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Location: The Lost Capital of Nereth, Under the Seabed
The sea was calm on the surface, but deep down… there was a sleeping city, enveloped by defense systems, like a giant heart surrounded by iron veins. Nereth, the headquarters of the Blue Eye.
Inside a modified submarine piloted by Luca, the team sat on their seats, tense… each contemplating a way back that might not exist.
Marco (fastening his seatbelt):
"Did you tell us this submarine hadn't been tested before?"
Luca (coldly):
"It hadn't… but I designed it half asleep, which makes it even more brilliant."
Savio (sighing):
"Nice… so we'll die in style."
Franco (staring at the screen):
"Nereth… this city was just a legend, and now it's the key to salvation."
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Inside Niroth – Main Pressure Dome
The gates slowly open, and the team infiltrates the glass city. The lights are blue, the atmosphere is suffocating, and the silence is eerie.
Irina (reading data from her device):
"This place feels alive… everything is being monitored. Even our breathing."
Colombo (in a low voice):
"There's human heat behind the walls… but no one shows up."
Franco:
"It's like the city is watching us… studying us."
Rocco (walking briskly):
"Or waiting for us."
---
Aisle 13 – Projection Room
A huge screen suddenly opens, showing archival footage: experiments, children, tears, and then a young Franco, hooked up to a strange device.
Franco (frozen):
"This… this is impossible."
Luca (astonished):
"Were you… part of this project?"
Blue Eye (over the loudspeaker):
"Franco Batu… Model Zero."
Irina (shocked):
"You're the first person they tried to copy... and it didn't work."
Marco (looking at him):
"So... you're the beginning."
Franco (voice tinged with anger):
"And I won't be the end."
---
Central Control Room
The team finally reaches the heart of the city. A transparent circle, in the center of which stands the Blue Eye's "host body": a man who looks human, but whose eyes are entirely glassy, glowing blue.
Blue Eye (quietly):
"Welcome, Son of Chaos."
Franco:
"Why me?"
Blue Eye:
"Because you were the original... the system was designed from your consciousness. If you're erased... the city dies."
Savio (raising his weapon):
"Then let's finish him now!"
Blue Eye:
"Try it... and everyone here will die, because of the defense system connected to his consciousness."
Marco (whispering):
"It's a trap, but it's the only one available."
Luca (pulling out the Z1 disc):
"What if we reversed the connection? Used the origin of consciousness to copy the virus onto it instead of the other way around?"
Colombo (excited):
"That's genius! It's like you're rewriting the story from the beginning!"
---
Mind Battle
Franco connects to the mainframe, and his mind enters a digital reality, where his consciousness battles against Blue Eye in a strange world of distorted symbols and childlike images.
Blue Eye:
"You're no stronger than me."
Franco (inwardly):
"But I'm more human than you..."
Outside, Columbo shouts:
"We're almost at the reversal point!"
Marco (fighting waves of glass guards):
"We're almost at the grave, too!"
---
The Defining Moment
Inside the digital world, Franco sees his father, then his mother, then images of his friends.
His father's voice (from memory):
"Courage isn't in attacking... it's in holding on."
Franco (with all his might):
"Then hold on... and bear with me!"
Franco hits the original memory symbol on the core... and the city begins to shake.
---
The Collapse
The city slowly shatters. Glass cracks. Systems collapse.
Blue Eye (faintly):
"You... are not the end... but the next beginning..."
The core explodes, and the city begins to collapse.
Luca (screaming):
"To the submarine now!"
Everyone runs through the wreckage, and with heroic cooperation between Marco, Savio, and Columbo, they pull out an unconscious Franco.
---
At Sea - Before Dawn
The submarine is floating above the surface, smoke rising from beneath the waves.
Rocco (raising his head and taking a deep breath):
"Okay... who wants pizza?"
Marco (laughing):
"And on your way, you ask me for a unit... without olives."
Irina (looking at the lying Franco):
"Will he get up?"
Luca (looking at the horizon):
"He's the hero of the story... he doesn't die easily."