The air above the Archives rippled with heat as Kira and I climbed back toward the surface. Every wall hummed like a live wire. The system was running too hot pushed past every safety limit it ever had.
Unified. That word should have sounded like victory. Instead it felt like a noose.
Kira wiped grime from her cheek. “You realise we just tripped every alarm in the Spire?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Drayke knows.”
Right on cue, the floor shuddered. Somewhere above, a deep metallic groan rolled through the academy’s structure.
“Martial what?” Kira muttered.
Doors clanged shut in the distance. The sound of boots followed rhythmic, disciplined. Drayke’s personal guard.
---
We reached the central elevator shaft and peered up. Security drones drifted in perfect formation, sweeping light across e
