Chapter 16 · The Commander's Last Directive

The first cannon reached full charge.

Ashlight poured across Seventh City, turning every window into a square of dying sunlight. The deck lurched beneath Kellan’s boots. Somewhere below, a support beam screamed, metal twisting under the pressure of the Cinder lattice.

“Three minutes,” Marra Pell said over the council channel. Her voice was tight, breathless. “The eastern evacuation tunnels are still carrying people. Children, mostly. If the grid collapses, the lower shaft doors seal automatically.”

A second voice cut in, cold and amplified. “Kellan Vey. Former commander of the Gray Ring. Former architect of the Cinder test. You have two minutes and fifty seconds to surrender.”

The voice came from every speaker in the command chamber. It vibrated through the floor, through the glass, through the bones in Kellan’s spine.

“Refuse,” the broadcast continued, “and the six cities will be reduced to corrective ash.”

On the central display, six circles burned red across the planet’s night side. Each circle represented a city.