They stayed quiet, but the silence wasn't peaceful. It had weight. The air inside the dorm was thin, recirculated too fast, like the system was pushing stale oxygen into dead lungs.
Gray sat cross-legged on the floor, spine straight, eyes closed.
Syv watched him from the cot, her knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped tight.
"You're not going to ask what I heard through the vent?" she asked.
Gray opened his eyes.
"You already know I did."
She smiled. Brief. Dry.
"They're planning something bigger than you," she said. "But you're still the trigger."
"I know."
"They didn't bring you here just to fight."
"No."
"Then what?"
Gray looked at the wall. One of the blood streaks from an old fight was still visible beneath the fresh paint. He'd seen that stain three times now. Never cleaned properly.
"Reactivation."
"Of you?"
"Of something worse."
She didn't ask more.
But her breathing changed.
The vent in the corner let out a soft hiss. It wasn't the regular airflow. This one was filtered military grade. That meant one thing: someone had rerouted the clean lines to this sector.
They weren't just watching him now.
They were preparing him.
He stood.
"I'm going to see the medic."
Syv didn't move. Just nodded.
"Don't get followed," she said.
"I already was."
He left.
The corridor had changed overnight. Lights were brighter. Not cleaner just brighter. Like someone wanted every angle visible now. No more shadows for fighters to bleed in peace.
He passed Rezz near the pit access. The man leaned on the wall, drinking from a steel flask.
"You look alive," Rezz said.
Gray stopped.
"You're not going to say anything?" Rezz added.
Gray looked at him.
"You were in on it."
Rezz didn't deny it.
"They told me to watch you. See how you reacted. That's all."
Gray stepped closer.
Rezz held his ground.
"But when she came to your room," Gray said, "you didn't warn me."
Rezz's jaw twitched.
"You were always good at surviving," he muttered. "Figured you didn't need help."
Gray looked him over. The man's shoulders were heavier than before. Not with muscle with pressure.
"They're watching you too," Gray said.
Rezz looked away. "They always were."
Gray walked on.
The medic's door was cracked open. No lights inside.
He knocked once.
The voice that answered was hoarse.
"Come in if you're not bleeding."
Gray entered.
The medic sat in the dark, a datapad glowing in one hand. His other hand was soaked in antiseptic and trembled faintly.
"You seen it?" the medic asked.
"Seen what?"
"The message. From the upper tiers."
Gray said nothing.
"They're talking about a breach. Something at the outer districts. Said a livestock hauler came in dragging half a beast with it. Not dead. Just… torn."
"Wasn't supposed to be any beasts this deep."
"That's what the guards said."
Gray looked at the datapad.
A single image. Grainy. Too much interference to be sharp. But the shape was clear. Spinal plating. Biosteel fused under skin. A skound. Dead or not, it shouldn't have been anywhere near Kajlamas.
The medic wiped his hand.
"They say you're waking something up," he said. "You believe that?"
Gray stared at the screen.
"I'm not the one waking anything," he said. "I'm just the proof that it still sleeps."
He turned to leave.
The medic said one last thing.
"If you get out, don't come back. They're turning this place into a fuse."
Back in the hallway, the air smelled different. Like smoke filtered through cloth.
He passed a vent that buzzed low, almost inaudible.
Inside it, a voice crackled buried in static.
He didn't catch the words.
But he caught the cadence.
It was a voice from before.
A voice from CrimsonRay.