The transport copter shuddered as it approached Aureus Prime.
"Turbulence!" the pilot shouted over the roar of the rotors.
"It's not wind," Zephyr said, clutching the safety rail. "It is the absence of it. The air is falling."
Julian looked out the window. The city was suffering.
The Hum from the Gilded King had stopped, but something worse had replaced it. Gravity Anomalies.
Cars floating in the streets were suddenly slamming into the pavement as if they weighed ten tons. Birds were dropping from the sky mid-flight. Buildings were groaning under sudden, shifting loads.
The seal on the core was fracturing. The Silent King was letting go.
"We have to hurry," Julian said. He looked at his left arm. The Anchor Arm.
It rested on his knee, heavy as a tombstone. The black metal seemed to absorb the vibration of the helicopter. He didn't feel the engine's rattle on his left side. The arm was a void in the sensory world.
"Set us down on the Titan's shoulder," Julian ordered.
"I can't!" the pilot yelled. "The magnetic interference is too strong! I have to drop you in the plaza!"
The Plaza of Shadows
The copter flared, touching down in the center of the market square.
The team jumped out.
The plaza was empty. The citizens had fled the gravity storms. But it wasn't uninhabited.
"Contact," Lyra raised her rifle.
Rising from the shadows of the stalls were the Ushers.
The silent, robed guardians from the Abyss. They hadn't taken the elevator. They had phased through the rock, drawn by the breaking seal.
There were fifty of them. They formed a ring around the legs of Titan 01.
"They're blocking the entrance," Skid said. "They don't want us to relock the door."
"They aren't evil," Julian realized. "They're antibodies. They think we are the infection trying to break the prison. They don't know we're here to fix it."
"Doesn't matter what they think," Lyra racked the bolt of her gun. "They're in the way."
One of the Ushers glided forward. It raised its hand.
SILENCE FIELD.
The sound of the city vanished. The wind died.
Julian stepped forward. He didn't have his nanite arm to fire a sonic blast. He couldn't disrupt them with noise this time.
But he had the Anchor.
He raised his left hand. The servos whined under the immense weight.
You want to stop the energy? Julian thought. Fine. Try stopping a black hole.
He pointed his palm at the lead Usher.
GRAVITY PULL.
He didn't pull the Usher. He pulled the space the Usher occupied.
The Usher was yanked forward, flying across the plaza at incredible speed.
Julian didn't dodge. He caught the Usher by the throat with his black iron hand.
CRUNCH.
The impact was silent, but the result was brutal. The Usher's form destabilized instantly upon touching the Star-Metal. The creature dissolved into grey smoke.
"Go!" Julian roared, his voice cutting through the silence field (the arm dampened the dampener). "Get to the hatch! I'll clear the path!"
The Gauntlet
The Ushers swarmed.
They wielded their glass blades. Lyra and Zephyr engaged them, fighting back-to-back.
Julian waded into the fray. He fought differently now. No speed. No acrobatics.
He fought like a tank.
An Usher swung a blade. Julian blocked it with his iron forearm. The glass blade shattered against the dense metal.
Julian grabbed the Usher's robe and Pushed.
GRAVITY SHOCKWAVE.
A pulse of distorted gravity erupted from his palm. It hit the line of Ushers like a bowling ball hitting pins. They were blasted backward, smashing into the stone legs of the Titan.
"Isolde! The hatch!"
Isolde scrambled up the maintenance ladder on the Titan's leg. She jacked into the port.
"It's jammed!" she yelled. "The Titan is locked down!"
"Override it!"
"I need a minute!"
An Usher materialized directly behind Isolde, raising a blade.
"Look out!" Skid screamed.
Julian was too far away to run.
He reached out with his iron hand.
Come here.
He focused on the Usher.
GRAVITY TETHER.
He didn't pull the Usher to him. He pulled himself to the Usher.
Julian flew through the air, propelled by his own gravitational well. He slammed into the Usher on the ladder, driving his iron shoulder into its chest. The creature disintegrated.
Julian grabbed the ladder with his flesh hand, hanging fifty feet above the ground. The weight of his iron arm threatened to pull his socket out.
"Open the damn door!" Julian gritted his teeth.
CLANG.
The hatch popped open.
"In! Now!"
They scrambled inside the Gilded King just as the swarm of Ushers began to climb the legs.
Julian slammed the hatch shut and spun the locking wheel.
The Inner Climb
They were inside. The heartbeat of the Titan was erratic—a frantic, strobing white light.
"To the Core," Julian ordered. "We have to bridge the connection."
They climbed the internal maintenance stairs, ascending past the massive gears and Aether-conduits.
They reached the Heart Chamber.
The Golden Flower interface was waiting. But it wasn't glowing peacefully. It was flickering. The holographic map of the Earth showed the cracks in the mantle spreading.
"The seal is at 1%!" Skid yelled. "The Silent King is letting go!"
"Where do I plug in?" Julian asked.
"There's no plug for that arm," Isolde said, looking at the crude iron hunk attached to Julian. "That's hardware. The Titan expects software."
"The Silent King said I have to be the Link," Julian looked at the Core—a column of pure, raw Aether energy rising through the center of the Titan.
"I don't plug into the computer," Julian realized. "I plug into the power."
He walked to the edge of the containment field.
"Julian," Lyra grabbed his shoulder. "If you stick your arm into the main drive stream... the current will flow through you. It's the energy of seven Titans flowing down, and the energy of the Earth flowing up."
"I know," Julian said.
"You'll act as the fuse," Skid whispered. "If the load is too heavy..."
"Then I blow," Julian said calmly.
He looked at Lyra.
"If I catch fire," Julian smiled weakly, "shoot me. Don't let me burn."
Lyra's eyes filled with tears. She nodded, raising her rifle.
"Just get it done, Conductor."
The Connection
Julian stepped into the containment field.
The white light was blinding. The heat was immense, but his iron arm absorbed it.
He stood in front of the central conduit. There was a socket—not a USB port, but a physical indentation in the main drive shaft. A hexagonal hole.
He raised his black iron fist.
He aligned it with the hole.
"Link start," Julian whispered.
He punched his fist into the socket.
KA-THOOM.
The connection was instant.
The world turned white.
Julian screamed.
It wasn't pain. It was Pressure.
He felt the weight of the Gale-Warden in the sky.
He felt the crushing depth of the Leviathan in the sea.
He felt the burning heat of the Magma Strider.
He felt the frozen stillness of the Frost-Breaker.
He felt the rushing sands of the Chronos-Keeper.
And he felt the Gilded King around him.
All that energy rushed into his body, channeled through his left arm, and shot down.
Down through the metal of the Titan. Down through the feet. Down through the bedrock.
Down to the Abyss.
The Handshake
In the deep dark of the Mantle, ten miles below, the Silent King sat on his throne.
He felt the signal.
A pulse of pure, unified Aether hit the chains.
The Silent King roared.
His chains didn't break. They Tightened.
The rusted iron turned black. The glow returned to the runes. The Obsidian floor healed.
The fracture over the Dissonance Core slammed shut.
"THE ANCHOR HOLDS!" The Silent King bellowed.
The Recoil
In the Heart Chamber, Julian was vibrating.
His flesh arm was smoking. His eyes were glowing white.
"He's overloading!" Skid yelled. "Isolde! Vent the excess heat!"
"I'm venting everything I can! The systems are maxed!"
Julian felt his consciousness slipping. The weight was too much. He was going to crack.
Let go, a voice whispered. Just let go.
No, Julian thought. I don't let go.
He remembered the Scrapyard. He remembered the feeling of lifting a heavy beam to save a kid. He remembered the weight of the hammer.
Hold.
He gripped the socket harder. The black iron of his arm began to spread.
It wasn't infecting him. It was Reinforcing him.
The black metal crept up his shoulder, across his chest, up his neck.
It covered his heart in a layer of Anchor-Stone.
CLUNK.
The connection stabilized.
The white light turned Gold. Then, slowly, the Gold turned Black.
The entire Gilded King changed color.
Outside, in the plaza, the citizens watched in awe.
The golden statue turned into a towering knight of black iron.
The humming stopped. The gravity anomalies ceased. The birds started flying straight.
The seal was complete.
The Aftermath
Julian fell out of the socket.
Isolde caught him before he hit the floor.
He was smoking. His shirt was burned away. His left side—arm, shoulder, and half his chest—was now encased in permanent, matte-black armor.
He gasped, sucking in air.
"Did... we...?"
"We did it," Skid checked the map. "The fissures are sealed. The Silent King is quiet. The Dissonance is contained."
Lyra lowered her rifle. She wiped her eyes.
"You're a heavy lifter, Vane."
Julian looked at his hand. It was still clenched. He slowly opened the iron fingers.
"The door is locked," Julian whispered. "And I have the key."
He looked at his team.
"Now," Julian closed his eyes. "I'm going to sleep for a week."