The air in the Boneyard was ancient.
Kael slid down the final chute, landing in a cavern that curved upward like the inside of a cathedral.
But the pillars weren't stone. They were ribs.
"I tried to tell them," Kael whispered, walking toward the center. "It's not a mine. It's a corpse."
Iron-Hollow was built inside the chest cavity of a Fallen Titan—one of the God-Machines that died during the First War. The miners had thought they were digging through quartz. They had been digging through fossilized circuitry.
Kael found what he was looking for at the base of the spine.
A cluster of crystal spikes, pulsing with a faint, dying rhythm. The Neural Interface.
"Wake up," Kael said.
He placed his Obsidian hand on the central crystal.
Connection.
The world vanished.
Kael wasn't in a cave. He was floating in a sea of static. Data screamed at him—targeting logs, damage reports, tactical maps from a war that ended a thousand years ago.
SYSTEM CRITICAL, a voice boomed in his mind. Not a voice. A thought-wave. PILOT DISCONNECTED. POWER CELLS DEPLETED.
"I am the Pilot," Kael thought back, pushing his will into the stream.
UNAUTHORIZED. BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE INVALID.
The Titan tried to eject him. A surge of psychic feedback hit Kael like a hammer. He fell to his knees in the real world, blood pouring from his nose.
"I'm not asking!" Kael roared.
He dug his fingers into the crystal. The Void-arm flared. He didn't ask for permission. He infected the system. He poured the Void's hunger into the Titan's clean, logical mind.
OVERRIDE, the Titan screamed. CORRUPTION DETECTED. PURGING... PURGING FAILED.
"Give me the cannon," Kael commanded.
He saw the schematic in his mind. The Shoulder-Mounted Mass Driver. It was fossilized, covered in eons of rock. But the core... the core was still active.
TARGETING SYSTEMS OFFLINE, the Titan protested.
"I'll aim it," Kael said. "Just give me the fire."
He pushed harder. The Obsidian arm turned white-hot. The crystals began to crack.
Deep in the mountain, something massive groaned. Not rock breaking.
Gear shifting.
WEAPON SYSTEMS ENGAGED, the Titan yielded. WARNING: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. FIRING WILL DESTROY HOST BODY.
"Do it," Kael snarled.
He opened his eyes. The Boneyard was shaking. The ribs above him were vibrating.
The mountain was waking up.