The ship settled with a soft, final hiss on the platform they’d been directed to before their descent into this dark, misty world.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Jack exhaled audibly. “Remember, stay behind me, half a step when we’re walking. And don’t make eye contact if you can help it.”
Madelaine nodded again. Still silent. She was good.
The hatch opened with a low mechanical sigh, and the air that greeted them was colder than it should have been—dry, metallic, carrying the faint scent of stone long untouched by sunlight.
The ship’s ramp lowered and extended until it touched the stone surface of the platform. Black spires pierced a dim, ash-colored sky on all four corners of the structure behind the landing pad.
Jack walked down the incline and out of their ship. Madelaine paused a beat or two before following him, a half step behind, as was required here, until they both stood on the flat surface. Jack put a hand in his front pocket and pressed a button on the remote to let the ramp retract.
They did not want any unwelcome visitors looking around inside their ship during this visit.
In the distance, Madelaine saw more dark, solemn, towering structures dotted across the harsh landscape. Malvoraxis Veil was an ancient, gothic world wrapped in perpetual twilight, with mist rising unexpectedly here and there without rhyme or reason.
Their architecture was cathedral-like, but instead of worship, it exuded control. Her research had told her its whispered name was The Silent Dominion. It was considered a place where voices were measured—and some were never heard at all.
Like Madelaine’s, because she was female.
Don’t speak,she reminded herself silently.
It wasn’t long before they both realized the platform wasn’t empty. It only looked that way at first.
Figures emerged from the shadows as if the dim light had decided to give them shape—tall, draped in dark, structured garments that fell in sharp lines. Their faces were uncovered, but expressionless. And their eyes motionless, but missing nothing.
All of them men. All of them watching Jack. None of them acknowledging her. Not even a flicker. Was this the welcome wagon? If so, they had a lot to learn, in her not so humble opinion.
Madelaine’s skin prickled. It wasn’t just rudeness. It wasn’t even deliberate avoidance. It was as if she didn’t exist.Suck it up, buttercup. You knew this coming in.
A single figure stepped forward, his garments marked with thin, metallic threading that caught the low light like veins of silver.
“State your purpose, off-worlder,” he said.
His voice carried easily across the platform. Not loud. Just absolute.
Jack stepped forward, boots striking the surface with a controlled, deliberate weight. He didn’t rush, but he also didn’t hesitate to speak.
“I’m here for a sanctioned retrieval,” he replied. “An authorized exchange. I seek the Obsidian Reliquary and the Archivist of Silence within.”
The man’s gaze didn’t waver. “Your designation?”
Jack gave it—an alias, a forgettable name and one they had conjured up on their way here—smooth and practiced. No one needed to know their true identities, even though she was fairly certain they didn’t care one iota abouthername.
The man’s eyes slid past Jack.
Not to her but through her.
Madelaine held her breath. Instantly, she dropped her gaze to the stone platform.
One wrong movement. One wrong sound. They’d be done before they even got started. And Jack’s life might possibly balance on it.
“Your conveyance carries two life signatures,” the man said.
Madelaine’s pulse stuttered.
Jack didn’t miss a beat. “It carries what is required.”
