The freight lift rattled violently as it climbed through layers of the ruined city. Metal groaned, cables screamed, and dust fell like snow from the ancient shaft walls. No one spoke. They only listened — to the creak of machinery and the faint, rhythmic thump echoing above them like a heartbeat.
Finally, the lift stopped with a violent jerk.
A single emergency light flickered overhead, painting everyone in red.
“End of the line,” Hannah said grimly, prying open the warped doors with her knife. Cold air rushed in — air that smelled of ash and rain.
Ethan stepped out first. The city above them was unrecognizable.
Where once towers had stood, now jagged silhouettes clawed at the grey sky. The clouds pulsed faintly, threaded with distant blue veins — Elysium’s presence in the atmosphere.
