Chapter 20 · King of the Black Tower

The whisper beneath the tower became a voice.

WAKE.

The word moved through the archive floor without passing through the air. Dust lifted from the black tiles. The glass cases trembled. Somewhere beneath Eli’s boots, something enormous dragged a metal limb across stone, and the sound climbed through the tower’s bones like a knife being sharpened.

Sera’s fingers tightened around his hand.

Eli barely felt it. His palm was numb. His chest was not. Beneath his ribs, the ember burned scarlet and hungry, reacting to the voice below with a pulse that shook his teeth.

Ash Zero flickered across the dead archive screens. Its silver face broke apart into lines of corrupted text.

“Forbidden protocol detected,” it said. “Seventh Legion command lattice responding. Previous driver identity confirmed.”

Eli stared at the words.

Previous driver.

Not courier. Not debtor. Not the man who had spent the last two years running packages through rain-slick streets and pretending the holes in his memory were ordinary.

Commander.

The memory projection still hung in the air behind him. A burning city. Columns of armored soldiers kneeling in ash.