Chapter 30 · The Second Spark

The tower opened beneath them like a wound.

Sera limped through the service corridor with one hand pressed against her side. Blood had soaked through the black fabric beneath her armor, dark and glossy in the emergency lights. Every few steps, her shoulder brushed the wall. She never stopped moving.

Eli followed close enough to catch her if she fell and far enough away that she could pretend she did not need him.

Above them, the city groaned.

The tower’s upper systems were still broadcasting fragments of Oren Vale’s broken command network. Through the concrete, Eli could feel the distant machinery shuddering under Ash Crown’s authority. Missile batteries had gone silent. Defense platforms had lowered their weapons. Somewhere beyond the walls, Captain Voss was turning Vale security units against their own command chain.

But the heartbeat beneath the tower had not stopped.

Thump.

A pause.

Thump.

It traveled through the soles of Eli’s boots and climbed his bones.

Sera glanced back. “You hear it?”

“I feel it.”

“That isn’t better.”

“No. It isn’t.”

The corridor ended at a circular blast door half buried behind fallen machinery.