Chapter 23 · The Tower's Heart

The platform locked around Sera’s wrists with a sound like a jaw snapping shut.

“Eli.”

Her voice cut through the chamber’s alarms. Not loud. Not panicked. Somehow that made it worse.

Eli twisted against the black cables cinched around his arms. The metal bit through his jacket and pressed cold against his skin, but the pain barely registered. Under his ribs, the ember pulsed once—scarlet light bleeding through the seams of his shirt.

The Tower noticed.

Every wall in the core chamber lit at once. Ancient symbols crawled across the black glass, assembling themselves into tactical diagrams: city districts, troop routes, casualty projections. Far below, something massive groaned awake. The sound traveled through the floor and climbed into Eli’s bones.

“Biological command signal confirmed,” said the Tower.

The voice was neither male nor female. It had the flat patience of a machine that had waited centuries for one particular heartbeat.

“Command authority: absolute.”

Eli’s stomach dropped. “No.”

“Warframe Crown authorization: unlocked.”

A ring of pale fire appeared above the central dais. It spun slowly, each segment made from interlocking plates of armor and bone-white circuitry.