The Ivory Tower moved. Not a trick of the eye not an illusion. Stone shifted like flesh, and every ruin in the wasteland seemed to tremble in answer.
The catacombs trembled. Dust rained from the cracked ceiling, and the chains around the skeletal giant clattered like bells rung for the dead.
Kai stood frozen, his breath shallow, his pulse hammering in his ears. The giant's ribs were like archways, hollow and bound in strips of luminous iron that pulsed with faint light. Its skull, crowned with a shattered halo of bone, tilted downward—toward him.
The sockets were empty. And yet, when the hollow gaze fell upon Kai, he felt it in his marrow: a pressure, a gravity that bent the will of all who dared look back.
"Child of the Mark."
The voice was not spoken. It bloomed in his skull like fire. He staggered backward, clutching his temple.
The girlAiri—grabbed his sleeve. "Kai your arm!"
He looked down. The Mark etched on his forearm burned, glowing like molten steel under skin. Black veins spiraled outward from it, threading up toward his shoulder.
The Colossus stirred, the ground quaking beneath the weight of its shackled limbs.
> "I have waited. Buried in silence, sealed in light. You… are the crack in the chain. The fracture in the Tower's design."
Kai's throat went dry. "What are you?"
"The Ashen Womb. The last breath of the First World. The Tower chained me here to rot… but now, through you, I may rise."
Airi's grip on him tightened. She trembled, but her voice was sharp. "Kai—don't listen! That thing is cursed."
The Colossus shifted. Its skeletal claws scraped against the floor, carving trenches into the stone. The chains held, glowing brighter, resisting the strain.
The prayer-songs of the dead echoed from nowhere, vibrating in the walls. Kai's head swam with visions.
Flashes: a city burning, skies torn by red veins, armies kneeling before the Tower that pierced heaven. Screams. Chains. The world unraveling.
> "Do you see, bearer of the Mark?" the Colossus whispered inside his skull. "Do you see the fate that awaits? You are not chosen to ascend… you are chosen to suffer."
Kai fell to his knees, clutching his skull. The Mark seared his arm. He felt it beckoning, demanding blood.
---
The chamber doors exploded.
Shadows poured in like a tide of oil—dozens, no, hundreds—slithering across the stone, their teeth chattering soundlessly. The Warden's minions.
The girl screamed, backing into the Colossus's chained foot. The shadows swarmed, crawling up the walls, their hollow sockets fixed on Kai.
The Colossus roared, a sound that was not sound but pressure, like a mountain exhaling. Its shackles blazed white as it strained, one skeletal claw slamming down and smashing a dozen shadows into smoke.
> "Give me your blood," it demanded. "Break my chains, and I will slaughter your enemies."
Kai's vision blurred. His arm pulsed, skin cracking where the Mark spread. Black fire licked his veins. His instincts screamed don't, but the girl's terrified cry tore through his hesitation.
"Airi!"
The shadows closed in.
And Kai gave in.
---
The Mark split wide.
Black flame erupted from his arm, swallowing flesh, bone, and muscle. His fingers twisted into claws of ashen steel, his veins glowing with crimson fire. His eyes burned—one black, one red—and when he exhaled, smoke poured from his lungs.
The nearest shadows lunged.
Kai met them head-on.
His claw tore through one like paper, its body bursting into vapor. Another leapt for his throat; he spun, raking his talons across its chest, scattering fragments of smoke and bone. He moved faster than thought, strength thrumming in his limbs, each strike fueled by rage he didn't know he carried.
Bloodlust flooded him. His heart pounded like war drums, every beat screaming kill, kill, kill.
The shadows fell by the dozens, their whispers drowned by his roars.
And then
He turned, his claws raisedat Airi.
She froze, wide-eyed, trembling, her sketchbook clutched to her chest.
"Kai…" she whispered. "Stop."
But he couldn't. The Mark howled in his blood, demanding more. Demanding her.
His claws trembled inches from her throat. His breath came ragged, his vision red.
And then
Airi's trembling hands flipped open her sketchbook. On the page—chains, sketched in frantic strokes of graphite. She slammed the paper against his chest.
The drawing glowed. Chains of pale light erupted from the page, binding Kai's arm, choking the flames.
Kai screamed, dropping to his knees, smoke spilling from his mouth. His clawed hand writhed, twisting back toward flesh.
The Mark burned like molten iron… then dulled.
His vision cleared. Airi stood above him, panting, tears streaking her cheeks.
"Don't let it take you," she whispered. "You're still you."
The Colossus stirred, its hollow gaze fixed on Airi.
"…The Weaver's heir…"
Airi's breath hitched. "What…?"
"Your book is the remnant of a god who defied the Tower. You are her vessel. And he" Its skull tilted toward Kai. "is her blade."
The chamber quaked again. A shadow fell across them.
The Warden had arrived.
The colossal figure towered at the shattered entrance. Its body was draped in armor that writhed like liquid iron, its faceless head a mask of void. Its presence alone suffocated the air, smothering thought.
The Colossus roared, wrenching against its chains. Bones cracked, luminous shackles groaned.
The Warden raised its hand. Shadows swirled, condensing into a black spear of smoke.
The Colossus struck back, smashing its skeletal claw down—but the chains snapped taut, stopping it short.
"Run," it thundered into Kai's skull, the force shattering his thoughts. "Run to the Tower. Only the Tower holds your answers!"
The Warden hurled the spear.
The Colossus caught it in its ribs. Black smoke seared through its bones. It roared, wrenching against its chains—then, with a sound like a mountain shattering, it ripped one free.
With its last strength, it slammed its claw down, shattering the floor.
Light burst outward, hurling Kai and Airi into the depths below.
The last thing Kai saw was the Colossus grappling the Warden in a storm of light and shadow, its roar echoing like the death cry of a