Cyrus Thornflare's Arc

Chapter 9 of 11

The compound gate rose out of the fog, iron bars streaked with rust and old soot. Cyrus slowed at the edge of the clearing, their sibling close at their shoulder. The chip burned cold against Cyrus's ribs. The last drop of the vial's residue burned hot in their pocket, pulling one way while the chip pulled the other. Two pulls, two masters, one gate. Cyrus pressed a hand flat to their chest and steadied their breath. Whatever they did next, it had to be now. The two signals fought across the gate's stone face. Red veins of heat crawled up one side, where the vial wanted to mark them. Cold blue lines spread from the other, where the chip wanted in. Where the colors met, the stone cracked and bled a thin pink dust. A reddish spire of mineral pushed out of the wall like alien coral, growing by the second. Cyrus's sibling stepped back. "It's tearing itself apart." Cyrus pulled the chip free. Black silicon, cracked, ringed with corroded metal pins like dead roots. The residue in their pocket flared, dragging their hand toward the bars. Cyrus made the choice. They pressed the chip into the gate's lock plate and let a thin flame seal it in. The pins fused. The lock clicked open. Then Cyrus turned and burned the residue off their palm in one bright flash. The pull died. Their sibling's eyes went wide as alarms began to wail inside the wall. "Gate's open," Cyrus said. "And the stranger just lost their leash." They stepped through together, into the compound itself. The heavy stone bolt groaned as it slid back, moss tearing from its weighted levers. Beyond the gate, floodlights snapped on across a wet courtyard. Boots pounded somewhere out of sight. Cyrus's sibling raised the rifle and shoved the gate shut behind them. The fused chip glowed faint red in the lock plate, eating into the compound's network from the inside. Cyrus drew fresh flame into both palms. The chip was planted. The vial was burned out. Two debts paid, and only one fight left. "Family first," Cyrus said. Their sibling nodded. They ran into the light.