Novels by Rie

"Kaelen?" Bayu’s blade faltered, the tip drooping just an inch. The man standing before them wasn't the mentor who had taught them the secrets of the blade; he was a shell of bone and shadow, his eyes reflecting the flickering, dying violet light of the tether-conduit he held like a holy relic."Don't call me that," Kaelen snapped, his voice rasping like a file against iron. Behind him, Alaric stepped into the dim glow, his face bruised and his breathing ragged. Draven followed, clutching his side where a dark, viscous stain bloomed across his tunic."Bayu, move," Alaric whispered, his eyes wide and pleading. "He’s not here to kill us. He’s here to reset the drain. If he doesn't, this entire sector collapses, and we go with it.""He’s a pawn of the Sultan," Galang spat, his voice cracking as another violet spasm jolted his frame. The light beneath his skin flared, throwing long, jagged shadows against the wet walls. "He’s part of the machine. Look at him, Alaric! He’s soaked in the sa

"Alaric? Draven?" Bayu hissed, his voice slicing through the humid, suffocating dark of the junction.He didn't wait for a response. He didn't have the luxury of patience. He stepped out from behind the rusting, barnacle-encrusted pylon, his short blade raised in a defensive arc. Beside him, Galang stumbled, his body jerking with a sudden, violet spasm that sent a ripple of light shuddering up his throat. The tether-sickness was taking hold, turning his veins into jagged maps of glowing, unstable energy.Out of the gloom, two silhouettes emerged. They weren't soldiers. They didn't move with the stiff, synchronized precision of the Sultan’s hollow-guards. The larger figure carried a heavy, reinforced crate, while the other—taller, thinner—held a long, humming rod that seemed to bleed light into the stale air."Drop the weapon, Bayu," a voice commanded. It was sharp, authoritative, and impossibly familiar. "Or we’re all going to be vaporized when the next resonance cycle hits."Bayu’s e

"I didn't say you were a liability," Bayu whispered, his voice like the grinding of dry shale. "I said stay low. There's a difference between being a burden and being a target, and right now, we’re the only thing the Sultan’s dogs are looking for."Galang pulled his cloak tighter, the fabric soaked through with the city’s foul, metallic-smelling condensation. "Targets? We’re more like loose threads in a tapestry they’re desperate to burn. You think Alaric and Draven even made it to the junction? Or are we just walking into a trap set for ghosts?""Alaric doesn't walk into traps," Bayu said, though his grip on his blade tightened until his knuckles turned white. "He builds them. Now, shut your mouth. The sound is moving closer."The scraping noise—that rhythmic, wet drag—intensified. It echoed through the vaulted expanse of the sub-drain, vibrating up through the soles of their boots. Ahead, the corridor split, the dark, oil-slicked water swirling around a central junction pylon that p

"That’s not machinery," Galang repeated, his voice barely a tremor in the suffocating dampness of the tunnel.Bayu pressed his ear harder against the vibrating steel, his jaw tight enough to ache. It was faint—a rhythmic, wet scraping sound, muffled by feet of reinforced piping and the relentless hum of the city’s stolen energy. It wasn't the mechanical groan of a turbine or the hiss of venting steam. It was the sound of something shifting its weight, something heavy and desperate."Movement in the sub-drain," Bayu whispered, pulling his hand back as if burned. He unsheathed his short blade, the metal dull and pitted from the caustic atmosphere. "Stay low. If that’s a maintenance patrol, they’ll have tether-lances. One hit, and our nervous systems will scramble like eggs."Galang didn’t argue. He slid down the wall, his own fingers twitching involuntarily as the violet light under his skin pulsed in a sick, frantic rhythm. "I’m not a liability, Bayu. Don't look at me like that.""I’m

"If we aren't dead already," Galang muttered, clutching his chest. The violet veins on his neck were throbbing, a rhythmic, pulsing light that betrayed his failing control. He leaned heavily against a weeping pipe, his breath rattling in his lungs. "Look at the floor, Bayu. It’s not just sludge. It’s runoff. It’s the waste of whatever they're burning to keep the lights on above."Bayu didn’t look. He couldn't afford to. He kept his eyes locked on the vertical shaft ahead, the iron rungs slick with toxic condensation. "Move, Galang. The resonance is shifting. If the gate cycles again, we’re going to be shredded by the pressure differential.""Wait," Galang hissed, pulling his hand away from the wall. His fingertips were blackened, charred as if he’d touched a live wire. "Do you hear that? Beyond the hum. That’s not machinery."Bayu stopped. He pressed his ear against the cold, vibrating metal of the conduit wall. Beneath the low, thrumming vibration of the city’s power grid—a sound tha

"Two hundred feet below the sector floor and still you’re whining like a street-urchin," Bayu snarled, dragging Galang through the sludge. The tunnel walls wept with bioluminescent runoff, the violet light casting elongated, shivering shadows that seemed to possess their own predatory intent.Galang stumbled, his boots splashing heavily in the acidic mire. "It’s not whining, it’s observation. Can’t you feel it? The air isn’t just heavy; it’s being exhaled. We’re in the respiratory system of the capital, Bayu. Every breath we take is stolen from some poor soul trapped in the conduits.""Save your morality for after we reach the link-station," Bayu snapped, his own vision blurring at the edges. He pushed the thought aside, forcing his focus onto the rusted ladder rungs ahead. "Alaric and Draven are waiting at the rendezvous. If we miss the window, we’re dead in the muck.""If we aren't dead already," Galang muttered, clutching his chest. The violet veins on his neck were throbbing, a si