Chapter 360: Chapter 360 Buried History

The man snapped his fingers. The sound cracked through the dead air of the lab.

“Haven’t you always wondered,” he said, voice even but carrying weight, “how your father managed to build so many things? From the system in your head… to that machine behind you that just gave your friends their powers?”

The snap did more than punctuate his words. Liam’s chest loosened. His muscles unclenched. He stumbled forward half a step, realizing the invisible grip holding him down was gone. The restriction vanished like it had never been there.

He exhaled hard, dragging air through his lungs as if he’d been underwater. His fists flexed automatically, knuckles tight and ready. His eyes didn’t leave the man.

“You’ve got a point, old man,” Liam said, his voice rough, hostility burning under every syllable. “My father was a genetic engineer. Brilliant, yeah. But there’s no way in hell he could’ve built this thing alone.” His chin jerked toward the towering machine draped in tarp. “Not unless someone else was behind it.”

The man’s lips curled. Not a smile—something sharper. Then, slowly, he straightened his back. The hunch Liam had always seen in him peeled away, vertebra by vertebra, until he was standing tall. Broad shoulders. Neck straight. No longer frail.

Liam’s eyes narrowed.

“The fuck…”

It wasn’t an old man at all. The wrinkles seemed to fade in Liam’s sight, the frailty stripped away. Before him stood a middle-aged man, posture firm, presence heavy. The disguise was gone, peeled like a mask.

“I,” the man said, voice now carrying a stronger resonance, “am the one who built everything your father imagined.”

Liam’s jaw tightened. His thoughts ran too fast, but his tongue moved first. “Even if you’re making sense, why have I never seen you? Why didn’t he ever mention you? You’re telling me you were just hanging in the shadows while he worked?”

The man chuckled. A deep, unsettling sound.

“I spent ten years in seclusion… building that system of yours. Ten years locked away, breathing nothing but steel and wires. Your father needed me hidden, and I preferred it that way. So no, you wouldn’t have seen me.”

Liam’s frown deepened. His stomach twisted. The explanation wasn’t enough.

“Ten years?” he muttered. His eyes cut sideways at the machine, then back at the man. “Even if I buy that—you expect me to believe you built something this complex? Something that shouldn’t even exist?”

“You sound just like him,” the man said with a grin. “Skeptical. Demanding. But yes… that is my ability. I talk to machines. I build the impossible. And even with my gift, even with all my skill, it still took me a decade to create the system sitting in your skull.”

Liam didn’t respond right away. He was staring at him, trying to measure if he was full of shit or dead serious. Machines. Talking to them? Building the impossible? It sounded insane. But then again, Liam had a damn system in his head. Something that changed reality around him, leveled him up, rewrote the rules. That wasn’t exactly “normal” either.

At least part of it felt believable.

Finally, he asked, “When did you build this machine then?”

The man glanced at the tarp-covered structure, eyes gleaming with pride. “After the system. It came later.”

That answer didn’t sit right. Liam blinked, shook his head. “Hold on. You built this after the system?”

“Yes,” the man said smoothly.

“But…” Liam’s confusion sharpened into suspicion. He took a step forward, eyes narrowing. “I thought this machine was the thing that gave you powers. Isn’t that what it does? Gave Dickson lightning, Ann shadows, the others theirs. I thought—”

The words stuck in his throat.

If the machine was built after his system, then how the hell did the man end up with powers?

The question burned holes in his chest. His voice dropped, raw and demanding:

“What the hell are you saying?”

“The machine,” the man said evenly, “didn’t give me or your father powers.”

He let the words hang. His eyes locked on Liam’s. “We had powers long before that.”

Liam froze. For a second his brain just… stopped. Then his mouth caught up.

“My father… had powers too?”

The man gave a slow nod. No smirk this time. No theatrics. Just a steady truth.

Liam blinked hard, shaking his head like he was trying to rattle the thought loose. His father? The same man who raised him, who acted like everything was grounded in science and rules, who locked himself in a lab for days at a time? That man had powers?

The stranger’s gaze softened, almost pitying. “He hid it well. From everyone.”

Liam wanted to push, wanted to demand proof, but the man lifted a hand sharply. “Don’t interrupt. You’ll understand if you let me finish.”

Reluctantly, Liam shut his mouth. His fists curled, though.

The man took a breath, his tone shifting, almost as if he was rewinding years of memories.

“Your father was obsessed with one thing—human limits. He believed humans were holding something back, buried deep in our blood. He believed our ancestors could move mountains. And I don’t mean with cranes or stone tools. He meant literally. Powers. How else do you think the pyramids were built?”

Liam frowned, lips parting. He wanted to argue. Wanted to say “slaves and ramps” like he learned in school. But the man’s voice rolled over him, steady and cold.

“So we searched. We dug. Egypt, ruins, scrolls, anything that looked like a lead. Weeks turned into months, and it was nothing. Nothing but sand, bones, and wasted sweat.” He paused. “Then… when we were about to give up, it happened.”

His eyes darkened at the memory. “A sandstorm. Not like anything you’ve seen. Not dust in the wind. This was alive. Black. Fast. It came at us like a wall and swallowed everything before we could even run. I thought I was dead. Your father did too.”

The man’s jaw tightened. He leaned forward slightly, voice lowering.

“When we woke up, we weren’t in the desert anymore. We were in a tomb. A hidden place under the sands. We thought it was for kings or warriors. But it wasn’t bodies we found.”

Liam tilted his head, chest tight. “What did you find?”

The man smiled faintly, like the question amused him. “Powers.”

“Powers?” Liam muttered, disbelief dripping in his tone.

“Yes. Powers.” The man’s voice sharpened, each word deliberate. “Imagine small clay bottles, dozens of them, lined like offerings on the stone floor. And inside each one? Not dust. Not ashes. Power itself. Sealed. Contained. Waiting.”

Liam’s throat went dry. “You’re telling me… what? You just… drank them?”

The man shook his head. “There were rules. Instructions carved into the walls. No one was to walk out of that tomb carrying more than one. The human inside… had to win. Had to choose. Otherwise, the body would tear itself apart.”

A shiver ran down Liam’s back. He didn’t like the way the man said the human inside.

“How many did you take?”

The man’s lips thinned. “Five.”

“Five?!” Liam snapped. His voice echoed against the lab walls. “The hell were you thinking?”

The man’s eyes glittered. “We weren’t the first, Liam. We knew the risks. We also knew what happened the last time powers like that were released into the world.”

Liam raised an eyebrow. “Last time? What do you mean last time?”

The man finally smiled. A sharp, dangerous smile.

“The last time humans had access to powers like that, they nearly destroyed the earth.”

Liam went still.

“The leaders of that age saw it happening. Cities burning, skies torn apart, seas swallowing land. Humanity ripping itself into pieces. So they gathered—the most powerful of them all. They stripped powers from every man and woman they could reach. Then, with their own abilities, they built the pyramids.”

Liam swallowed hard. “…The pyramids were built by people with powers.”

“Yes,” the man said simply. “Built as cages. They buried the history, the truth, and most importantly… the powers themselves. Locked away where no one could touch them again.”

The words dropped like lead.

Liam rubbed his jaw, pacing a short line, his sneakers scuffing against the floor. “So you and my father… went digging for this? And you just… happened to stumble into one of those tombs?”

“Not stumbled,” the man corrected. “The tomb found us. It pulled us in.”

Liam looked up sharply. “And what’s the difference between that tomb… and whatever’s buried under the pyramid?”

The man’s gaze hardened. His voice lowered, carrying a weight like stone.

“The tomb we found held mortal powers. The kind humans used to wield—shadows, storms, fire, lightning. They were dangerous, yes, but still tied to human limits.”

Liam’s pulse quickened. He wasn’t sure he liked where this was going.

“But the pyramid…” the man continued, “the pyramid doesn’t hold mortal gifts. It holds the powers of the gods themselves. The Aet-khanu-ra. They ruled the world once. With their powers, they built kingdoms in days. They split mountains. They drowned armies with a word.”

The air in the lab seemed heavier now.

“And when their time ended,” the man whispered, “they stripped themselves of their own powers. They buried them under stone, inside the pyramid, along with their bodies. They didn’t trust anyone—not even themselves.”

Liam stared. His skin prickled. His gut knotted.

“…Gods,” he muttered. “You’re telling me gods buried themselves in there.”

The man nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Liam’s.

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