By thetime the geyser receded, the machinery of the obelisk had become a slag ofmetal, so twisted and rent that it was almost unrecognizable as a pneumaticseries of pipes.Glass dripped from the pillar, molten and bubbling.Throughthe hissing smoke, his father slithered up the walls of the obelisk, fleeing innaked fear.
Belowthe screaming souls, a voice rose from the depths.
“Youinsolent child!”
Isaacfelt a stab of fear.
“Youthink you can challenge me?”Berith shouted.
Anotherrumbling shook the obelisk.Inside the glass pillar, the souls quickened intoclouds, almost condensing into a solid accretion.Faces gasped through the fog.An instant later, the mashed souls were shot into the surrounding pipes, suckedaway like water through a straw, causing the entire obelisk to dance withbright light and racing shadows.
Berithwas a necromancer.He could control the souls as much as the bones.
Thescreams reached a crescendo.
“Getdown!”Isaac yelled.
Thistime, he tackled Zaria, sending them sprawling across the stairway as thenetwork of pipes exploded beside them, all the overloaded pressure of soulserupting in a geyser of valves, junctions, and fittings.Isaac felt a storm ofmetal screaming around his flesh.A short distance away, the winding stairwaycrumbled from the blast, a curtain of broken masonry raining down into thedepths of the earth.
Hisears rang.For a moment, all sound fell away, and Isaac could do little elsebut cringe flat to the stairs, coughing at the acrid smoke.
Eventually,he raised his head.The path in front of them had been destroyed.There was afissure in the winding stairway, creating a gap that lasted almost half arevolution around the circumference of the tower.It was far larger than Isaacdared to leap.
Therewas no way down.
“Isaac!”Berith yelled, his voice distant and small.
Isaacclenched his jaw.
“Thiswas never your mission!”
Isaacrose to his feet, smoldering in rage.
“I gaveyou a chance, boy!You’ve wasted it!I promise, if you come any closer—”
“Doit!”Isaac yelled.“Kill me!”
Helooked down.Once again, he saw Berith’s glowing eyes, looking up through thedistant machines.His gaze was locked and steady.
“I’mstill alive!” Isaac shouted.“If you want to kill me, you’ll have to do ityourself!No more hiding behind your slaves!”
Theeyes glared.
“Faceme, uncle!”
Theeyes narrowed, then disappeared.
“Youcoward!”Isaac screamed.“Youliar!You are nothing but a puppet of theDiet!Doyou hear me?You are as much aninstrument as me!”
Theonly response was a haunting melody of souls, still swirling through the pillarof glass.For a moment, Isaac was so furious, so utterly consumed with rage,that he nearly flung himself down the length of the tower, hoping to landdirectly on his uncle’s head.The only thing that stopped him was the sound ofZaria groaning in pain.
Reasontook hold.
He tooka long, simmering breath.
When hefelt somewhat collected, he began to examine his situation, like a man standingin the eye of a storm.Peering over the edge of the stairs, the obelisk seemedto extend an incalculable distance below, much further than he could seethrough the tangle of pipes and souls.It was likely as tall as the legs of thecolossus, which would mean certain death if he dared take the plunge.
A shortdistance ahead, stone continued to tumble from the broken stairway, includingseveral other spots where the necrotic bones had melted through the brick.Theair was filled with hissing smoke and the wisps of severed souls.Through thefog, he could see the rest of the stairway spiraling down the tower’s length,the unbroken path beginning somewhere on the other side of the glass pillar.Itseemed as if the damage was mostly centered at their location.
