The shadow of the Spire didn't fall on the ground. It fell on the sky.
Because the mountain was inverted, hanging suspended from the clouds by chains the width of rivers, its shadow cast a perennial twilight over the valley below.
"It rains up here," Elric said, his voice hollow.
He was right. Dust and small rocks were floating upward, defying gravity, drawn toward the tip of the peak that hung just a hundred feet above the crater floor.
"Magnetic," Kael said. He could feel it in his teeth. He could feel it in his new arm. The obsidian scales were vibrating so fast they blurred.
"It's not a temple," Elric murmured, gazing up at the megastructure. "It's a machine."
They walked to the center of the crater. The ground here was smooth, glassy metal—not paved, but fused. Directy beneath the tip of the inverted mountain was a platform.
And on the platform was a socket.
It was perfectly round, rimmed with the same writing that was etched into the Cylinder.
"We're here," Kael said.
"To do what?" Elric asked. "Knock?"
"No," Kael said. "To enter."
He stepped onto the platform. The Cylinder in his pouch flared with blinding white light. Above them, the tip of the Spire responded. A beam of pale energy shot down, connecting the mountain to the platform.
The air screamed.
"Kael!" Elric grabbed his cloak. "Don't!"
But Kael didn't stop. He held the Cylinder up.
The beam hit it.
Kael didn't dissolve. He didn't burn. He felt... heavy. Like the weight of the entire mountain was passing through him. The Cylinder drank the energy, converting it, and sending a pulse back up into the Spire.
...Key accepted...
With a sound like grinding tectonic plates, a section of the inverted peak shifted. A ramp descended—or rather, unfolded—from the stone.
"It invited us in," Kael said, his voice sounding metallic.
"It invited *you* in," Elric corrected. "I'm just the livestock you brought along."
Kael looked at his friend. Elric was trembling, staring at the alien architecture with primal dread.
"You can stay here," Kael said.
"And die alone in the dark?" Elric shook his head. "No. I sworn an oath to your father, boy. Even if you aren't him anymore."
They climbed the ramp.
The interior of the Spire was vast. No corridors. Just one massive, hollow chamber spiraling upward into the dark. The walls were lined with alcoves. Thousands of them.
And in each alcove, there was a husk.
They weren't human. Some were giants. Some were four-armed reptilians. Some were things that looked like spun glass. But they all shared one trait:
They were mummified. Drained.
And in the desiccated hand of every single corpse, there was a grey, dull cylinder.
"Keys," Elric whispered, walking past a row of dead giants. "They were all Keys."
Kael stopped. He looked at the cylinder in the hand of a dead, bird-like creature. It looked exactly like his, but dead. Inert.
"They didn't come here to rule," Elric realized. The horror in his voice was absolute. "They came here to recharge the prison."
He turned to Kael.
"It's a battery, Kael. The Cylinder isn't a weapon. It's a fuel cell. And *you* are the wick."
Kael looked at his own glowing artifact. He looked at his obsidian arm.
*...fuel...* the voice in his head whispered. ...eternal duty...
"It wants me to take my place," Kael said. He looked at an empty alcove near the entrance. "It wants me to sit down, plug in, and sleep for a thousand years."
"Then we leave," Elric said. "Throw it away. Run."
Kael looked at the ramp. He looked at the exit.
"If I leave," Kael said, "The Spire fails. The chains break. And whatever is locked inside... gets out."
"Let it out!" Elric screamed. "Better a monster we can fight than... this!"
Kael hesitated.
Then, from the darkness high above them, a sound echoed down.
It wasn't a growl. It wasn't a roar.
It was a laugh.
...fresh meat...
Something massive uncoiled from the ceiling. A Guardian. The jailer of the battery.
"Too late," Kael said, drawing his sword.
His arm flared. The Void Sight showed him the creature descending. It was made of shadows and blades.
"We don't get to choose anymore, Elric," Kael said. "We fight. Or we fade."