It wasn’t a building; it was a geography. Coordinates pointed to a massive, naturally occurring sinkhole in the Siberian wastes. Satellite imagery showed a perfect circle of polished obsidian.
The final link was a simple text document. Elara scrolled through names of world leaders, deceased astronauts, and vanished philosophers. At the very bottom, a new entry was being typed in real-time, the cursor blinking rhythmically. Elara Vance. Search results for Arena (14)
Elara clicked. A grainy video played. A scientist, eyes bloodshot, whispered to the camera: "The Arena isn't where we fight them. The Arena is the barrier. If the fourteenth gate falls, the broadcast ends." It wasn’t a building; it was a geography