The air inside the shaft ignited. It was not a fire of wood and oxygen, but a violent, blistering release of stored potential. Elian’s hands became the focal point of the discharge. The cables groaned, their insulation peeling away in ribbons of black smoke, before the surge surged forward like a tidal wave of blue lightning.
The blast hit the overhead rock slab with the force of a tectonic shift. For a heartbeat, the shaft was consumed by blinding white brilliance, deafening in its intensity. The rock shattered, pulverized by the raw electromagnetic overload. Elian screamed, the sound lost in the roar of escaping pressure, as the recoil of his own power slammed into his chest, throwing him backward against the slick iron rungs.
Above them, the exit cleared. Debris rained down, mixed wi
