The air in the maintenance tunnel was thick, cold, and heavy with the dust of centuries and the acrid stench of oil and ash. Kael and Lysandra plunged into the absolute darkness, propelled by the urgent need to outrun a Sovereign's rage. Kael's legs burned, his body protesting the extreme expenditure of Absolution, but the pure mana from the spring still held a faint, residual energy enough to keep him moving.
"They'll be through the spring shaft in minutes," Lysandra gasped, her own endurance pushed to the limit. She moved with a desperate, practised agility, her specialised suit offering little comfort in the toxic confines. "The Enforcers' tech will neutralise the local karmic insulator effect faster than we can run."
Kael couldn't rely on his full Karmic Sight here; the darkness was too dense, and the chaotic residual debt of the Black Sands too overwhelming. He was operating on instinct and the faint, cold glow of Lysandra's logical analysis.
"Where does this lead?" Kael projected, his voice echoing wetly in the confined space.
"It's a forgotten service duct for the old oil refinery," Lysandra replied, her hand running along the slimy, concrete wall. Her Karmic Arbitration was working overtime, feeding her a constant stream of predictive data the location of structural stress points, the consequence of taking the wrong fork, the exact moment a tunnel would collapse under the weight of the war-damaged earth. "Most of these paths are dead ends, but my system is prioritising the path of maximum consequence the highest probability of an exit."
They ran, navigating a maze of rusted valves and dripping pipes. Kael knew that the true danger wasn't a cave-in; it was Silas's methodical mind.
Above them, in the ruined silo, Silas stood over the still-recovering forms of Talon and Echo. His gauntlet, the Sovereign Siphon, glowed faintly, having partially consumed the backlash of Kael's purity.
"The purity overload was a feint," Silas stated, his voice now a controlled blade of vengeance. "A desperate, single-use defence to buy time. He is low on power. He cannot fight us now."
Talon staggered to his feet, rubbing his temples. "The purity... it showed me my death, Commander. It was absolute."
"Silence, Talon. Your weakness is irrelevant. It showed us all a possible outcome, a consequence. Now, we rewrite it. He is a Reclaimer, drawn to absolute truth. Logic dictates he chose the most concealed path. Echo, scan the structure. Find the least resistance, the hottest path."
Echo, the silent killer, was already at work. She deployed a network of tiny, metallic spiders that crawled into the duct, mapping the internal structure. "The primary duct leads toward the abandoned rail yard, Commander. High thermal signature detected at the terminus. They are preparing a breach."
Silas smiled, a cold, predatory expression. "Perfect. They are predictable after all. A direct, high-risk escape. They think they can outrun the House of Fates. Talon, secure the rail yard exit. Echo, prepare an aerial perimeter. I will take the short route. We will flank them at their last moment of weakness."
Kael and Lysandra burst out of the dark, suffocating tunnel, gasping for air that was merely cold, not toxic. They found themselves in a massive, derelict industrial hall a forgotten railway terminus. The cavernous space was filled with the skeletons of rusted train cars and ancient, silent machinery. The air was cold, but free of the dust of the sands.
Kael collapsed against a wall, frantically trying to draw energy from the environment, but the pure spring was too far away. "We need a way out. Now. They're on our tail."
"The rail yard offers a jump point," Lysandra said, her eyes scanning the massive, collapsing ceiling. "But a random jump is suicide. The cosmos is filled with Sovereigns who would devour an exhausted Player instantly. We need coordinates. We need an ally who deals in cosmic geometry."
"Who?" Kael rasped.
"The Cartographer," Lysandra revealed, her violet eyes gleaming with calculated hope. "A neutral entity. A Sovereign-tier merchant, but one who deals in information and safe passage, not karmic debt. If we can reach his hidden exchange point, he can give us a temporary sanctuary, a place where even the Broker cannot track us."
As she spoke, the far end of the terminus exploded with a thunderous crash of collapsing steel. Talon, his massive form silhouetted against the toxic haze of the Black Sands, stood in the wreckage, his heavy footsteps shaking the floor.
"End of the line, Reclaimer," Talon roared, his eyes blazing with vengeance. "The debt collector is here."
Lysandra cursed under her breath. "He was too fast! We have no time for the jump sequence!"
Kael looked up, his gaze locking onto the high, arched ceiling. His Karmic Sight, though weak, pierced the darkness. He saw a faint, almost invisible conduit an old, high-voltage power line leading out of the terminus. It was their only path.
"The ceiling," Kael commanded, pulling his Keybearer. "We're not running. We're climbing