Page 49 of Dark Shaman: Love Found (The Children Of The Gods #99)
NAVUH
N avuh watched the monitors with the patience of a spider waiting for flies to enter its web. The enhanced soldiers had found the tunnel entrance exactly as he'd anticipated.
It was cleverly hidden under one of the contemporary statues in the backyard.
Pressing a lever, which only those who knew about it could find, made the statue rotate and reveal a spiral staircase leading down.
There was another door inside that led to the tunnel, and one needed to know the code to open it.
As Navuh had expected, the compeller knew the code and looked smug as he entered it.
Once all of the rats were inside the tunnel, Navuh relocked the door behind them and changed the code.
The statue rotated back into place.
They thought they were so clever, these evolved warriors who believed themselves superior to him .
"They're in the tunnel," Hakum said as if the rest of the males in the room weren't aware of that fact.
On the screen, eight figures moved through the narrow passage in single file, with the compeller leading them with arrogant confidence. Behind him, the others followed with the swagger of predators who thought they had cornered their prey.
"What now?" Vakon asked.
"Wait for it." Navuh's fingers hovered over the control panel.
The tunnel had been built with the same specifications as the bunker.
It was reinforced with steel and concrete to withstand external attack, but like everything in Navuh's domain, it had hidden features—explosive charges built into the support structure, installed during construction and known only to him and Losham.
The crew who had built it was no longer around.
He'd always believed in having multiple contingencies and compartmentalizing information, and Losham had helped him design many of the security features. His adopted son wasn't on the island right now, for which Navuh was thankful. One less person to worry about.
He didn't care about many people, but Losham was one of the few he actually appreciated.
"They're halfway through," Tharon said.
The enhanced soldiers moved cautiously, checking for obvious traps, for guards, for ambush points. But they hadn't considered that the tunnel itself was the trap .
"My lord?" Hakum asked.
"Patience," Navuh murmured, watching the lead figure, the compeller, reach the three-quarter mark. Almost to the bunker entrance. Almost where he wanted them.
The compeller paused, his head tilting as if listening to something.
For a moment, Navuh wondered if somehow the enhanced soldier had sensed the explosives, or maybe he had realized that it had been too easy to get in.
But then he continued forward, smiling maniacally at the sight of the heavy door that separated the bunker from the tunnel.
"Surprise." Navuh activated the detonation sequence.
The explosion wasn't the massive, building-shaking blast his generals might have expected.
Instead, it was a series of precise, controlled detonations—shaped charges that cut through support beams and load-bearing walls with engineered precision.
On the monitors, the tunnel began to fold in on itself like a house of cards in slow motion.
The compeller had a split second to realize what was happening. Navuh saw his eyes widen, saw his mouth open in what might have been a shout of warning. Then tons of concrete and steel came crashing down.
The ceiling collapsed in massive chunks, the walls buckled inward, and the floor itself seemed to rise to meet the falling debris.
One enhanced soldier managed to dive forward, almost reaching the bunker door, before a support beam the size of a tree trunk crushed him against the floor.
Another tried to hold up a section of the ceiling through sheer strength, his enhanced muscles straining, but then the weight overwhelmed even his augmented capabilities.
A massive slab of reinforced concrete caught the compeller across the shoulders, driving him to his knees.
He tried to rise, fighting with that impossible strength that he'd been gifted with and misused, refusing to accept defeat.
Then the rest of the tunnel came down, burying him under tons of rubble.
The monitors showing feed from the tunnel went dark.
"It's done," Navuh said, satisfaction coloring his voice.
He turned to his generals, who were staring at him with various expressions of awe.
"Summon the engineering team, Hakum. I want the doors on both sides of the tunnel to be permanently sealed.
And by sealing, I mean with concrete and steel.
I want that tomb to become their permanent resting place. "
Hakum hesitated. "My lord, they're immortal. They might survive."
"Oh, they will," Navuh said, his smile cold.
"For a while. They'll heal from their injuries, their broken bones fusing in wrong angles because they can't move.
They'll wake up in darkness, buried under tons of rubble, unable to move or escape.
Eventually, they'll run out of air and enter stasis.
" He paused, savoring the thought. "Entombment.
The gods considered it the most severe punishment because they didn't believe in the death penalty.
" It had been what they had planned for his father before he had turned the tables on them.
"That's the most suitable punishment for these traitors.
They will be forever buried right next to my command center. "
"What about the entrance to the bunker?" Hakum asked.
Navuh waved a dismissive hand. "We'll build a new tunnel. In the meantime, we can use my private staircase."
He walked over to the communication panel, activating the island-wide broadcast system. His voice would reach every corner of his domain, every soldier still fighting, and every rebel still harboring dreams of victory.
"Attention all forces," he said, his voice carrying the weight of absolute authority. "The leader of the rebellion is dead."
He pressed another control, and the final moments of the tunnel collapse began broadcasting on every screen across the island.
The footage showed the enhanced soldiers realizing that they were trapped, their futile attempts to escape, and the compeller's last moments before the concrete crushed him.
"The enhanced ones who led this rebellion are buried and will remain so for eternity," Navuh continued. "Instead of using their evolution to achieve greatness in the name of Mortdh, their arrogance has led them to a tomb."
He paused, letting that sink in, imagining the rebels across the island watching their champions fall, their hope crumbling like the tunnel that had entombed their leaders.
"To those still fighting, I offer a choice. Surrender now, lay down your weapons, and you will be imprisoned rather than executed. This offer expires in fifteen minutes. After that, no quarter will be given."
It was unprecedented. Navuh had never offered mercy to traitors before, had always preferred to eliminate troublemakers, but he needed test subjects for whoever would replace Zhao.
He wanted to understand what had gone wrong with the enhancement process, and how to control the subjects without compromising their physical advantages.
The regular soldiers who had been compelled to join the rebellion were not responsible for their actions. He would punish them, then return them to service. After all, they had been victims of mind manipulation rather than traitors. Besides, he didn't want to lose so many fighters.
He turned back to his generals, who were receiving reports from across the island.
"Eastern sector reporting: enhanced soldiers retreating," Vakon read from his tablet.
"Northern checkpoint: rebels laying down weapons," Tharon added.
"Western barracks: enhanced soldiers attempting to flee toward the docks," another reported.
"They won't get far," Navuh said. "Have our forces surround them. No one escapes, enhanced or not. The regular soldiers who surrender are to be detained separately."
The tide had turned in minutes. Without their compeller and leadership, the rebellion was collapsing. The enhanced soldiers who remained were dangerous but directionless. Some would fight to the death, while others would try to escape, but none would succeed.