The tension in the underground garden was a physical weight, pressing against our chests. We were at a stalemate: Julian Vane held the trigger to the city's destruction, and we held the only lineage that could actually stop the architects.
"Mama," Liam whispered, pulling on my sleeve. His eyes were wide, staring at the Prime Node. "The Iron King isn't telling the whole truth. The Node isn't recording us. It’s... it’s eating us."
I looked closer at the swirling white energy in the column. Now that my eyes were adjusted to the mundane light, I could see it—the energy wasn't just data or light. It was souls. Tiny, flickering sparks of life force were being pulled from the millions of people in the city above and funnelled into the Prime Node to keep Vane’s "Dead Zone" running.
"He's usi
