Chapter 88: The First Day of Three

The first bell rang while we were still leaving the settlement.

Its sound rolled across the hills and shook the rain from the silver trees. Every person in House Veyr stopped when they heard it. Some looked toward the Tower. Others looked at me.

The black wound in the sky widened above the distant clouds.

Three days.

The Tower had made the deadline visible to everyone.

Marcus walked at the center of our group with his hands bound behind his back. Mira had tied the restraints herself. The silver cord wrapped around his wrists and tightened whenever he tried to use his power.

He did not seem worried.

That bothered me.

Jax walked behind him, holding a short knife against the back of his coat.

"You are walking too calmly," Jax said.

Marcus glanced over his shoulder.

"I am walking at a normal pace."

"You are a prisoner."

"I am aware."

"You should look more frightened."

"Should I scream?"

Jax considered that.

"Perhaps quietly."

Marcus continued walking.

Jax looked at me.

"I do not like him."

"That has been obvious since he entered the building."

"I am trying to make him uncomfortable."

"You are holding a knife against his back."

"Yes."

"He is the one who should be uncomfortable."

Jax frowned.

"Then why does it feel like I am losing this conversation?"

Kael walked on Jax’s other side.

"Because you are."

"I am surrounded by cruel people."

Sarah looked back at him.

"You volunteered to come."

"I was emotionally pressured."

"You complained until we allowed you to come."

"That is a form of pressure."

Dorian walked several steps ahead of us with Neri. His movements were slower than usual, but he refused help. The white crack across his black mask had widened since the battle. Every time the light from the Tower flashed across it, I saw a pale line beneath the surface.

Neri noticed me watching.

"He will not let anyone carry him," he said.

Dorian did not turn around.

"I can hear you."

"That was intentional."

"You could have said it to my face."

"I am standing beside you."

"You are behind me."

"Your face is also behind you."

Dorian stopped walking.

Neri nearly walked into him.

Dorian looked back at him.

"Do not become like Jax."

Neri’s expression remained serious.

"Then stop making it easy."

Dorian resumed walking.

For a while, the only sound was the rain striking armor and stone.

The road from House Veyr led north through a valley covered in silver trees. The trees were not natural. Their trunks were pale and smooth, and their branches formed a roof over the road. Beneath them, the air was cold enough to sting the skin.

The settlement disappeared behind us.

Mira had stayed behind to organize the wounded and protect the remaining houses. She had wanted to come with us, but she had understood the danger of leaving the settlement without its strongest defender.

She had not said goodbye.

Not properly.

She had only stood at the edge of the road and looked at me.

At Kai.

At both of us.

"Come back before the third bell," she had said.

Kai had answered through my mouth.

"I will try."

Mira had looked at me then.

"Do not try. Come back."

I had not been able to promise.

Now her words followed me through the rain.

Inside my mind, Kai was quiet.

"You miss her," I said.

"So do you."

"She is your sister."

"She is the person who remembers me."

"That is not the same thing?"

"It is more important than being related."

I looked toward the road ahead.

"Do you think she believes I will leave?"

"Yes."

"Does she believe I will return?"

Kai was silent.

The silence answered for him.

Sarah walked beside me.

"You are doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Talking without moving your mouth."

I glanced at her.

"Kai is speaking."

"I know."

"You can tell?"

"You look less irritating when it happens."

Inside my mind, Kai said, "I like her more."

I almost smiled.

Sarah noticed.

"What did he say?"

"He said you are less irritating than I am."

Her eyebrows lifted.

"He has excellent judgment."

"I am starting to regret telling you."

"Good."

Kael looked back at us.

"Where are we going?"

Marcus answered before I could.

"The North Relay."

Mira had told us the same thing before we left. The North Relay was an old Tower station hidden beneath the valley. According to Marcus, it connected the surface to the upper levels and contained the key needed to reach the first control floor.

The problem was that the relay had been sealed for years.

The second problem was that Marcus was the only person who knew how to open it.

The third problem was that he was clearly enjoying being necessary.

Jax stepped closer to him.

"Can you open the relay?"

"Yes."

"Will you open the relay?"

"No."

Jax looked at me.

"He seems confused about his role as a prisoner."

Marcus glanced at him.

"I am not confused."

"Then why are you refusing?"

"Because you will not reach the relay without me."

Jax raised his knife slightly.

"We can make you cooperate."

Marcus turned his head.

"Can you?"

Jax hesitated.

Marcus smiled faintly.

"Threats are useful only when the person making them has an advantage."

Jax lowered the knife.

"What if I threaten you badly?"

"Then the threat remains bad."

Kael placed a hand on Jax’s shoulder and moved him away.

"Stop trying to win against someone who has no interest in winning."

"That is a terrible attitude."

"It is a survival attitude."

"Everyone keeps using survival to justify being unpleasant."

Dorian spoke from ahead.

"Because it works."

Jax pointed at him.

"You are also unpleasant."

"I know."

The road ended at a stone bridge.

Below it, there was no river. Only darkness.

The valley continued beneath the bridge, descending into a wide underground ravine. Silver roots covered the walls, and tiny white lights moved inside them like trapped insects.

Marcus stopped at the edge.

"The relay is below."

Sarah looked over the side.

"How deep?"

"Deep enough."

"That is not a measurement."

"It is a warning."

Mira had provided ropes, but they were not long enough to reach the bottom. Kael studied the ravine and found several stone platforms along the wall.

"We descend in stages," he said.

Jax looked at the darkness below.

"Does the relay have stairs?"

"No."

"Elevator?"

"No."

"An unusually friendly monster that carries travelers?"

Kael looked at him.

"No."

Jax sighed.

"I miss the Tower."

Sarah tied the first rope around a stone pillar.

"You have been complaining about the Tower for weeks."

"I was wrong to take it for granted."

We began descending.

Sarah went first. Kael followed. Jax came after him, muttering each time the rope shifted. Neri went next. Dorian insisted on descending alone, though he nearly slipped twice.

I stayed beside Marcus.

He looked at the rope around his wrists.

"Do you need help?" I asked.

"I am capable of climbing."

"Your hands are tied."

"That is an inconvenience, not an incapacity."

"You always speak like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like every conversation is a report."

Marcus looked down into the ravine.

"Most conversations are less important than people think."

Kai stirred inside my mind.

"He is lonely."

I almost missed my grip.

Marcus looked at me.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You looked surprised."

"I was thinking."

"That is dangerous."

"For me or you?"

"For everyone nearby."

We reached the first platform.

It was barely wide enough for three people. Sarah and Kael were already moving toward the next rope. Jax stood at the edge, looking down.

"Do not look down," Kael told him.

"I am not looking down."

"You are staring into the ravine."

"I am looking at the darkness."

"That is the same thing."

"I am trying to understand whether the darkness is moving."

"It is."

Jax turned slowly.

"What?"

Kael pointed downward.

Far below, pale shapes moved through the ravine.

The lights inside the silver roots had gathered into clusters. Each cluster contained a small figure with long limbs and a white face.

Sarah drew her sword.

"Keep descending."

Jax looked horrified.

"That is your plan?"

"If we stay here, they will reach us."

"And if we descend?"

"They will follow."

"Those are both terrible options."

"Choose one."

Jax grabbed the rope.

"I choose the option where everyone stops asking me questions."

The creatures began climbing.

They moved along the silver roots, their bodies bending around the branches. They were smaller than the Hunters from the Red Court, but faster.

The first one reached the platform as Dorian descended to the next level.

Neri struck it with his hook.

The creature twisted around the weapon and crawled up his arm.

Neri slammed it against the wall.

It made a sound like a child coughing.

Dorian turned.

"Do not let it bite you."

"I was not planning to."

The creature opened its mouth.

Inside were rows of small silver keys.

Neri’s eyes narrowed.

"That is not a mouth."

Dorian looked at it.

"Nothing beneath the Tower is what it appears to be."

"Your advice is becoming repetitive."

"It remains accurate."

Another creature reached the platform.

I stepped forward.

Kai spoke inside my mind.

"Ask."

I understood.

"Can I use your hands?"

"Which ones?"

"All of them."

"That is not how hands work."

"You know what I mean."

Kai hesitated.

"Do not steal their role."

"Then what do I do?"

"Give them a different place to stand."

The creature lunged.

I stepped toward it and caught its wrist. It was too light. Its bones bent under my grip, but the creature did not react.

I turned and threw it toward the ravine wall.

Instead of falling, it attached itself to the silver roots.

It began climbing back.

"More of them are coming," Sarah shouted from below.

Dorian looked at the creatures.

"They are not attacking."

"What are they doing?" I asked.

"Following the relay’s command."

"Which is?"

"Prevent unauthorized access."

The creature reached the next platform and placed one hand against the stone.

A white symbol appeared.

The platform began to shrink.

Jax shouted from below.

"Why is the ground disappearing?"

Kael looked up.

"Because the relay is removing the route."

Jax stared at him.

"That is a sentence I would prefer never to hear again."

The platform contracted beneath our feet.

We moved toward the rope.

Marcus remained still.

I grabbed his arm.

"Move."

"I cannot."

"Why?"

He looked at the silver restraint around his wrists.

"The creature has recognized my authority."

The white symbol on the platform spread toward him.

His feet were locked to the stone.

I pulled harder.

Nothing happened.

Marcus watched me.

"You need to remove the command."

"You could have mentioned that."

"You did not ask."

Jax shouted from below.

"Someone ask him better questions!"

I placed my hand against the stone.

Architect Authority responded weakly. The command was older than anything I had touched in the Tower. It was not written like a normal role. It was embedded into the bridge itself.

Prevent access.

Protect the relay.

Obey authorized keeper.

Marcus’s name appeared at the center of the command.

I looked at him.

"You are the authorized keeper."

"I was."

"What changed?"

"The Company removed my authority when I failed to retrieve you."

"Then how did the relay recognize you?"

Marcus looked toward the black wound in the sky above us.

"Because the Tower has not accepted the Company’s decision."

Kai spoke inside my mind.

"Use that."

"How?"

"Ask the relay who owns the authority."

I placed both hands on the stone.

The command resisted me.

A creature climbed onto the platform and lunged toward my back.

Sarah reached me first. Her sword cut through its shoulder and sent it tumbling into the darkness.

"Do not take too long," she said.

"I am negotiating."

"With the floor?"

"Apparently."

Sarah looked at Marcus.

"I hope the floor wins."

Marcus answered calmly, "The floor cannot win."

"That is exactly the kind of thing a floor would say."

I pushed Architect Authority into the stone.

Not as a command.

As a question.

Who owns the authority to open the relay?

The platform shook.

Marcus’s name burned white.

Then another name appeared beneath it.

Arthur.

The name was followed by a second mark.

Kai.

Two names.

One authority.

The relay did not know which of us to obey.

Kai spoke.

"Do not choose for it."

"I have no time."

"Then make it choose both."

I placed my left hand over the white mark.

Kai moved through the arm with me.

My right hand pressed against Marcus’s restraint.

The command resisted.

I spoke aloud.

"The authority belongs to the one who can carry the story without owning the person."

The words echoed through the ravine.

The white symbol cracked.

Marcus’s restraints fell apart.

The platform stopped shrinking.

Every creature below froze.

The relay had heard us.

A message appeared in the air.

Authority dispute detected.

Dual claim accepted temporarily.

North Relay access granted.

Jax looked up from the next platform.

"Did you just ask the floor politely?"

"Yes."

"Can I try that with my ankle?"

"No."

"Worth asking."

Marcus rubbed his wrists.

"You used the original rule."

"What original rule?"

"The one the Company deleted from every official record."

Dorian looked toward him.

"What rule?"

Marcus turned toward the dark below.

"That no story can belong to one person if two people paid its price."

The creatures began moving again.

The relay opened a path beneath the platform.

A staircase formed along the ravine wall, descending into silver light.

Sarah looked at me.

"Can we trust it?"

"No."

"Good. I would have been concerned."

We descended again.

This time, the creatures did not attack.

They followed silently through the roots.

The North Relay waited below us.

As we reached the final platform, the Tower’s second bell rang.

One day had not yet passed.

But the first bell had begun the countdown.

Three days remained.

The relay doors opened.

Beyond them stood a vast chamber filled with broken mechanisms, suspended bridges, and thousands of white threads leading upward into the Tower.

At the center stood a circular platform.

A single seat waited there.

Marcus stopped at the entrance.

"That is where the Company designed the first ascent."

Dorian looked at the seat.

"And that is where they tested the roles."

Marcus nodded.

"Every person who entered the Tower passed through this chamber."

Sarah looked at me.

"Why did you bring us here?"

I looked at the seat.

The black wound in the sky appeared above it, even though there was no sky inside the chamber.

Kai spoke inside my mind.

"Arthur."

"Yes?"

"I remember this place."

My hand tightened around the blade.

"What do you remember?"

"The first time they took me."

A white thread descended from the ceiling and connected to the center of my chest.

Another thread connected to Kai.

A third connected to Marcus.

The relay awakened.

New objective assigned.

Recover the first ascent record.

Identify the original betrayal.

Failure: The Tower will begin forced separation before the second bell.

Jax stared at the message.

"How long until the second bell?"

Kael looked at the silver lights moving through the chamber.

"Not long."

Marcus stepped toward the central platform.

"The record is inside the seat."

Dorian raised his blade.

"And what is the betrayal?"

Marcus looked at me.

"The first person who left the Tower was not a hero."

The chamber darkened.

The suspended threads began to pull.

Kai’s voice became faint.

"They did not save the world."

I looked at the central seat.

"What did they do?"

Kai answered.

"They chose who would be sacrificed."

The second bell began to ring.