The smell of ozone and old blood was replaced by something strange—the scent of engine oil and damp earth.
Ray opened his eyes. His vision was a blurry mess of orange sparks and spinning gears. He wasn't in the rain anymore. He was lying on a metal table, and his chest felt like it had been stitched back together with lightning.
"Don't move," a gruff, mechanical voice commanded. "Your cellular resonance is still stabilizing. If you sit up now, your heart might just stop."
Ray blinked, his violet eyes slowly regaining their glow. He was in a massive underground cavern, filled with rows of salvaged mechs and glowing green computer terminals. This wasn't the High City, and it wasn't the slums.
"Where... where is Elara?" Ray rasped, his throat feeling like he had swallowed glass.
"I'm here, Ray," Elara stepped out from behind a massive turbine, her eyes red from crying. She was wearing a grey tactical vest. "We were found by the 'Rust-Walkers'. They've been living under the city for decades, hiding from the Council's sensors."
A tall, broad-shouldered man with a robotic arm stepped into the light. He wore a mask made from a scavenged sentinel's face. "I am Commander Jax. We've been watching you, Arkanos. Or whatever you call yourself now."
Ray tried to sit up, a sharp pain lancing through his chest. The Mini-Nexus was pulsing steadily, but it was now wrapped in a thin, golden mesh of wires.
"What did you do to me?" Ray demanded, his hand glowing with a weak, purple spark.
"We saved you," Jax said, crossing his massive arms. "The Council's Shadow-Blade didn't just cut you; she injected a 'Mana-Leech' into your bloodstream. It was eating your magic from the inside. We had to use an 'Ancient-Relic'—a stabilizer from the Old Era—to keep you from exploding."
Jax pointed to a large holographic map of Science City projected in the center of the room. "The Hexagon Council has declared Martial Law. They're blaming you for the blackout, calling you a 'Bio-Terrorist'. Every drone, every soldier, and every citizen is looking for the boy with the violet eyes."
Ray looked at his hands. The silver tattoos were still there, but they were darker now, etched with the golden lines of the Rust-Walkers' tech.
"They can call me whatever they want," Ray said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "They think they've trapped me in the dark. They don't realize I'm the one who turned the lights off."
"We have a plan, Ray," Elara said, her voice filled with a new kind of determination. "But it requires you to do the one thing you've been avoiding."
Ray looked up at her. "And what's that?"
"You have to lead us," Jax answered. "Not as a fugitive. But as the King of the Void."