Freedom was never free. Ganda had paid for it too often with his own body parts.Ganda stared at the green glowing root worm writhing at the tip of Kira's finger. The object was alive. Its surface pulsed slowly, excreting a thin slime that hissed when it touched the cold air.In his own right hand, the black veins were still trembling violently. The nerve damage from the Aurellian interrogators' torture in the past was now screaming. The Kaijin Nerve Oil that had frozen the wound all this time had completely evaporated, leaving dying flesh."This thing is hungry," Kira whispered breaking the silence. "It eats dead tissue and reweaves severed nerves. The pain will put your sanity to the test."Die as a paralyzed vagrant in the ash field, or live as a tool of destruction for the enemy. To Ganda, that was pure street mathematics."Put it in," Ganda's voice was hoarse.Kira smiled thinly. The shaman stepped closer. She threw a piece of thick, bo

The underground engine room of the Iron Dam forbade life. This place was the stomach of a dying metal monster.The steam heat pierced the skin pores like thousands of invisible needles. The thick smell of burning grease and rust suffocated the lungs. And above all else, there was noise. Absolute noise.Millions of tons of giant water behind that steel wall pressed continuously. Its low roar made the iron floor vibrate endlessly. Ganda's Resonance was paralyzed. His brain was bombarded by the overlapping groans of gears, the hiss of leaking steam, and the screams of load bearing iron. His vision occasionally whited out from nausea.He crawled through the narrow ventilation shaft, leading the way. Sweat flooded his dusty face, dripping stingingly into the corners of his eyes. The metal beneath his knees felt as hot as a roasting pan.Their path halted. A steering gear system the size of a house turned slowly right at the tunnel intersection. Their straight