The Obsidian Covenant #1: The Rejected Mate's Ruin
It smelled of ozone, ancient dust, and the lingering, metallic scent of dried blood.
"Report," Barzil rumbled.
The Commander sat on a block of fallen masonry. His armor was gone, replaced by a simple grey tunic that showed the heavy bandaging around his ribs. He sat with absolute stillness, but I could hear the slow, heavy thud of his heart. It was a grounding rhythm in the silence.
I tapped the console of the holographic projector. The screen was cracked, held together by adhesive tape and determination. The image flickered—a burst of blue static that made my pupils constrict—before stabilizing into a rotating wireframe of the City and the surrounding Wastes.