Chapter Thirty-One: The Spine of the Stars
The decision to leave the earth was not a choice; it was a desperate, final instinct. As the High Harvester's essence dissipated into the grey mist, the sky above the Obsidian Hall didn't just darken—it curdled. The massive bone-ships, once silent observers, began to hum in a low, subsonic frequency that made the very air feel like it was vibrating with needles.
I stood over the cooling ruins of the bone-engine, my silver-grey fur stained with the violet fire of the earth and the green ichor of the invaders. I was no longer just Ember, and I was no longer just the Wolf. I was a living bridge, and that bridge was currently the only way up.
"You're serious," Roric said, wiping his brow with a bloodied forearm. He looked up at the colossal, rib-like structure of the lead ship hanging directly above the valley. "You want to go into the belly of that thing."
