Frank Williams lay on the cold, black stone floor. His body was completely out of his control. He was shaking violently. His arms and legs hit the hard rock over and over again. His back arched so high it looked like his spine would snap in half. "Frank! Frank, hold on!" Elara screamed. She threw herself onto the floor next to him. She did not care about the dirt or the blood. She quickly slid her hands under his head. She used her own hands as a pillow so Frank would not crack his skull against the hard stone. The heavy, violent shaking of his head bruised her fingers, but she held on tight. "Help me!" Elara yelled back to the stairs. "Kael! Help me hold him!"Kael did not hesitate. The big, broad-shouldered man ran down the dark stone stairs. He dropped to his knees right next to Frank’s boots. He placed his massive, heavy hands firmly on Frank’s legs, pressing them down to the floor to stop them from kicking wildly. Mrs. Gable, Mr. Thorne, and the rest of the refugees stayed on

"Maybe," Frank said. He let out a long, tired sigh. "But there is a catch. If I use my magic again... if I turn on the Phantom Limb to fight... the mutation will speed up. The System said if I use my power one more time, I will fully mutate in less than ten minutes."Elara’s face went perfectly white. All the color drained from her cheeks. "Then you cannot use it," Elara commanded. Her voice was fierce. "You cannot fight anymore, Frank. You have to stay behind us.""We are heading into the very center of the alien machine," Frank said with a sad, bitter smile. "Do you really think we can walk in there without fighting?"Elara opened her mouth to argue, but she had no words. She knew he was right. The closer they got to the Prime Core, the worse the monsters would be. They had just barely survived the outer defenses. If they met another giant monster, they would need Frank’s magic. But if Frank used his magic to save them, he would turn into a monster himself. It was an impossible, c

The golden light poured out of the open bone doors. It was thick, heavy, and hot. It washed over Frank Williams like a wave of sick, yellow water. Frank stood perfectly still on the threshold. His heart was beating slowly. The terrible pain in his body was a constant, dull fire. The golden poison in his veins pulsed under his pale skin. Every time the massive heartbeat of the ancient machine echoed, the golden veins in his right arm glowed a little brighter. He was connected to this place. The machine was calling to the magic inside him. Frank slowly turned his head. He looked back at the massive, dark temple hall. He looked at the forty refugees of Lyrendale. They were standing in the flickering orange light of the wall torches. They looked so small, so tired, and so incredibly scared. Mothers held their children tightly. Old Silas leaned heavily on his walking stick. Mrs. Gable cradled her broken arm. Kael stood at the very front of the group. The broad-shouldered man held his b

"Where is the Prime Core?" Elara asked, looking around the massive, circular room. "Where is the heart of the machine?"Frank looked toward the very center of the colossal chamber. Because the room was so incredibly massive, the center was far away. The bright golden light from the thousands of tubes on the walls cast confusing, shifting shadows across the spongy red floor. But as Frank stared into the center, he saw a shape. "There," Frank pointed with his human hand. In the exact dead center of the massive, circular room, the spongy red floor rose upward. It did not form a neat, clean pedestal. It was not a beautiful altar. It was a mountain. Frank and Elara began to walk slowly toward the center of the room. Every step on the squishy, wet floor made a disgusting sound. The heat was making them dizzy, but they forced themselves to keep moving. As they got closer to the center, the shape of the mountain became clearer. Elara stopped walking. She let out a small, terrified gas

The sixty-foot monster stepped forward. The squishy, dark red floor of the Inner Sanctum shook violently under its massive weight. Every single step sounded like a giant boulder dropping into a pool of thick, wet mud. Frank Williams and Princess Elara stood perfectly still. They were completely frozen by the absolute, mind-bending horror of the creature towering above them. High up near the curved ceiling of the colossal dome, the giant, translucent fleshy tubes continued to snap. The thick biological cables broke one by one. They whipped wildly through the hot, humid air. A massive shower of glowing golden liquid rained down over the center of the room. It was the highly corrosive stomach acid of the Root, mixed with the screaming, trapped souls of the innocent people of Lyrendale. The golden rain splashed against the monster’s massive body. It did not burn the creature. The monster simply absorbed the glowing liquid, pulling the raw magical energy deep into its twisted flesh. "G