The distraction came from the world itself. The Spire's alarms blared—a deep, pulsing thrum different from the Core's scream. Emergency lighting bathed everything in red.
"Containment breach in Sub-level 7!" a voice crackled over the intercom. "Entropy surge in primary overflow conduit! All non-essential personnel to safe zones!"
Sage and Valentine exchanged a look. Sub-level 7. The Catalyzation Core. This wasn't a drill. Lysander's people were here, or the Core's instability had finally spiked.
Regina's voice cut through on their personal comms. "Pendragon, Paxregal. You are closest to Sector Theta's monitor hub. Report there immediately and assess if the resonance feedback is linked to the breach. This is a fact-finding mission. Do not intervene."
It was an order, but also an opportunity. The monitor hub was two levels above the Core Chamber, with direct maintenance access.
They ran, the resonator heavy in Sage's pack. The Spire was chaos—enforcers rushing down, technicians panicking. In the crimson strobe, they saw Roxana, directing a security team, her face alight with a fierce, frantic energy. She saw them. "The mechanics! Finally, a real problem! Don't just stand there, fix something!" Her sarcasm was gone, burned away by genuine crisis.
They reached the hub, a small room walled with screens showing violent, spiking data from the Core. The scream was peaking. On one screen, a visual feed showed the great column of Vitae churning, silver tendrils of corruption spreading through it like lightning.
This was it. Not a controlled experiment, but the system's death throes. In the chaos, in the scream, they had to try to sing.