Jax tightened his grip on the leash and kept walking toward the tower doors. The words had barely left his mouth when the glowing script on the nearest wall flared brighter, letters scrambling and twisting like they were alive and angry. They burned themselves into his mind one by one, cold and clear:
IT ALREADY KNOWS YOUR NAME, HARLAN.
The voice that carried the warning sounded exactly like Lena's. It was hoarse from poisoned water, the same tone she used when she told him to stop taking stupid risks. Jax's stomach twisted. Not a memory this time. Something real leaking through the bleed. He shoved the feeling down hard. *Calculate the distraction. If the script is talking with her voice, the leash is feeding it my guilt. Use it or it uses you.*
The tower doors groaned open on their own, revealing a long hall lined with hanging chains that moved like living things. Slow, sinuous, dripping black water that hissed where it hit the stone floor. Each chain ended in a different shape: some hooked like claws, others tipped with pale fingers that curled and uncurled. The air smelled of rust and old screams.
Mira stepped in beside him, left shoulder dipping every third step. "This place feels wrong. Like it's waiting for something to feed it."
Lira stayed half a pace behind, fingers tracing faster circles on her thigh. Blood had dried in thin tracks from her nose, but fresh drops were already forming. "The futures just dropped to six. In two of them the chains in here are wearing our faces before we leave."
Jax didn't answer. He scanned the hall instead, cold math running automatic. *High ceiling. Chains hanging at different heights. Good for ambush from above or below. No clear exit yet. Move fast, stay center, don't let anything wrap an ankle.* The leash in his hand felt heavier, warmer, like it recognized its own kind and wanted to join them.
Kael's voice pressed in, dry and patient, no mockery left. *They remember every hand that once held them. Yours will be no different.*
One of the hanging chains suddenly lashed out, fast as a striking eel. It went for Lira's wrist. She didn't flinch, just reached up and touched it with two fingers. The chain froze mid-air, then crumbled into black dust that drifted down like ash. Lira staggered, the circle on her thigh stopping for a heartbeat before starting again. "That one wanted to show me my own death," she said quietly. "It almost succeeded."
Mira cursed under her breath and sent a weak spark into the nearest chain. It recoiled, smoking, but more chains started swaying in rhythm, like they were learning from the first one. The script on the walls flared again, rearranging into new words that crawled across the stone:
THE LEASH REMEMBERS THE GIRL IN THE WATER. SHE IS ALREADY CHOKING.
Jax felt the words like a knife between the ribs. Lena's face flashed; coughing black water, hand reaching sharper than any echo had shown him yet. His jaw tightened. *It's testing me. The tower knows what hurts most and it's using her voice to make me hesitate.* He forced his breathing steady. Three calculated breaths. In. Hold. Out. Then he snapped the leash forward.
The glowing links wrapped two of the hanging chains at once. Power surged back into him, cold and heavy. Visions hit harder this time: Lena on her cot in the underlevels, eyes glassy, whispering his name while the water rose. Him turning away because Rico's pay looked better. The guilt burned, but he used it, yanked harder, feeding the new shadows into his own leash. The hanging chains screamed as they dissolved, the sound echoing like distant human voices.
Mira moved with him, lightning crackling weaker but still deadly. She punched a chain that tried to wrap her ankle, her shoulder tic kicking in hard. "These things are learning. They almost copied your leash's glow."
Lira touched another chain, unraveling it, but she dropped to one knee afterward, blood dripping steadily now. "Five futures left. In one of them you let the leash take full control to save us. You don't come back from that one."
The hall narrowed ahead into a circular chamber. At its center floated a single black shard, larger than the one from the temple, pulsing with the same blue light. Around it, the chains hung thicker, braided together like a cage. The script on the walls had stopped moving. Instead it formed one final sentence that burned steady and bright:
FEED IT OR LOSE HER FOREVER.
Jax stopped at the edge of the chamber. The leash in his hand vibrated, eager. He could feel Kael waiting, silent but coiled. Mira and Lira flanked him, both breathing hard, both watching him.
He stared at the floating shard. *Calculate the cost. Take it and the visions get worse. Leave it and the bleed back home speeds up. Either way Lena pays.* For the first time the cold math felt slippery, like the leash was nudging the numbers.
A low rumble rolled through the tower. The braided chains around the shard started unwinding, reaching toward the three of them like they already knew which one would break first.
Jax rolled the leash across his palm once, the links biting skin.
"New plan," he said, voice flat. "We take the shard. But if the leash starts talking with her voice again… cut me loose."
The braided chains lunged forward as one, and the chamber lit up with the shard's hungry blue glow.