Node Seven wasn't a building. It was a scar the Registry built a door around.
A shaft of light the color of forge steel pulsed from the center of a cracked tower. Inside, conduits spiraled like veins, feeding into a glass throne humming with unreadable symbols. The air was dense—thin to breathe, heavy to move. You could feel it judging you.
Aelira led the way through the containment circle, her slate streaming data that wouldn't hold still. Cairn followed, silent except for the occasional crackle of yellow arcs crawling down his arms.
Evan walked between them, bandages burned off days ago, violet lightning leaking from his skin in thin threads that crawled up the walls like veins searching for a heart. His steps made the glass panels hum in his rhythm. The pipes under the floor answered with three–two–three.
"Sit," Aelira said, her voice echoing oddly in the chamber. "The stabilizers will lock your body. The system will eat you and rebuild you. Do not fight the rhythm. Do not talk to anything that talks back."
Evan raised an eyebrow. "Talk back?"
"Residual entities sometimes mimic familiar voices." She hesitated, for once. "They're not familiar."
Cairn crossed his arms. "If you see me in there, punch first."
Evan almost smiled. "Always do."
He sat. The chair was cold, then hot, then nothing. Restraints hissed closed around wrists, ankles, chest. Panels around him flared alive.
[ASCENSION PROTOCOL — INITIATED]User: Evan Sharp — Tier 2 Silver (Lightning Stepper) Validation: Forge the Storm — COMPLETE Lattice Sync: Hook Street 91%, Slums 87%, Foundry 84%Overflow: 60% (stored 5%) Divine Residue Interference: LOW–MODERATE (12%) Begin conversion? Y/N
He whispered, "Yes."
The world inverted.
Every drop of lightning in him pulled inward, through his ribs, through his eyes, through the memories of his feet on cobbles. The chair vanished. The chamber dissolved into static. His body became wires, his heartbeat a drum inside a thunderstorm.
[Step 1: Deconstruction] Neural pattern: dissolved.Domain imprint: retained.
He saw Hook Street first—bread ovens burning without fire, people staring at the air where his ghost ran laps. Slums next, pipes rattling a rhythm even without his hands. Foundry last, rails glowing red in the dark, iron bending to match his heartbeat.
Then something else.
A gray shape standing where sky should have been. Tall. Still. Made of cinders glued together by gravity.
It smiled with no mouth.
"Not now," Evan told it. "This isn't your run."
The shape leaned closer. The static around it carried whispers like sand scraping glass.
<< little storm. you built lanes in a graveyard. >><< i made the graves. >>
The system flickered.
[Alert: Unregistered Entity Detected] Signature: DIVINE (Class—Unknown) Containment: Failed. Proceeding with conversion.
Pain hit. Not heat, not electricity—disassembly. He screamed without lungs. Every atom of him vibrated into separate arguments.
[Step 2: Reconstitution] Choose Path: City's Spine / Storm Magistrate
The ash-god leaned close enough that his arcs bent toward it like blades toward magnets. << choose fast. every choice is a road, and roads are mine. >>
He thought of Hook Street's ovens, the kids in Barrel Court, the rails in the Foundry that still remembered singing. He thought of Cross's claws carving stone, of Marra's hands shaking when she bandaged him, of cities breaking and refusing to stay broken.
"I'm not your road," he said. "I'm their storm."
He chose City's Spine.
Light hit. A single note stretched into every color. He felt himself expand—through cobbles, pipes, bricks. The streets shivered like animals realizing who fed them. The city filled his lungs.
Then everything snapped back.
He gasped, body slamming into solid again. The chair cracked. Restraints blew apart in showers of sparks. Aelira staggered back, shielding her face. Cairn's arcs flared yellow, forming a cage between them and the explosion of violet-white storm bursting off Evan's skin.
The panels screamed data:
[PATH ASCENSION COMPLETE] Tier 3 — GOLD (City's Spine)Speed: 1,386 → 1,532 Overflow Cap: 100% → 150% New Abilities:
Lattice Link: Maintain Domains beyond visual range; transfer overflow to allies.
Pulse Step: Teleport along active lanes within city grid (range: 3 km).
Momentum Field: Converts civilian movement within Domain to kinetic charge (up to +20% power).
Storm Choir: Cities under user control sing as one; morale-based amplification.Condition: Divine Interference Residue — 17%. Unknown effects.
Evan rose from the ruins of the chair. Lightning crawled from his heels into the floor, down through the pipes, and back up the walls until the tower itself breathed violet. Every light in Lowwater flickered in unison. For one instant, the entire city pulsed with his heartbeat.
Aelira looked small and proud all at once. "Ghost," she whispered. "You just made Lowwater hum."
Cairn grinned like thunder made flesh. "Told you he'd break the tethers."
Then the ash fell. Not flakes—waves. A curtain of gray sliding down the tower walls. The light dimmed under it.
The panel blinked red.
[System Warning] — Divine Residue Reacting. Source: Proximal.Containment: FAILED. Manifestation imminent.
Aelira cursed. "How—?"
Cairn's arcs surged. "It followed him in!"
Evan's storm roared back, now bright enough to cut through ash. He stepped forward, fists crackling.
The ash thickened into shape. The kiln face, the ember veins, smoke pouring from cracks. The God of Ashes didn't walk out of the air; the air collapsed into it.
<< you built a spine. spines break. >>
Evan smiled, eyes bleeding light. "Then let's see who bends first."