The ruins of Old Fairview groaned under the weight of a collapsing sky. Ash fell like dirty snow, coating the cracked pavement and fractured windows. Somewhere in the distance, a Hollowed howled—a sound like metal grinding over bone, like hunger given voice. And in the heart of it all, I stood clutching a jagged blade, my hands shaking.
Not from fear.
From what I had become.
"Elias," Adrian said beside me, his face smeared with soot, blood streaked across his temple. "You sure you want to do this?"
I looked past him at the skeletal remains of the Old Capitol building. Twisted rebar jutted from the sides like the bones of some long-dead leviathan. Somewhere in there, they said, was the Core. The Heart of the Scourge. And maybe—just maybe—a chance to end it all.
"I have to," I said.
"E
