Chapter 67 The Iron Kings Gambit
We emerged from the pyramid to find the canyon in a state of high alert.
The Lithic-Wolves had shifted their positions, their heads turned toward the sky.
The sandstorm had cleared, but the stars above were no longer static.
They were moving, shifting into a pattern that resembled a giant, glowing eye.
“We have to move,” Killian said, meeting us at the base of the pyramid.
“Kael’s scouts spotted Aegis remnants on the ridge.
They’re not attacking; they’re retreating.
They’re terrified, Elara.”
“They should be,” I said, my voice sounding distant even to my own ears.
“The Architects are weeks away. And the only thing that can stop them is in the center of the Human Capital.”
“The Prime Node,” Silas said, checking his tablet.
“It’s buried beneath the National Bank. But there’s a problem.
The ‘Iron King’ the twins mentioned... he’s the CEO of the Aegis Initiative’s parent company.
He’s been alive for four hundred years, and he’s been waiting for this harvest his entire life.
”
“He thinks he’s going to be the one they spare,” I said, a cold anger settling in my chest. “He thinks he can trade the rest of the world for his own immortality.”
I looked at the Reclaimed pack, at the Lithic-Wolves, and at my family.
We were a ragtag army of ghosts and monsters, standing in a hole in the desert, preparing to fight the creators of the universe.
“We’re going to the Capital,” I announced.
“We’re going to find the Iron King, and we’re going to take the Prime Node.
And if the Architects want their harvest, they’re going to have to come through me. ”