"They did not just hit my command center. They sent a message, we have your plan and took your men. Come and find us."
VORATH'S POV
The Iron Peaks were supposed to be a tomb for other people's gods. Black rock, magnetized to the marrow, carved into a fortress that ate light and spat back only shadow. I built sanctuaries in that absence, labs of metal and rune, engines that drank the night and answered with blunt force. From here, the world would be rewired. Tonight, the room thrummed like a living thing. The Corruption Engine, a cathedral of jagged crystal and braidedley pulsed its slow, malevolent heartbeat. It tasted of iron and old promises. Krane and Lira stood at either side of the tactical display, waiting for my signal as if the mountain itself had become attentive to our will. They know my temper and my patience both; both are finite.
