The river was the only thing I recognized, winding like silver through the valley. But instead of cliffs and glaciers, it flowed between towers of glass and curved stone. Parks. Monorails. People.
People who looked like us.
“Leanders,” Darryck murmured.
“Zutens,” Claudia corrected gently. “But yes… biologically, you’d be indistinguishable. This was the city that now lies beneath the mountains. From end to end. Stretching across the entire Pyme range. Centuries old, at least. Maybe more.”
Myccael leaned forward, brows knit. “This… this washere?Before the migrations? Before Oceanus?”
Claudia hesitated. “I’m not an archeologist. All I can say is that the servers were local. The city stood here once. Whether the Zutens originated here or came later… we don’t know.”
“And we don’t need to,” I said grimly.
She tapped again. The image changed, showing sleek buildings now, walls that seemed to hum with power. Some sort of energy grid glowed along their bases.
“They were advanced,” Claudia said. “Far beyond pre-spaceflight Earth. Especially when it came to weapons systems, biology, and gene manipulation.”
Another swipe. Weapons filled the screen, some handheld, some mounted. Some so large they had to be stationary. They were sleek, filled with what I now recognized as Zuten writing and symbols. Their beauty stood in stark contrast to their lethality.
Myccael’s jaw tightened. “And what were they preparing for?”
Claudia gave a small, brittle smile. “That’s the unfortunate part.”
She brought up another sequence. Images—hazy, slightly degraded—showed creatures. Twisted and massive. Their eyes gleamed with unnatural light. Their limbs were heavy with muscle and bone, jaws edged with jagged teeth, glistening with saliva.
“Eulachs,” she said. “Genetically engineered by the Zutens to serve them.”
My stomach turned. I recognized the hunched gait. The mouth full of razors.
“They tried to domesticate them,” she continued gravely. “But they failed. Miserably. The Eulachs were barely more intelligent than predatory beasts, but what little they had was enough to make them more dangerous in their hunger. Their aggression soon overruled empathy—assuming they ever had any to begin with. And worse… they multiplied. Rapidly and uncontrollably. Like rats, eh, I mean kevvats.”
Darryck raised a brow. “Kevvats?”
“A rodent from the southern belt,” I said. “They breed every four days, chew through anything softer than stone, and bite off their own tails when cornered.”
“Exactly that,” Claudia said dryly. “Eulachs became an infestation. They killed people just for sport, destroyed infrastructures, and were a menace that put everyone in danger.”
Darryck snorted, "Sounds like the Eulachs we know."
“So what did the Zutens do?” Myccael asked.
“They made something worse,” Claudia said, and the next image chilled the room.
The image was of one of the Super Eulachs we had encountered. It looked very much like an Eulach, but was taller and looked even meaner. What was more disturbing, though, was the intelligence that hovered behind the menacing eyes.
“These were theMol’zulak.Super Eulachs,” she said. “Created to hunt and kill their weaker cousins. Bio-engineered with enhanced strength, speed, and a rudimentary strategic mind.”
“They look organized,” I said, watching the footage. “Coordinated.”
“They were,” Claudia confirmed. “Thankfully, the engineers made them all male, so no natural reproduction. Any attempt to breed with Eulach seffies resulted in non-viable offspring.”
Darryck snorted. “Small mercy.”
“They couldn’t breed,” she continued, “but they could lead. And they did. Instead of exterminating their intended targets, they took command of the Eulach swarms. Stole weapons. Coordinated assaults. Cities fell. The Pyme valley became a war zone.”
Images flickered again. Scenes of towers burning, civilians fleeing across bridges, bodies in the streets. Bombed out high rises. People fleeing on foot, by boats, by the dozens, hundreds. They poured onto the river, driven by their need to survive. Their faces were filled with terror. The pictures told stories I knew all too well and had never wanted to see again. I saw us in them. Saw our history.
“These are the ancestors,” Myccael said quietly. “These… are the ones who became the Leanders.”