The old water-filtration plant was their new sanctuary. It was deep underground, its massive concrete walls and ancient pipes shielding them from the worst of the chaos above. The Eclipse Codex still glowed with its tell-tale light, but here, the light was less like a beacon and more like a guide. Lyra had found a spot where the old plant's machinery, steeped in its own intricate power patterns, resonated with the book.
"It's working," Lyra breathed, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and excitement. She had placed the Codex on an old, rusted valve wheel, and the book's light was now casting a holographic projection of its contents onto the wall. They weren't letters, or diagrams. They were symbols, swirling with raw energy, that made a kind of terrible, beautiful sense.
"It's a guide," Elena whispered, her voice full of awe and terror. "It's showing us the weak points." The projection showed the city, with a pulsating, red light over the clock tower. From the tear, shimmering lines of energy were stretching out, connecting to specific, powerful locations. "These are the secondary anchor points," Lyra said, her finger tracing a line on the projection. "The places Koval will try to stabilize the tear. If we can sever them... we can destabilize her ritual."
For the first time since the night began, Elena felt a surge of hope. They were no longer just running; they had a mission. The Codex, once a burden, was now a weapon, a map to a new objective. They could fight back. They could disrupt Koval's plans from the shadows. The hunt had been brutal, and their paths had been fraught with danger, but now they had a clear purpose. Elena looked at the glowing symbols, then at Lyra. Their mission was clear: they had to use the Codex to find and sever the secondary anchor points, hoping to weaken Koval's grip and buy them all some precious time.