The eastern district ended at a wound in the earth.
Blaine stood at its edge, the map stone warm in his palm. The glowstones here were ancient—not the dim, pulsing fragments of the lower markets, but whole veins running through the cavern walls like arteries of frozen red light. The air was cold. Still. No merchants. No hunters. Just silence and the slow, deep pulse of something breathing beneath the stone.
A threshold. Like the gate. Like the Forbidden Zone. The city stops here. Everything below belongs to something else.
He stepped toward the entrance—a narrow fissure in the cavern floor, barely wide enough for his shoulders. The map showed a path beyond it, spiraling down for what looked like miles. The Artery. The passage to the Architects' laboratory.
A voice stopped him.
"Thought you'd leave without saying goodbye."
Blaine turned.
Kade stood at the edge of the district, hands in his pockets, that same casual posture he'd always carried. His grin was still there, but it was quieter than before. His eyes flicked to the number above Blaine's head and stayed there for a moment. Something shifted in his expression. Not fear. Not quite awe. Recognition of a gap that hadn't existed the last time they stood across from each other.
"Forty-eight," Kade said. "Last time I saw you, you were eight."
"A lot happened."
"I can see that." Kade walked closer, stopping a few meters from the fissure. "Word's been traveling. Sector 9. The gates. The Zone. You walked into places most hunters don't come back from and walked out stronger. People are talking. Some of them are scared. Some of them are hoping you don't come back."
"Which are you?"
"I'm the one who told you about Sector 9." Kade's grin flickered. "I'm invested. If you die down there, I lose my best success story."
Blaine almost smiled. "I'm not going down there to die."
"I know. That's the scary part." Kade looked at the fissure. At the red veins pulsing in the walls. His casual posture didn't change, but his voice dropped slightly. "I've been down here before. Not far. Far enough to know that whatever's at the bottom doesn't care about strength. It doesn't care about numbers. It's older than the system. Older than the city. Older than anything that walks on two legs."
"The Architects."
"Is that what they're called?" Kade shook his head. "I just call them the things that shouldn't be woken up. But you're going to wake them anyway, aren't you?"
"Someone has to."
Kade was quiet for a moment. Then he pulled something from his pocket. A small, dull coin. Old. Worn. He tossed it to Blaine, who caught it one-handed.
"What's this?"
"Luck. Or a reminder. I don't know." Kade shrugged. "Took it off the first hunter I ever beat. Carried it ever since. Figured if you're going to the bottom of the world, you might need something from the surface."
Blaine looked at the coin. No value. No energy. Just metal. He pocketed it anyway.
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me. Come back. Stronger than before. That's thanks enough." Kade turned and walked back toward the market. He didn't look back. Didn't wave. Just disappeared into the glowstone light like he'd disappeared into the neon the first night they met.
Blaine watched him go. Then he turned to the fissure. The map pulsed warm in his hand. The bloodline pulsed warm behind his ribs. Ready.
The Artery. The Architects. The truth about what we are.
He stepped into the dark.