Chapter 8 · Bad Reset

Nora wakes up on cold stone.

Same stone. Same smell of burnt metal and old blood. Same flickering rune-light crawling up the walls like something alive.

She doesn't move. Doesn't open her eyes all the way. Just lies there and counts her heartbeat until the panic stops clawing at her throat.

Eleven lives left.

She died. Again. Kael shoved her out of that vault and the whole thing came down on top of him, and she ran back in like an idiot, and someone put a blade through her chest.

She remembers the cold. The way her legs went out. The way the mark on her wrist burned so hot she thought it would take her whole arm off.

Then this.

She sits up slow. Her chest doesn't hurt. No blood, no tear in her jacket. The reset puts her back together every time, like she's some kind of broken toy that snaps back into shape.

She hates it.

The arrival chamber is empty. No guards this time. Just her and the runes and the low hum of magic that makes her teeth ache.

She checks her wrist. The mark is still there, black and sharp, but the number's changed.