The maintenance shaft was a chaotic, uncultivated space—the only area of Aaru not shielded by the Exiles' Internal Harmony. Elara, Lira, and the Nomad elders scrambled through the dark, their escape hurried by the knowledge that an entire Relic Realm platoon was rapidly closing on their position.
"The Relic Platoon will rely on massive magnetic shielding and sustained kinetic fire," Elara explained as they climbed. "They're built to eliminate threats from afar. We need to be on the Vertical Path before they breach the city."
The shaft opened onto a massive, rusted platform high above the City of Aaru. Before them, rising into the blue holographic sky of the Still Heavens and punching through the Earth-Wards, was the Ancient Space Elevator. It was an impossible sight: a slender, colossal carbon-nanotube spire, fused with ancient Egyptian obelisk geometry, stretching endlessly toward the orbital layers.
"The Vertical Path," Thorne breathed, his Nomad blood resonating with the massive structure. "It was here before the Convergence. It is the only physical tether that survived the Helix's chaos."
"It's inert," Lira quickly confirmed, using her binders to scan the massive structure. "No power signature. The Helix must have deactivated it centuries ago to trap the Foundation Realm."
"But the Aaru Beacon-Engine is still running," Elara realized, racing toward the Elevator's control console. "It's pumping massive, stable Foundation Qi—pure energy—out of the planet. If we divert a fraction of that energy to the Elevator's original core, we might achieve minimal gravitational lift."
The console was complex, covered in dust and ancient, fused languages. Elara began to weave a quick, aggressive Circuitry Proof into the core mechanism, forcing the Elevator to accept the Beacon-Engine's powerful Qi stream.
"We have two minutes!" Lira shouted, peering back down the maintenance shaft. "I'm picking up multiple Relic signatures. They're dropping a perimeter cordon around the City now!"
As Elara worked, Thorne and Sira took defensive positions, using their Nomad resilience to brace against the incoming kinetic pressure. The first signs of the Relic Platoon's arrival were felt: faint, rhythmic kinetic impacts against the City's protective shell, like distant, heavy heartbeats.
"The Helix's logic is relentless," Sira noted, her staff humming. "They will simply erode the City's defenses until the Internal Harmony breaks."
Elara finally slammed the final proof into the console. The Elevator groaned—a sound of monumental age and power returning. A massive, fused-bronze carriage shuddered to life on the platform, its doors sliding open.
"We have minimal power! It's enough for a slow, vertical ascent," Elara yelled over the grinding gears. "But it will be a high-probability target for the Relic Platoon!"
They piled into the carriage. Just as Lira hit the close button, three Relic Realm soldiers, encased in heavy magnetic armor, burst onto the platform. They didn't speak; they immediately fired their kinetic railguns.
The rounds, accelerated by magnetic fields, hit the carriage doors with the force of minor meteors. The ancient bronze held, but the impact sent blinding, high-voltage electromagnetic feedback throughout the carriage.
"Hold on!" Elara yelled, engaging the lift.
The carriage began its agonizingly slow ascent up the impossibly high spire. Outside, the Relic Platoon started deploying magnetic anchors, intending to scale the outside of the Elevator itself.
Lira, nursing a minor electric burn from the electromagnetic feedback, looked down at the rapidly shrinking platform. "We're going to be climbing for hours. And those Relic soldiers will be right behind us, using magnetic scaling to chase."
Elara looked up, her gaze following the spire toward the stars, where the elusive Eye of Lyra stabilized Orrin's hidden location. "We have the data, we have the path, and Kairo is still running. We'll fight them on the way up. The vertical path is about endurance now."
Asha, the Librarian, stood calmly in the corner of the carriage, watching Elara's focus. "You have tracked the First Lie to its source, Reckoner. The Architect is waiting for you in Realm 7. But you are about to discover why the Helix needed the Soul Cache so desperately."
"We know why," Lira interjected, wiping blood from her lip. "To control us—to make us incomplete."
"No, child," Asha said, her voice ringing with finality. "They need the Soul Cache to control him. The final truth of the Aetherforge is not about control over humanity. It is about control over The One who is truly unquantifiable."
Elara looked at Asha, the cold certainty in the Librarian's eyes sending a chill through her. The meaning was terrifyingly clear.
They were not chasing Orrin. They were chasing the only being in the Aetherforge more chaotic and unpredictable than Kairo.