The air inside the abandoned underground railway station was thick with the suffocating scent of damp earth, decaying moss, and old rust. Zeven leaned heavily against a cracked concrete pillar, his large frame casting a long, trembling shadow across the broken stone platform. The neutralizing agent Lyra had administered was working slowly, sending sharp waves of heat through his veins to combat the lingering numbness of his brother's poison. Above them, the distant rumble of the city streets felt miles away, buried beneath layers of reinforced concrete and forgotten iron. Water dripped rhythmically from a leaking pipe somewhere down the dark tunnel, each drop splashing into a stagnant puddle with a hollow sound that frayed his remaining nerves.
"We cannot stay in the open area of the plat
