Elijah returned to his private chambers at the very top of the Spire.The room was silent. The 24-hour war with Themis felt like it had happened a million years ago. The sky outside was a dark, Bruised purple, but the "White Terror" was gone. The Earth was safe.Elijah walked to a tall mirror made of polished black glass. He stood in front of it and looked at his reflection.He was beautiful. His skin was a flawless, matte-black obsidian. There were no more cracks. There was no more dirt. The violet veins on his arms were bright and steady, flowing with the power of the 12 Authorities. His eyes, both of them now a deep, royal purple, glowed with a light that saw the very atoms of the room.He reached out and touched his own face in the mirror. His fingers were as hard as diamond. He couldn't feel the warmth of his own skin. He couldn't feel the texture of his hair. He was a masterpiece of "Sovereign Geometry."[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: REBELLION RESOLVED.][CASUALTY COUNT: 0.][DOMAIN ST

Elijah turned to Lyra. "Lyra, you are the Internal Security. The Architect is still out there. He has his 'Golden Needle.' Watch Sarah. Watch the humans in the basement. If anyone whispers a prayer to the Heavens, un-write them."Lyra looked at Elijah’s cold, unblinking eyes. "You're going alone?""Speed is my only weapon now," Elijah said. "If I take the Legion, we are too slow. I will 'Void-Step' across the continents. I will hit the wells, install the 'Grey Anchors,' and move to the next."Lyra stepped closer. Her purple eyes were full of a sharp, biting worry. "Elijah... the 2% humanity. It’s too low. You’re starting to see the world as a list of supplies. Those souls in the jars... they used to have names.""Names don't stop World-Eaters, Lyra," Elijah said.He turned his back on her. He walked to the edge of the balcony. He looked at his 85% Authority. He felt the power of the 12 Authorities pulsing in his blood. He felt like a god, but he felt like a god who was also a desert,

BOOM.Elijah hit the ground. The impact created a massive crater. The street shattered into a thousand pieces of gray stone. Dust flew into the air like a wall.Elijah stood up slowly in the middle of the crater. The purple fire on his arms flickered and then burned steady.He looked around. He was in London. But it was not the London from the history books. It was wrong.Vienna had been a place of violent death. Haven's Drop was a place of loud survival. But London was... frozen.There were no destroyed buildings here. The tall brick houses were still standing. The old streetlamps were still in one piece. A bright red double-decker bus was parked perfectly at the side of the road.But everything was covered in a thick, heavy fog.The fog was not normal. It was a dirty gray color. It moved very slowly, like syrup. It smelled like old paper, wet dust, and deep sleep.There were no demons here. There were no Archangels in the sky. There was only the Gothic Silence. It was a silence so h

The giant wave of silver sadness hung in the air. Hundreds of crying, glowing hands reached for Elijah. Tommy, the dead boy from the bakery, looked at Elijah with terrified, empty eyes.Elijah did not move. He stood at the edge of the giant hole in the floor of Westminster Abbey. He braced his dark, obsidian body. He closed his purple eyes. He prepared to be swallowed by the ocean of tears. He prepared to let his dead friend pull him into the dark. But the wave never hit him.Instead, a loud, terrible sound ripped through the silent church. It sounded like a mountain of metal falling down. CRACK. GRIND. SCREECH.The silver wave froze in the air.Elijah opened his eyes. He looked at Tommy. The silver boy was not looking at Elijah anymore. Tommy was looking past Elijah, into the deep, dark shadows at the back of the Abbey. Tommy’s face twisted in pure terror."The Guard," Tommy whispered. His voice was shaking. "The Guard is awake."Before Elijah could ask what he meant, the silver han

The Sentinel tried to push itself up using its six back legs. The metal scraped horribly against the stone.But Elijah was moving now. Without the front legs holding him down, he slipped out from under the heavy marble body. He jumped up. His body was broken and leaking light, but his mind was totally focused."You want to calculate?" Elijah shouted. He jumped onto the back of the giant machine. "Calculate this."He ran up the smooth white marble back of the spider. The machine bucked and shook, trying to throw him off. It swung its remaining legs wildly, but Elijah was too close to its center.He reached the very top of the dome, right behind the glowing red eye.Elijah knelt down. He raised his dark obsidian fist, covered it in thick black fire, and punched downward with all his god-like strength.CRASH!His fist smashed through the white marble armor. The holy stone shattered like cheap glass. Elijah pushed his arm deep into the inner workings of the machine. He felt cold wires. He