The sapphire hum wasn’t coming from the walls anymore. It was coming from the marrow of Arkan’s bones. He lay sprawled across the jagged metal floor of the "Grave"—the deep-sanctum bunker that was currently roaring upward through the upper atmosphere. The weight of G-force pressed against his chest like a falling mountain, threatening to crush the breath out of his scorched lungs. His human eye was fixed on a droplet of sapphire-colored blood floating in zero-gravity. Around him, the "Fortress" wasn’t stone; it was a screeching metal ribcage, vibrating with the power of a world-ending ascent.
“Arkan! Stay with me! Don't you dare go dark!” Riley’s voice was a frantic shriek over the groaning hydraulics. She was pinned against the secondary control terminal, her hand wrapped in a makeshift
