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Chapter 45
Chapter 45Levi woke back in the waking world tunnel, the support team already crowded close, weapons drawn against the visible exhaustion and fresh bruising evident across his frame."You were gone considerably longer this time," Reya said, relief warring with concern as she helped him upright. "We were about ready to send someone through after you.""You wouldn't have found me the same way," Levi said, still catching his breath. "Trial time doesn't match up cleanly with waking time. Long story. I'll explain everything at the debrief."The bag at his hip felt considerably heavier than it had going in, and when Corwin's scanner passed over it, the specialist's eyebrows shot up so fast Levi almost laughed despite his exhaustion."That's reading over thirty distinct fragment signatures," Corwin said, staring at his device like it might be malfunctioning. "Levi, what exactly happened in there?""Found a cache," Levi said simply. "Guarded. Had to fight for it. I'll explain the rest proper
Chapter 44
Chapter 44The chamber's far wall finally gave way entirely, concrete and rebar collapsing outward in a shower of dust and debris, and what emerged from the darkness beyond made Levi's earlier guardian encounters look almost gentle by comparison.It moved on too many legs, a segmented, chitinous body stretching nearly the full width of the tunnel, embedded fragments of its own glowing dull amber along its carapace, as though it had been built, deliberately, from the very cache it now guarded."That's not a natural guardian," Levi breathed. "That thing's made from fragments.""Constructed," Pandora confirmed, grim. "Someone built this creature specifically, Levi Li, binding fragments directly into its physical form. That requires knowledge and control over the fragments considerably beyond anything either of us currently possesses."The shadow, still watching from the chamber's edge, offered nothing further, simply observing with the same unreadable golden patience it had carried throu
Chapter 43
Chapter 43The eighth trial began the same way every recent trial had, Osei's team flagging a candidate location, the support team assembling with practiced efficiency, Levi stepping through a shimmering gate with considerably less hesitation than he'd carried into his very first one months before.This time, the location sat deep within a stretch of collapsed subway tunnels running beneath the citadel's outer districts, close enough to familiar territory that the team had barely needed a full day's preparation."Confined space," Corwin noted, checking his equipment one final time before Levi approached the gate's violet shimmer. "Whatever's waiting on the other side, you won't have the farmland's open ground to maneuver in. Keep that in mind.""Noted," Levi said, and stepped through.He woke in darkness, the tunnel's ceiling pressing low overhead, water dripping steadily somewhere in the distance, the air thick with the particular staleness of a space that hadn't seen open sky in a v
Chapter 42
Chapter 42Osei's analysis team flagged the next candidate gate within two days, a location deep in what had once been farmland north of the citadel, close enough that the team could reach it before nightfall without the extended preparation the coastline trip had required."Resonance strength here reads higher than any candidate we've identified so far," Osei explained, briefing Levi and the support team one final time before departure. "Whatever's waiting, Pandora's instinct suggests it's significant. Possibly a stronger fragment, possibly more than one.""Or a stronger guardian," Corwin added, checking his equipment with the same methodical thoroughness he always brought to preparation. "Higher resonance hasn't exactly correlated with easier trials so far.""Noted," Levi said. "I'd rather go in prepared for difficult and be pleasantly surprised than assume gentle and get caught flat footed."The farmland stretched wide and empty around the gate's location, rows of long dead crops s
Chapter 41
Chapter 40The new arrangement took shape faster than Levi expected, Reyes's full backing translating within days into resources he'd never imagined having access to only weeks before.A dedicated analysis team, working under Osei's direction, began cross referencing every recorded gate opening across citadel territory against subtle energy signatures Pandora helped them identify, patterns that, once mapped properly, suggested considerably more structure to gate emergence than anyone had previously realized."This one," Osei said, tapping a location flagged on the display, a stretch of coastline nearly sixty miles south of the citadel, "shows the same resonance profile as your first three trials. Pandora believes it's worth investigating.""How confident is worth investigating?" Levi asked."Confident enough that I'm assigning you a proper support team this time," Reyes said, entering the briefing room with the same brisk efficiency that had marked every interaction since the district
Chapter 40
Chapter 40The new arrangement took shape faster than Levi expected, Reyes's full backing translating within days into resources he'd never imagined having access to only weeks before.A dedicated analysis team, working under Osei's direction, began cross referencing every recorded gate opening across citadel territory against subtle energy signatures Pandora helped them identify, patterns that, once mapped properly, suggested considerably more structure to gate emergence than anyone had previously realized."This one," Osei said, tapping a location flagged on the display, a stretch of coastline nearly sixty miles south of the citadel, "shows the same resonance profile as your first three trials. Pandora believes it's worth investigating.""How confident is worth investigating?" Levi asked."Confident enough that I'm assigning you a proper support team this time," Reyes said, entering the briefing room with the same brisk efficiency that had marked every interaction since the district
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