The Spiral was dying, and it was screaming the whole way down.
The hundred-foot-wide central mega-escalator served as the arterial spine of the Alpha Silo, but Will had siphoned its leyline power an hour ago. Now, the colossal interlocking gears were starving for mana. They ground against each other with an agonizing, multi-ton groan, the metal stairs shuddering and stalling every few seconds.
The air in the cavernous central shaft was thick with the harsh stench of ozone and vaporized synthetic rubber from the failing emergency brakes. Warning strips cast a frantic, strobing amber light across the terraced steel, illuminating absolute chaos.
Allison burst through a Sector 1 service door, her Vanguard spilling out onto the broad, descending track just as the stairs buckled.
