Page 202

One grinding turn.

Then another.

Gaining speed, they shook off the centuries.

“So far, so good,” Kato crowed.

The machinery hummed. The rings spun faster. Faster. Until they blurred into a single band of light.

A low vibration built in the chamber. Stone rattled loose, crashing to the ground.

It grew louder. Deeper. The vibrations beneath their feet turned into a rumble that could rattle bone.

Then the gauges started jumping. Wild, erratic spikes that made no sense.

“Shit,” Skye cursed. “That doesn’t look—”

A shrill, piercing whine cut through the air, sharp enough to make them both wince.

“Shut it off!” Kato shouted, hands pressed tightly over his ears.

Skye was already moving, yanking levers and slamming buttons on the control panel. But the rings didn’t slow—no, they fought him, their spinning turning jerky and desperate.

“Skye, turn it off!”

“I’m trying!”

And then it happened.

A blinding pulse of light exploded outward. The shockwave hit like a fist. Kato flew backward, slamming hard onto the ground. His tools scattered, skidding into the dark. Skye barely held his footing, gripping the nearest panel as the force ripped through the room.

Then—silence. The machine gave a final, heavy clunk before it died.

“What the hell just happened?” Kato’s voice cracked.

Skye said nothing, eyes wide, his face drained of color.

Kato followed his brother’s gaze. “Holy mother offuuuck,” he whispered, trying to process what he was seeing.

The chamber was… gone.

The building around them—gone.

The ruins beyond—gone.

Not destroyed. Not damaged.

Just…gone.

A perfectly spherical absence had opened up around the riftway. No rubble. No debris. It was as though a giant, invisible sphere had simplydeletedeverything within its radius. Crystalline dust, like the ghost of the vanished matter, coated every surface, catching the faint light and shimmering.

Only the platform remained—the riftway, its console, and them by proximity, all perched atop a cylinder of stone.

Kato staggered to his feet, brushing white powder from his face. It clung to him, fine as ash. “Well, that was… unexpected.”

Above them, the luminara’s light streaked across the night sky, visible through the perfectly circular opening that punched through to the surface. Trees at the edge of the void leaned inward, their roots half-dangling into the emptiness.

“I suppose it’ll be easier to get out than it was to get in,” Skye murmured.