The message came early far too early for anyone with pure intentions and yet, when Caleb placed the silver flash drive onto my desk with his jaw clenched and his eyes a shade darker than concern, I already knew whatever I was about to hear would be something I couldn’t un-hear once it echoed through this room.
He didn’t explain.
Didn’t soften it.
Just said, “It’s them,” and left the room like he couldn’t bear to listen to it twice.
And that alone told me everything.
I plugged the drive into my laptop without ceremony no security checks, no hesitation, because sometimes survival means diving headfirst into the fire before it burns down the evidence of what tried to consume you.
The audio file was simply titled: “ThroneRoom.wav.”
And the second I pressed play, I understood the name.
