THE OTHER ELIAS
EPISODE 17
THE FIRST ELIAS
The archive door exploded inward.
A wave of freezing air swept across the room.
The emergency lights flickered wildly.
For a moment…
Everything disappeared into darkness.
Then the backup lights activated.
Dim.
Red.
Unsteady.
Elias stared at the doorway.
A single figure stood there.
Not running.
Not attacking.
Simply watching.
It looked exactly like him.
Another Elias.
Behind it, countless silhouettes remained motionless in the corridor.
Waiting.
The child whispered,
“They’ve never come this far before.”
The stranger beside Elias didn’t move.
“They’re waiting for permission.”
“Permission from who?” Elias asked.
The stranger looked directly at him.
“You.”
A loud alarm echoed through the facility.
GATEWAY EXPANSION: 94%
The monitors flashed with new warnings.
Containment systems were shutting down one by one.
The figure at the doorway finally spoke.
Its voice was calm.
“You’ve repeated this choice too many times.”
Elias frowned.
“What choice?”
Instead of answering, the figure stepped aside.
Another person entered.
An elderly scientist.
His lab coat was torn and covered with dust.
He looked exhausted.
Yet his eyes were steady.
Elias felt something strange.
He knew that face.
But he couldn’t remember from where.
The scientist smiled faintly.
“You still don’t recognize me.”
“I should?”
“You built this place with me.”
Fragments rushed through Elias’ mind.
Blueprints.
Experiments.
Long nights inside underground laboratories.
A handshake.
A promise.
Then…
Nothing.
The memory vanished.
“I don’t remember,” Elias whispered.
“I know,” the scientist replied.
“You made sure of that.”
The child lowered its head.
The stranger closed his eyes.
Neither denied it.
The scientist slowly walked toward one of the broken monitors.
“You believed forgetting would stop the cycle.”
He touched the shattered screen.
Instead of sparks…
Images appeared.
Not recordings.
Memories.
The first laboratory.
The very first gateway.
A younger Elias stood beside the scientist.
Excited.
Hopeful.
Neither of them looked afraid.
“We’re opening a bridge,” the younger Elias said.
“To learn.”
The scientist answered quietly.
“And if something learns about us?”
The vision ended.
Silence filled the archive.
Elias stared at his own hands.
“We opened it…”
“Yes,” the scientist replied.
“But we weren’t the first to cross.”
Another violent tremor shook the building.
Concrete cracked overhead.
The alarms became distorted.
The stranger looked toward the corridor.
“They’re getting closer.”
The identical figures still hadn’t moved.
Every one of them watched Elias.
Waiting.
The scientist took a slow breath.
“You keep believing they’re invaders.”
“They aren’t.”
Elias looked at the endless faces.
“Then who are they?”
The scientist answered with quiet certainty.
“They’re survivors.”
The room fell silent.
Before Elias could ask another question…
Every identical figure slowly raised one hand.
Not as a threat.
As a warning.
At that exact moment…
A deep, unfamiliar sound echoed from inside the gateway.
None of the Eliases reacted.
But the scientist’s face turned pale.
“It found us.”
Elias looked toward the live monitor.
Beyond the gateway…
Something enormous shifted in the darkness.
Not a person.
Not an animal.
Just a shape so vast that the camera couldn’t capture it completely.
The screen filled with static.
Then one final message appeared.
ORIGIN HAS AWAKENED
The lights went out.
Again.
TO BE CONTINUED…
