Chapter 55 The Extraction Chamber
I didn’t reach the pits. I was intercepted in the central hub by a squad of Aegis “Nullifiers”—humans in heavy, pressurized suits designed to withstand absolute zero.
They carried liquid-nitrogen sprayers and sonic cannons that disrupted the air, making it impossible for me to form the ice shields I relied on.
“Don’t kill her,” the squad leader commanded.
“The doctor wants her intact for the final graft.”
I laughed, a cold, sharp sound that made the Nullifiers hesitate.
“The doctor is about to find out that the Gene wasn’t her greatest creation.
It was her greatest mistake.”
I didn’t use the ice.
I used the vacuum. I reached out and pulled the heat from the air inside their suits.
It wasn’t about freezing the outside; it was about the internal thermal collapse.
One by one, the Nullifiers fell, their suits frosting over from the inside out as their body heat was sucked into the void I had created.
I stepped over their bodies and reached the heavy, reinforced doors of the extraction chamber.
Inside, the room was a nightmare of silver and glass.
In the centre were two crystalline tanks filled with the same liquid silver I had seen in Selene.
Leo and Liam were suspended in the tanks, their small bodies connected to a thousand wires that glowed with a sickly, rhythmic violet pulse.
Standing between the tanks was Silas.
He was holding a control tablet, his fingers trembling as he watched the data streams.
“Silas, move,” I said, my voice vibrating with the power of the Sovereign.
“Elara, I can’t,” he whispered, his eyes still fixed on the screens.
“The extraction is at ninety-eight per cent. If I pull the plugs now, the surge will fry their brains. She’s using their life force to power the Global Node.
She’s going to turn the entire world into a Ghost Pack, Elara.
”
“I’ll take the surge,” I said, walking toward the tanks.
“You can’t,” Silas said, finally looking at me.
“The surge is tuned to their frequency. It will only recognize the Silver Gene. If you touch those wires, you’ll just be adding your fire to the fuse.
”
“Then we change the frequency,” I said.
I looked at my sons. They looked so small in the vast, cold machinery.
I reached out and touched the glass of Leo’s tank.
“Leo. Liam. Can you hear me?” I called through the bond.
There was no answer. The void where their magic had been was silent.
But then, I felt it—a tiny, flickering spark at the very bottom of the well.
It wasn’t magic. It was memory.
“Thread the needle through the dark...” I began to sing, my voice low and haunting.
The violet light in the wires began to stutter.
The extraction rate on Silas’s tablet dropped to ninety-five per cent.
“...leave a silver, frozen mark.”
The tanks began to vibrate.
The liquid silver inside started to swirl, forming a vortex around the twins.
“She’s coming, Elara!” Silas shouted, looking at the door. “Lilith is coming!”