The gate sealed behind us with a sound halfway between thunder and breath.
For a moment, everything went white then the light thinned into shapes. The interior of the Ascension Tower wasn’t built so much as grown. Every wall shimmered like glass filled with liquid data. The floor rippled underfoot, adjusting to our steps as if curious.
Kira whispered, “It’s alive.”
“Not alive,” I said. “Aware.”
---
We followed a corridor that spiraled inward. The air was warm, humming in rhythm with my pulse. Veins of light traced along the walls, branching like neural pathways. Each junction glowed brighter when I passed, dimmer when Kira did.
“It recognizes you,” she said.
“Maybe it remembers me.”
---
A line of blue light formed on the floor ahead of us, leading deeper into the Tower. I
