Chapter 24 · The Throne Burns

The crown tightened around Eli’s skull.

Not metal. Not exactly.

It was a ring of black plates and scarlet veins, pressed against his temples while needles of light crawled beneath his skin. Every pulse dragged another memory out of him. Faces. Streets. The white roar of the old city burning beneath the command of his own voice.

FINAL CONTAINER CONFIRMED.

The Black Tower spoke through every speaker at once. Its voice had lost the smooth authority of a machine and become something fractured, almost afraid.

ELIAS VALE—NO. ELIAS VELL. SEVENTH LEGION HIGH COMMANDER. ASH ZERO PRIME. WAR PROTOCOL RESTORATION—

“Shut up,” Eli rasped.

His knees buckled.

Sera caught him before he struck the core platform. Blood had soaked through the bandage at her side, darkening the silver fabric of her coat. One hand clamped over the wound. The other locked around his wrist, fingers cold and unshaking.

The core behind them spun like a dying sun. Scarlet light poured through the chamber, turning the air thick and hot. Far below, something enormous groaned inside the tower’s foundations.

“Eli.” Sera’s voice cut through the static. “Look at me.”

He did.

Her face was pale beneath the emergency lights.