Chapter 12 · The Second Ignition

The war core spoke in Eli’s voice.

RESTORATION PROTOCOL CONFIRMED.

The words crawled across the black glass of the chamber, each letter bleeding red light into the air. Beneath them, the old recording kept playing. A younger Eli stood in a field of burning towers, face clean-shaven, eyes empty of fear.

Authorize the Ashfall sequence, he said.

The recording stopped.

For half a second, the underground chamber held its breath.

Then every machine in the tower woke up.

Steel screamed inside the walls. Dust fell from the ceiling in gray curtains. Somewhere above them, gears the size of buildings began to turn, and the floor bucked hard enough to throw Marlow against a console.

Sera caught herself on one knee. Her injured shoulder struck the stone, and a thin gasp escaped between her teeth. Blood had soaked through the improvised bandage beneath her coat, darkening the fabric all the way to her ribs.

Eli saw it. He also saw the gun in her good hand, still raised, still pointed toward him.

Not at the core.

At him.

“Don’t,” he said.

His voice came out rough.