Chapter 23 · Under the Forge

The forge core is screaming.

Kade can hear it through the stone, through the air, through his bones. It's not a sound. It's pressure. Like something massive is trying to claw its way out of the earth and the only thing stopping it is him standing here like an idiot with a broken rune knife and a death wish.

Mira shoves him forward. "Move."

"I am moving."

"Faster."

The corridor under the old forge is narrow, wet, and smells like burnt copper. The walls are carved with suppression runes so old the lines have started to blur. Kade can feel them trying to hold something down. Failing.

His chest hurts. The black rune core inside him is pulling toward the noise like a dog on a chain.

"How much time?" Mira asks.

Juno's voice crackles through the stolen comm clipped to Mira's collar. "Four minutes. Maybe three. The ward engineers just broke the first seal. Once they hit the second, the whole forge blows and takes six blocks with it."

"Can they stop it?"

"Not without the original shutdown sequence. Which nobody has.