The Echoes of Andara

Inside the ruins, the team discovers murals, symbols, and devices that resemble human neural tech—decades more advanced than what Earth ever developed.  The signal pulses louder the deeper they go.
The darkened hallways of the ancient ruin stretched out before them like a forgotten artery, the air thick with dust and centuries of neglect. The walls—smooth and black, almost like obsidian—bore faded murals of strange, elongated beings, their hands raised in some kind of ceremonial gesture, surrounded by symbols that were unreadable, yet unnervingly familiar.
Elara studied them carefully. They looked like the designs of neural circuitry, but more intricate, more advanced than anything humanity had ever conceived. There were patterns in the walls—ripples of light that flickered as if the stone itself was alive.
“I don’t get it,” said Kael, running a scanner over a portion of the wall. “These structures are… centuries beyond human technology.  But it wasn’t just the technology that unnerved Elara—it was the strange sensation creeping over her skin. The signal. It was louder now, humming through her veins like static on the edge of her thoughts. Solen motioned for the team to move forward, his voice low and steady. “Stay sharp. The deeper we go, the more this place feels like it’s… watching.”
They reached a large chamber—a vast, circular room at the center of the complex. In its center stood a pillar of black glass, its surface reflecting the flickering light from their lamps. The signal pulsed here, a deep, resonant hum that vibrated in their bones.
“I’m getting something,” Kael said, his voice sharp. He knelt near the base of the pillar, running his fingers across the surface. The hum grew louder.
And then, something caught Elara’s eye—movement, just behind the pillar’s surface. At first, she thought it was a trick of the light. But then the image sharpened: her sister, Lira, her face pale and gaunt, her eyes wide with something that could only be described as panic.
Elara’s breath caught in her throat. “Lira?”
But the image flickered and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
“Did you see that?” Elara whispered, her voice shaking.
Solen stepped forward. “See what?”
Before Elara could answer, Kael stumbled backward, his hand to his head. “Something’s… in the walls.” He groaned, shaking. “Whispers. I can hear them—voices.”
The rest of the crew turned, startled, their weapons instinctively raised. But all that answered them was the pulse of the signal—stronger now, its rhythmic pattern resonating in the air.
Elara’s heart was hammering. She turned back to the black glass pillar, her mind racing. There was something in this place—something beyond the signal, beyond the tech, something waiting to be discovered.
And whatever it was… it had known her sister