The roar of the cave-in was followed by a silence so absolute it felt physical.I was on my back, my lungs burning with pulverized stone and dust. My goggles had been ripped away in the blast, and for a terrifying second, I thought I had gone blind. There was no blue light, no thermal feed—just an oppressive, heavy void."Elias?" I coughed, the sound echoing weakly against close walls.No answer. Only the distant, muffled groan of settling rock. The tunnel had been severed. Elias was on the other side of a hundred tons of New York bedrock, and I was... somewhere else."Elara."The voice was close. Too close. I felt a hand—calloused, warm, and trembling—brush against my cheek. I flapped my arms instinctively, my fingers hitting a hard, muscular chest."Don't move," Julian whispered. His voice was strained, vibrating with the effort of holding something back. "The ceiling is unstable. If you shift too much, the rest of this shelf comes down on us.""Where’s my briefcase?" I rasped, my h
Last Updated : 2026-02-27 Read more