LOGINThe confrontation in the lobby was not a clash of swords, but a collision of atmospheres.
Valerius stood six foot six, a tower of muscle wrapped in Italian silk. His presence was physical—a weight that pressed down on the lungs. The "Absolute Field" Cain had warned about was real. Jack felt it instantly. His knees felt weak. His heart rate slowed, not from calm, but from suppression. His blood felt thick, sluggish.
This was the power of the Progenitor Bones. Evolution's way of saying kneel.
"So," Valerius said, walking slowly toward the center of the room, his shoes crunching on broken glass. "The prodigal son returns. You look tired, Jack. And... smaller."
"I've been busy," Jack said, forcing himself to stand straight. He kept his left hand in his pocket, gripping the detonator. "Cleaning up your mess in the Arctic."
"My mess?" Valerius chuckled. "That was a science experiment. This..." He gestured to the ruined lobby, the burning c
The journey to the Tinker’s lair was a descent into the intestines of the city.Grog carried Jack in his arms like a child. The rest of the team followed in a tight formation. They walked through tunnels that hadn't seen light since the 1900s. The walls were covered in luminescent moss and graffiti in languages that didn't exist on the surface.Every shadow seemed to have eyes. The "Scrap City" was just the foyer. The real underground was a labyrinth of forgotten sub-levels, abandoned Cold War bunkers, and sealed-off subway extensions.Jack drifted in and out of consciousness. The fever was a living thing now, clawing at his brain. He saw flashes of memory—his father signing a contract, Valerius laughing as the tower fell, Olivia in a wedding dress made of spiderwebs."Olivia..." he muttered, his hand grasping blindly."I'm here, Jack," she whispered, holding his hand as they walked. Her grip was the only anchor keeping him from drifting away.
The world didn't smell like money anymore. It smelled of oxidized iron, stagnant water, and the sharp, coppery tang of old blood.Jack Sterling floated in a sea of pain. It wasn't the sharp, adrenaline-fueled pain of combat; it was a dull, crushing weight, as if the collapsed Sterling Tower was still resting on his chest. His ribs felt like a bag of gravel. His pelvis was a fire of agony with every micro-movement. But the worst was his left arm. The Entropy Hand was silent, but it felt heavy, like a dead limb of lead attached to his shoulder, radiating a coldness that made his teeth chatter."Shiny man... wake up."The voice was deep, resonant, and sounded like boulders grinding together.Jack forced his eyes open. His eyelids felt like sandpaper.The first thing he saw was a flickering fluorescent tube, buzzing like a trapped insect, hanging by a single wire from a ceiling made of rusted corrugated metal. Water dripped rhythmically. Plip. Plip
When Jack opened his eyes, he wasn't in heaven. He was in a storm drain.The air was damp and cold. Water trickled nearby. He was lying on a mattress made of old pallets and discarded sofa cushions."He's awake!" Hailey’s voice.Jack tried to sit up, but a hand pushed him gently back down. Elena."Don't move," his mother said sternly. "You have three broken ribs, a hairline fracture in your pelvis, and a concussion. If you move, you'll puncture a lung."Jack blinked, his vision adjusting to the dim light of battery-powered lanterns. They were in a large, circular junction of the old storm drain system. It was dry here, mostly.His team was gathered around him.Catherine was sitting against the curved wall, her arm in a sling, typing on a laptop that was hooked up to a car battery. Ben was pacing, looking terrified. Marcus was asleep on another pallet, his leg bandaged, looking like a fallen statue. Olivia was holding Jack's hand, her face str
The Sterling Tower was dying. It was a scream of steel and glass, a slow-motion avalanche that began deep in the earth where Jack Sterling had unleashed entropy.In the subterranean cavern of the cistern, chaos was absolute. The ceiling was fracturing, huge chunks of reinforced concrete splashing into the foul water. Dust and pulverized rock filled the air, turning the beams of the emergency lights into solid bars of haze.Jack stumbled backward, his left arm hanging limp, the black runes now dull and grey, exhausted. He had poured everything into that strike—not to kill Valerius, but to break the world around him."You fool!" Valerius roared. The King of the Council stood amidst the falling debris, unmoving. A chunk of masonry the size of a refrigerator crashed down towards his head. He didn't dodge. He simply punched upward. His fist met the stone, and the stone exploded into dust.This was the power of the Progenitor Bones. Valerius wasn't just s
The confrontation in the lobby was not a clash of swords, but a collision of atmospheres.Valerius stood six foot six, a tower of muscle wrapped in Italian silk. His presence was physical—a weight that pressed down on the lungs. The "Absolute Field" Cain had warned about was real. Jack felt it instantly. His knees felt weak. His heart rate slowed, not from calm, but from suppression. His blood felt thick, sluggish.This was the power of the Progenitor Bones. Evolution's way of saying kneel."So," Valerius said, walking slowly toward the center of the room, his shoes crunching on broken glass. "The prodigal son returns. You look tired, Jack. And... smaller.""I've been busy," Jack said, forcing himself to stand straight. He kept his left hand in his pocket, gripping the detonator. "Cleaning up your mess in the Arctic.""My mess?" Valerius chuckled. "That was a science experiment. This..." He gestured to the ruined lobby, the burning c
The elevator ride down from the 88th floor was a descent into a metallic, groaning purgatory. Jack Sterling stood alone in the mirrored box, checking the magazine of his revolver. Six silver rounds. Enough for six problems, or one very big one.But as the digital counter ticked past the 70th floor, Jack's earpiece crackled."Jack, stop!" It was Catherine's voice, frantic and distorted by static. "Don't go to the lobby yet. We have a situation in the Penthouse. A secondary breach.""I thought we cleared the assassin," Jack said, his thumb hovering over the emergency stop button. "The cow sat on him. Case closed.""Not that assassin. Another one. And this one isn't alone. Jack, the Ouroboros Compass... when Hailey dropped it, the spatial rift didn't just bring a cow in. It left a door open."Jack slammed the stop button. The elevator jerked to a halt between the 65th and 64th floors. "Explain. Fast.""The rift de







