(Location: Underground Sublevel X, beneath the Valley of Kings – Present Day)
The chamber was still.
Sarah stood near the center, surrounded by the eerie pulse of ancient glyphs.
Mike was beside her. Adam a few steps behind, the Scarab glowing in his hand.
They had reached this point together. No separations. No command team. Only family.
Above them, the surface of the Earth was descending into chaos.
A voice from the satellite command echoed through Sarah's earpiece, barely cutting through the static:
"...Confirm global countdown. Estimated 24 hours remaining. High Priests rising in four quadrants. Civilian order collapsing. Extinction protocol window closing."
Mike exchanged a glance with her.
She nodded grimly.
"We stay. Together."
Suddenly, the glyphs on the chamber walls ignited with fireless flame — an alert, a vision, a warning.
The throne in the center lit up, not with light — but with memory.
"They feed on fire," a deep voice said — ancient, booming, not from the air, but from within their blood.
Then another voice crackled over a private channel — not military, but desperate:
"This is General Stavos from Northern Command. The Council is fractured. High Unity collapsing. We've had enough."
Static.
Then shouting.
Gunfire.
"They're trying to seize the launch codes!" someone yelled.
The Scarab trembled.
Sarah gasped.
On a projection formed by the glyphs — a globe flickered.
A red line.
A flashing point.
Then—
A launch.
Somewhere in the Ural Mountains, a nuclear weapon was fired.
"Who authorized that?!" Mike shouted.
"No one. It was a rogue general," Sarah said, stunned.
The warhead struck what was believed to be a priest congregation point.
For a second, silence.
Then cheers from fragmented governments.
But they celebrated too soon.
The sky above the detonation twisted.
From the blast zone, a black mist spiraled upward, turning crimson.
From it formed a glowing shape — a second Red Lotus, pulsing, suspended in the upper atmosphere.
It drew in the nuclear energy like nectar. The priests beneath it grew taller. Their skin darkened. Their eyes bled light.
Then the Red Lotus pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then it fired.
Massive red beams lanced across the sky.
First: Beijing. Gone.
Second: New Delhi. Vaporized.
Third: Rome. Shattered.
Fourth: Sydney. Consumed.
Adam cried out as the Scarab glowed hot.
Mike pulled him close.
"We just made them stronger."
Sarah stared at the glowing lotus in the projection, her voice hollow.
"They don't fear our violence. They feed on it."
The chamber dimmed.
The throne pulsed.
And far above, the Red Lotus hovered — like an eye, like a warning, like a god waiting for the next mistake.
Time left: 23 hours.