Chapter 20 - The Map Beneath My Skin
The catacombs recognized me.
The door opened when my blood touched it.
Inside, blue lines rose from the walls and sank into my skin.
I screamed.
A map appeared across my left arm.
Not ink.
Living qi.
[Heavenbreaker Transit Network restored: 1%]
Mira stared at the symbol on my wrist.
"Your mother had that mark."
I froze.
"You knew my mother?"
"No. My father kept a portrait of her in a locked archive."
Jace sighed.
"Of course he did. Why would anything be simple?"
We followed the tunnels beneath the mountain.
Ancient doors opened for me and ignored everyone else.
One chamber contained statues with their faces smashed away.
Another held dead cultivators wearing broken halos.
At the final gate, the gray-robed man waited.
"You're late," he said.
I drew Grief Edge.
"Name."
He smiled.
"Fen."
"You killed my mother."
"I said that because I needed to know whether your system controlled your anger."
My blood went cold.
"You know about the system."
"I built part of it."
The blue interface glitched.
[UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY DETECTED]
Fen tapped the gate.
"Veyr's furnace is above us. Save the disciples first. Hate me later."
I wanted answers.
Instead the ceiling shook.
Screams echoed through the stone.
The ceremony had begun.
Fen looked at me.
"One warning. Do not accept any Foundation breakthrough the system offers tonight."
"Why?"
His face hardened.
May you like
"Because the system is not yours."
