Chapter 67 - The Sacrifice of the Gilded Shadow
The bedrock beneath them split with a terrifying crack. A fissure three feet wide ripped across the platform floor, exposing the churning, superheated abyss below. Seawater, cold as ice and black as ink, began pouring through secondary bulkheads high above, hissing violently as it struck the glowing exhaust pipes.
Aurelius stood teetering on the edge of the widening fissure, his titanium spanner dangling from limp fingers. His immaculate gray hair was matted with sweat and soot, his eyes wide and vacant as he watched the Spire's master interfaces go completely dark one by one.
"My Spire..." Aurelius whispered into the rising steam. "My throne..."
"Father, come on!" Álvaro groaned, dragging his battered body toward the primary evacuation capsule on the far side of the platform. "The facility is collapsing! We have two minutes before the ocean crushes this entire level!"
Aurelius turned slowly. He looked at Álvaro, then at Mateo and Marcos, who were calmly securing their backpacks and preparing to board the escape capsule.
"You think you've won?" Aurelius asked, a sudden, terrifying calm settling over his twisted features. "You think you walk away to become heroes, while I drown in the dark?"
With terrifying suddenness, Aurelius sprinted not toward the escape pod, but toward the manual separation lever located on the emergency gangway. If pulled, it would eject the evacuation capsule into the abyss without pressurization, killing anyone inside instantly.
"If I am to be erased," Aurelius screamed, his hand closing around the red hydraulic lever, "we all sink together!"
"No!" Álvaro threw himself forward with every ounce of life left in his broken body.
He didn't reach for the lever. He tackled Aurelius squarely around the chest, carrying both of them over the safety railing and onto the vibrating, buckled catwalk directly above the yawning abyss.
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"Let go of me, you fool!" Aurelius shrieked, clawing at Álvaro's face.
"Get in the pod, boys!" Álvaro roared, his voice cutting through the roar of rushing seawater and buckling metal. Blood poured from his nose and ears under the crushing atmospheric pressure. "Mateo! Marcos! Get in the pod and seal the hatch! Go!"
