The black iron box sat in the gray ash. It did not move. It did not make a sound. But to Rick, the box felt like the loudest, heaviest thing in the entire world. The box held the cure. It held a pure petal from the Mother Seed. It was the only thing that could save Luna’s life. But the price of opening the box was terrible. If Rick took the cure, he had to walk into the dark fog. He had to surrender to the Shadow Lord. He had to let the evil magic turn him into a monster of rot. Rick sat in the dirt next to the box. He looked at Luna. She lay on a clean blanket. Her face was pale gray. Her lips were turning blue. The thick, black, and silver veins crawled slowly up her neck. The toxic magic was eating her heart. She was in a deep, magical sleep. She was dying. "I cannot let you die," Rick whispered. A warm tear fell from his brown eyes. It splashed onto his dirty hands. "I made a vow. I promised to protect you."He knew what he had to do. He had to open the box. But Rick was the G

Crack. The sound came from inside his chest. It was the sound of his magical gates shattering. He was pushing too much power through his mortal veins. "They are safe now," Ash said. She reached out her tiny, freezing cold hand. She touched his shaking shoulder. "You gave them your heart. They are strong. Let go."Rick closed his eyes. He listened to the earth one last time. He felt the massive, beautiful, healthy heartbeat of the City of Iron. The people were standing up. The pain was gone. The Junkyard was a fortress of life. They did not need him anymore. They were ready to live. Rick smiled a bloody, exhausted smile. "Earth Pulse," Rick whispered softly. "Rest."The brilliant green light exploded outward one final time, and then it instantly vanished. The connection snapped. Rick fell forward into the gray ash. He hit the dirt hard. He lay there, completely unmoving. His breathing was so shallow it was almost invisible. He was totally, completely empty. He did not have a sing

The cavern was a massive underground dungeon. The walls were made of rough, black stone. Hanging from the ceiling were hundreds of giant, rusted iron cages. The cages swung back and forth slowly in the cold, damp air. Creak. Creeeak. Inside the cages were people. There were thousands of them. They wore dirty, torn rags. They were incredibly thin. They looked like walking skeletons. They were coughing. They were shivering. Below the cages, on the hard stone floor, thousands more people were chained to the walls. They were the prisoners of the Shadow Lord. They were the scavengers who had wandered too far into the East. They were the lost souls of the Wastelands. The Shadow Lord did not just kill them. He kept them alive. He kept them in absolute misery. Rick understood the terrible, evil science of it immediately. "He is harvesting them," Rick whispered, tears filling his brown eyes. "The Mother Seed feeds on despair. It feeds on pain. He is keeping these people sick and terrif

The fifty Iron Wolves leaped forward, charging across the dungeon floor faster than lightning. They were heading straight for the slow, tired prisoners at the back of the line. "No!" Rick yelled. Rick turned around. He ran as fast as he could toward the escape tunnel. He beat the Iron Wolves to the entrance. Rick stood directly in front of the narrow crack in the stone wall. Behind him, the last few hundred prisoners were squeezing through the gap. Vorn was still helping an old woman climb over a rock. Rick turned his back to the prisoners. He faced the charging army of monsters alone. He held his wooden staff across his body. The green light flared incredibly bright. "Doctor Rick!" a small voice yelled. Rick looked down. Ash was standing right beside his leg. The little girl had not run into the tunnel with the others. She stayed with him. "Ash, what are you doing?!" Rick panicked. "Get into the tunnel! You have to run!"Ash shook her head. Her giant black eyes were completely

The scientist carried the glass tube to a large, humming silver machine set up in the corner of the furnace. He placed the tube inside a slot. The machine began to hum loudly. Whirrrr. Beep-beep. A digital screen on the machine lit up. Complex mathematical lines and waves began to form on the screen. The machine was reading Rick's soul. It was decoding his magic. "It is working," Vance smiled behind his mask. He tapped his radio. "Auditor Isaac? Are you receiving the data stream?"A smooth, polite voice echoed from the small radio on Vance's chest. "I am receiving it, Doctor Vance," Auditor Isaac’s voice crackled. "The frequency is incredibly complex. But the computers are breaking the code. Give me two minutes. Once I have the exact frequency, I will upload it to the Hunter-Killer network. We will track every single person carrying this magic."Outside in the dark, Rick closed his eyes. He had two minutes. If he waited two minutes, Isaac would have the code. Isaac would find Lun