opened silently, as if it was waiting for her. It showed a room full of light and shadows.
Inside, the room was big and grand, like a church, scary but also beautiful. In the middle was a huge, carved stand. And standing in front of it, her back to Elena, was Dr. Rhea Koval. She was not wearing her usual white lab coat. Instead, she had a smooth, dark uniform that seemed to glow with faint energy. She stood very still, almost like she was praying. On the stand, glowing with an old, inner light that seemed to move like a living cloud, was no single book. It was a shimmering, ghostly thing – a changing mix of bright light and dark shadows, coming and going like a living fog. This was the Eclipse Codex in its real form, a thing of scary, unbelievable beauty.
"Welcome, Elena Voss," Dr. Koval said, turning slowly. She moved smoothly and calmly. Her eyes, usually cold and smart, now had a strange, almost happy glow, a chilling light that showed she believed everything she was doing. "I knew you would come. You have your brother's strong will. His spirit that never gives up." Her voice was soft, not mean, but it sounded very sure, like a parent who was disappointed. "And Kiran, his strong fighting skills, he has helped me by bringing you both here. He was a very good, but unknowing, trap." Elena gasped, a breath stuck in her throat. "What help?" she asked, her voice shaking with fear and anger. "What is this? What are you doing with the Codex?"
Koval smiled then, a small, uneasy curve of her lips that did not reach her eyes. "I am fixing a mistake. The first Foundation was weak and rough. They tried to control the Eldritch, to use them like simple tools, to take their power for small, human wishes. But the Eclipse Codex teaches the truth: the Eldritch are not to be controlled. They are to be accepted. The Veil, you see, is just a thin wall. It makes us weak, dulls our senses, limits what we can do. The Great Eclipse, the coming Harvest, is not an attack, but a chance for true growth. To join with the Eldritch, to get rid of the limits of our bodies and minds, to become something more than just people." She held out a hand, asking Elena to come closer. Her gesture was both inviting and very scary. "Liam understood this, in his last moments. He opened himself. He was the perfect body for them. And now, I am just making the process perfect. I am preparing this world for its new start. You and Kiran, with your special genes, are also… perfect choices for the next stage of this growth. You carry the very thing they need."
The truth hit Elena very hard, colder and harder than any punch. Dr. Koval was not just a confusing friend or a tired scientist. She was a fanatic, like a high priestess of this space horror, more dangerous than Lux or any strong fighter. She was not fighting Neo-Eclipse; she was Neo-Eclipse. She was the smart, evil planner of their terrible goal, using the power of the Eclipse Codex to bring real, space horror to the world. And they had walked straight into her careful trap, a trap she had set using Kiran as an unknowing, strong lure, a piece in her big plan. The floor seemed to move under Elena's feet as she fully understood Koval's clever trick.