"Except for thousands of terrified merchants wondering why their ledgers just went dark," Kael added, hoisting his broken bow over his shoulder as the balcony glass shattered beneath his boots."They aren't just wondering, Kael—look down there," Silas barked, pointing a gauntleted finger toward the courtyard below.A swirling mass of expensive silk, velvet coats, and panicked shouting flooded the cobblestone avenues like an overturned inkwell."The elite of the Merchant Council," Seraphelion observed, his voice eerily detached as he watched the chaos erupt below. "Stripped of their steam-cars and elevator lifts, they look remarkably small.""Small or not, they’re blocking every exit out of this square," Kael retorted, squinting through the soot-stained air. "How are we supposed to slip away when half the upper district is stampeding toward the lower slums?""We don't slip away. We ride the wave," Silas decided, leaping over the shattered window ledge and grabbing a dangling iron drain

"Just one shattered core, and their entire empire turns to dust," Seraphelion finished, his voice dropping to a harsh, resonant whisper that seemed to echo inside their skulls.Silas grabbed Seraphelion’s elbow, jerking him hard away from the center of the panicked plaza."Keep moving, Commander, unless you want to spend the night explaining your philosophy to an angry mob of bankrupt aristocrats," Silas snapped, ducking beneath the shattered frame of a luxury apothecary.Kael followed closely behind them, keeping his hand firmly on the hilt of his short sword since his bow was completely useless."The main streets are totally choked with abandoned steam-carriages," Kael reported, pointing toward a massive blockade of stranded metal and terrified draft horses."Good. That means the patrols can't ride through them either," Silas replied, kicking open a rusted iron door that led into a subterranean maintenance shaft.The trio slipped into the cool, damp darkness of the city's under-tunn

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kael demanded, his voice cracking slightly in the damp, enclosed air of the subterranean tunnel."It means your family name is scrawled across the Academy’s payroll from two decades ago," Silas snapped, closing the distance between them with dangerous speed.Seraphelion leaned his forehead against the cold, weeping brickwork, his teeth clenched as a wave of internal agony rolled through his frame."The Stabilizer is gone," Seraphelion rasped, his hands twitching involuntarily at his sides. "And the resonance... it’s coming from my own marrow now.""We don't have time for a family history lesson," Kael barked, stepping defensively back into the shadows while glaring at Silas. "Vane’s personal fixers will trace this maintenance line within the hour.""Let them try," Silas growled, checking the cylinder of his pistol with a practiced click-clack. "Without the core-forging records, we’re flying blind against the entire merchant council."Seraphelion shudde

"You're late, Commander," the center figure said, his voice grating like dry gears as he leaned forward into the amber lamplight.Seraphelion stepped past the threshold, steadying himself against the doorframe while his chest heaved with phantom pain."We were delayed by Vane's cleanup crews in the lower conduits," Seraphelion replied, his voice flat and devoid of its old military authority.The hooded man scoffed, tossing a heavy brass gear onto the scarred table with a dull, echoing thud."Vane's hounds are the least of your worries, Commander; the entire district is talking about the blackout you caused," the rebel leader spat, crossing his arms over a heavy leather vest. "You crippled our supply lines when you smashed that machine.""I saved this district from being vaporized by an Academy energy grid," Silas countered sharply, stepping into the light with his hand resting near his sidearm."Saved us?" The rebel leader laughed, a harsh, humorless sound that rattled the empty bottl

"We need transport past the eastern checkpoint before dawn," Seraphelion rasped, his eyes locked onto the hooded rebel leader across the scarred oak table.The rebel leader merely smiled, a thin, cruel parting of lips that showed yellowed teeth in the flickering lamplight."Transport isn't cheap these days, Commander," the rebel replied smoothly, leaning back into the shadows of the pump-house."We gave you the code-cyphers for the lower conduits," Silas barked, stepping forward with his knuckles whitening around his sidearm grip."Cyphers that are useless now that Vane has flooded the lower levels with mercury," the rebel laughed softly, shaking his head."What do you want?" Kael demanded, his hand finally dropping to the hilt of his sword with a low, threatening scrape of steel."Just a small token of good faith," the rebel said, gesturing casually to the two armed men flanking him in the darkness."Name your price and make it quick," Seraphelion warned, his chest heaving as the pha