The floor of the cavern was made of Obsidian Glass, and beneath it, the world was burning purple.
Julian stared down through the transparency. Miles below the Silent King's throne, a swirling vortex of chaotic violet energy churned within the planet's core. It wasn't magma. It was a screaming, living nebulas trapped inside a rock shell.
"The Heart of the Dissonance," Julian repeated, the words tasting like ash. "It's been here the whole time?"
"BEFORE THE CITIES. BEFORE THE TITANS. BEFORE THE FIRST MAN SANG THE FIRST NOTE," The Silent King's voice rumbled, shaking dust from the ceiling.
The giant leaned forward, the massive iron chains clinking.
"THE HARMONIC ASCENDANCY DID NOT COME TO EARTH TO SETTLE. THEY CAME TO BURY."
The History of Silence
The King raised a shackled hand. The air in the cavern shimmered, forming a massive, three-dimensional projection of the past.
It showed the Earth, millions of years ago. It was a dead rock.
Then, a Meteor struck. A purple shard from the deep cosmos. The Dissonance.
It didn't destroy the planet. It burrowed deep, infecting the core, preparing to hatch.
Then came the Ships. The Golden Ships of the Ascendancy.
They didn't destroy the infected planet. They built a cage around it.
"THEY COULD NOT KILL THE FREQUENCY," the King explained. "SO THEY DAMPENED IT."
The projection showed the construction of the Mantle Gate. Then the Titans on the surface. Seven towers to stabilize the crust. One Anchor to hold the core.
"I AM THE MUZZLE," the King said. "I SING THE ANTI-NOTE. THE SILENCE THAT KEEPS THE SCREAMING GOD ASLEEP."
"And the Emperor?" Julian asked. "He knew?"
"VALERIUS WAS THE WARDEN. BUT HE LOST HOPE. HE SAW THE CHAINS RUSTING. HE SAW THE CORE WAKING UP. HE DECIDED TO STEAL THE LOCKS TO BUILD A LIFEBOAT."
"He drained the surface Titans," Skid realized, looking at the readings on her datapad. "He weakened the suppression field to power the Ark."
"YES. AND NOW, THE ANCHOR IS SLIPPING."
The King pulled on his chains. The massive bolts anchored into the basalt walls groaned. One of them sparked, the rock cracking around it.
"I AM RUNNING OUT OF AETHER. IF I FAIL... THE PLANET HATCHES."
The Leak
As if on cue, the glass floor hissed.
A hairline fracture appeared in the obsidian.
SCREEEEE.
A wisp of purple smoke escaped from the core. It didn't drift like smoke; it moved with purpose. It spiraled into the air and solidified.
It formed a Shadow. A jagged, two-dimensional silhouette of a creature that looked like a man, but with too many limbs.
"Containment breach!" Isolde yelled. "Readings are off the charts! It's pure radiation!"
The Shadow lunged at Zephyr.
Zephyr swung his staff. The staff passed right through the creature.
"It has no mass!" Zephyr shouted.
The Shadow slashed Zephyr's chest. Blood sprayed.
"But it has claws!" Lyra fired her rifle. The bullets passed through.
"It's a frequency projection!" Julian shouted. "It's a sound wave made visible! You can't hit it with matter!"
"Then how do we kill it?"
"Cancel it out!" Julian looked around. He saw a massive Gong hanging near the throne—a disk of black iron the size of a house.
"Isolde! Hit the gong!"
"With what?"
"With the wrench! Hard!"
Isolde ran to the gong. She swung her heavy wrench with both hands.
GONG.
A deep, resonant bass note rolled through the cavern.
The Shadow flickered. The sound wave disrupted its form. It turned from solid black to grey mist.
"It's working!" Julian grabbed a heavy chain from the floor. "Make noise! Chaotic noise!"
Lyra began firing her rifle at the metal walls, creating a cacophony of ricochets. Zephyr slammed his staff against the floor rhythmically.
The Shadow writhed, unable to maintain its cohesion in the noisy environment.
Julian charged it. He revved the servo-motors in his mechanical arm to the max—a high-pitched whine.
He punched the mist. The vibration of his arm scattered the particles.
The Shadow dissolved with a final hiss.
The Bargain
The fracture in the floor sealed itself, the King pouring the last of his energy into the repair.
The giant slumped back, exhausted. The glow of his chains dimmed to a faint ember.
"THAT WAS A WHISPER," the King rumbled weakly. "SOON, IT WILL BE A SHOUT. I CANNOT HOLD THE DOOR ALONE."
Julian walked up to the massive foot of the Titan.
"What do you need?" Julian asked.
"A LINK. THE SURFACE TITANS MUST BE RECONNECTED TO THE ANCHOR. THEIR ENERGY MUST FLOW DOWN, NOT UP."
"The network is severed," Skid said. "The Emperor cut the hardlines."
"THE HARDLINES ARE PHYSICAL. BUT THE RESONANCE IS WIRELESS. I NEED A CONDUCTOR TO STAND AT THE NEXUS AND SYNC THE SIGNAL."
The King looked down at Julian.
"YOU HAVE THE MARK OF THE CONDUCTOR. BUT YOU HAVE NO INSTRUMENT."
He looked at Julian's mechanical arm.
"STEEL IS STRONG. BUT IT DOES NOT SING."
The King reached into his own chest cavity. He pulled out a shard of black metal. It pulsed with a dull, heavy rhythm.
It was a piece of his own core. Black Aether-Iron.
He dropped it. It landed in front of Julian with a heavy thud, cracking the stone.
"FORGE AN ARM," the King commanded. "NOT OF NANITES. NOT OF LIGHT. OF ANCHOR-STONE. AN ARM THAT CAN HOLD THE WEIGHT OF A WORLD."
"GO TO THE FOUNDRY. TITAN 03. REBUILD YOURSELF. THEN RETURN TO THE SPIRE. AND CONNECT THE CIRCUIT."
The Ascent
"We have a mission," Julian said, looking at the jagged lump of black metal. It was heavy—too heavy to lift with one hand.
Isolde helped him drag it into a crate.
"Titan 03," Isolde wiped soot from her face. "The Magma Strider. That's in the Volcanic Wastes. It's an active combat zone. The Warlords control that sector."
"We'll handle the Warlords," Lyra said, reloading her rifle. "We need that arm."
"We have 48 hours," Skid estimated, looking at the failing readings on the King's chains. "Before the Anchor snaps."
"Let's go," Julian said.
They ran back to the elevator cage.
As they ascended the ten miles back to the surface, Julian looked at his simple steel hand one last time.
"You served me well," he whispered.
He looked at the black ore in the crate. It seemed to absorb the light around it.
"But I need something heavier."
The Surface
They emerged into the Undercity. The air felt thin compared to the pressure of the deep.
"Elias," Julian activated his comms. "We're surfacing. Prepare a transport."
"Julian?" Elias's voice was filled with static. "We have a situation. While you were down there... we lost contact with Sector 3."
"Sector 3? That's the Industrial District."
"It's the Magma Strider," Elias said. "It's active. Someone woke it up."
"Who?"
"Not the Prime," Elias said. "Raiders. They call themselves the Sons of Vane."
Julian froze.
"Sons of Vane?"
"They claim to be your followers," Elias said. "They say they're liberating the fire for the people. They've seized the Foundry."
Julian looked at Lyra.
"Fanatics," Lyra spat. "Just what we needed."
"They have the forge," Julian said, his eyes hardening. "And I need it."
"Tell them I'm coming," Julian said to Elias. "And tell them... Dad's home."