The apartment was quiet after Varek left. It was a heavy, suffocating silence that pressed against Thalos's ears.
He locked the dented door as best as he could, jamming a metal chair under the handle to keep it shut. It would not stop a dedicated attacker, but it would buy them a few seconds of warning.
He turned back to Elara.
She was still huddled on the mattress, her breathing ragged and wet. The "Stone Sickness" was in the final stages. The calcified dust of the Titan was turning her lungs into statues, cell by cell. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, and the blue veins on her neck pulsed with a sickly, irregular rhythm.
Thalos knelt beside her. He pulled the silver cylinder from his pocket and twisted the cap. A hiss of pressurized gas escaped, revealing the glass vial inside.
The liquid was a deep, electric blue. It glowed in the dim light of the apartment, casting long shadows against the rusted walls.
"It is okay, El," Thalos whispered, his voice trembling slightly. "I got the Grade A stuff. Doc Silas said it works in seconds."
Elara opened her eyes. They were unfocused, swimming with fever. She looked at the vial, then at Thalos.
"Expensive," she rasped. Her voice sounded like grinding stones. "We... can't afford..."
"It is paid for," Thalos said firmly. He brushed a strand of damp hair from her forehead. "Varek is gone. The rent is paid. You just need to drink."
He lifted her head gently. Her skin was burning hot to the touch.
"Drink," he urged, pressing the cool glass to her chapped lips.
Elara hesitated, then parted her lips. Thalos tipped the vial. The glowing blue liquid flowed into her mouth. She swallowed it with difficulty, wincing as it went down.
Thalos set the empty vial on the floor. He held her hand, waiting.
He expected a miracle. He expected the color to return to her cheeks. He expected the wheezing to stop.
For ten seconds, nothing happened.
Then, Elara stiffened.
Her fingers clamped down on Thalos's wrist with surprising strength. Her eyes went wide, the pupils dilating until the irises were swallowed by blackness.
"Thalos," she gasped. "It burns. It... it is so cold."
"Cold?" Thalos frowned. The medicine was supposed to dissolve the crystals, warming the blood. "Just breathe through it, El. It is working."
"No," she whimpered. She arched her back, her spine bowing off the mattress. "It is not... it is not stopping. It is waking up."
CRACK.
The sound came from inside her chest. It was loud, like a dry branch snapping in winter.
Thalos recoiled. "Elara!"
A shockwave of freezing air blasted outward from her body. It hit Thalos like a physical hammer, knocking him backward. He skidded across the metal floor, slamming into the opposite wall.
The temperature in the room plummeted. Frost bloomed instantly on the windows, spiraling in intricate, fractal patterns. The puddle of water near the sink froze solid with a sharp snap.
Thalos scrambled to his feet, ignoring the bruise on his back. "System! What is happening? Is she allergic?"
A blue holographic window materialized in front of him, flashing red warnings.
[Alert: High Energy Signature Detected.]
[Source: Subject Elara.]
[Analysis: Grade A Suppressant interacting with latent Titan Dust.]
[Warning: Mutation Imminent.]
"Mutation?" Thalos yelled. He rushed back to the bed. "Stop it! Neutralize the reaction!"
[Error: System Influence restricted to Host Body. Cannot intervene.]
Elara screamed. It was a sound that tore at Thalos's heart.
The blue veins on her neck did not recede. They ignited. They turned a bright, neon sapphire color, glowing so intensely that the light shone through her skin.
Then, the skin broke.
Jagged, blue crystals erupted from her collarbone. They grew rapidly, clicking and chiming as they expanded, forming a protective lattice over her throat and upper chest. They looked like diamonds, but they pulsed with a biological rhythm.
Thalos reached out to grab her, to hold her down, to do something.
[Warning: Bio Electric discharge detected.]
He did not listen. He grabbed her shoulder.
ZAP.
A bolt of blue lightning arced from Elara's skin into Thalos's hand. It threw him back again, his arm completely numb. He stared at his hand. His grey, armored skin was scorched black in a small circle.
"Elara, fight it!" Thalos pleaded from the floor. "Don't let it take you!"
The light in the room intensified. The humming of the apartment's ventilation system seemed to synchronize with the pulsing of the crystals on her chest.
Then, silence.
Elara collapsed back onto the mattress. The light faded to a soft, steady glow. Her breathing had changed. It was no longer the wet rattle of a dying girl. It was deep, slow, and resonant, like the hum of a large machine.
Thalos crawled toward her. "El?"
She sat up.
She moved with a fluid, unnatural grace. She turned her head toward him.
Her eyes were no longer human. The whites were gone. The pupils were gone. Her eyes were solid, faceted gems of glowing blue light.
She blinked, and the sound was like two stones clicking together.
"Thalos," she said.
Her voice was different. It was harmonic, layered. It sounded as if two people were speaking in perfect unison. One was Elara. The other was something much older.
"I am here," Thalos whispered, terrified. "Are you okay? Do you know me?"
Elara tilted her head. She looked at her hands, which were now dusted with fine sapphire powder. She traced the jagged crystals growing from her collarbone.
"The static," she whispered. "It is gone. The noise in my head... it stopped."
She looked at Thalos. Her gemstone eyes seemed to look right through his skin, seeing the bones and the organs beneath.
"You look different," she said softly. "You shine. Like a furnace."
Thalos swallowed hard. "The medicine... it changed you. Like the Titan changed me."
Elara closed her eyes. She took a deep breath.
"I can hear him," she murmured. "The Titan. He is sleeping deeply. But he is dreaming."
"Who is dreaming?"
"The Mountain," she said, pointing at the floor. "His heartbeat is slow. One beat every hour. But his dreams... they are loud. They scream."
Thalos felt a chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold. The medicine had not cured the Stone Sickness. It had merged with it. It had turned his sister into a living antenna.
Suddenly, Elara's head snapped toward the wall on the left. Her crystal eyes narrowed. The light pulsing in her neck flared brighter.
"Quiet," she hissed.
Thalos froze. He listened. The apartment was silent except for the distant hum of the sector.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Something small," Elara whispered. "Hungry things. They are scratching inside the metal."
Thalos frowned. "There is nothing there, El. That is the ventilation shaft for the lower levels. It is sealed."
"No," she insisted. She stood up. As her bare feet touched the floor, a patch of frost spread outward from her toes. "Three of them. Scuttling. They smell like rust and old blood. They are waiting."
Thalos looked at the wall. He trusted his own senses, but he had just acquired them. Elara seemed to be tuned into a frequency he could not hear.
He decided to trust her.
[Skill Activated: Predator Senses.]
Thalos focused his hearing. He pushed past the sound of the wind, past the hum of the fridge. He focused on the wall Elara was pointing at.
Scritch.
Scritch. Scritch.
It was faint. Almost inaudible. The sound of claws on metal.
[Perception Check: Passed.]
[Entities Detected: 3.]
[Type: Corpse Rats (Mutated).]
[Level: 2.]
Thalos's blood ran cold. Corpse Rats were scavengers of the dead, usually found in the lower intestines. They never came up to the Residential Ribs unless they were desperate. Or unless they were hunting something specific.
"They hear my heart," Elara whispered. She touched her chest. "It is too loud now. It sounds like a drum to them. It calls them."
Thalos stood up slowly. He rolled his shoulders. The grey plates on his skin shifted, locking into place. His hands curled into fists, and for the first time, he felt the black claws extend fully from his fingertips.
"Let them come," Thalos said, his voice dropping into a growl. He stepped between Elara and the ventilation grate. "They want a meal? They can have me."
Elara shook her head. "They are not alone, Thalos. The rats are just the scouts."
Before Thalos could ask what she meant, the scratching stopped.
For a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then, the ventilation grate exploded.
CRASH.
Metal screws popped like bullets. The heavy steel grate flew across the room, embedding itself in the opposite wall.
Three massive shapes burst into the apartment.
They were Corpse Rats, but they were monstrous. Each one was the size of a large dog, hairless and covered in weeping sores. Their teeth were yellow chisels, long enough to bite through bone. Their eyes glowed with a feral red light.
They landed on the floor, their claws gouging deep scratches into the metal plates. They hissed, a sound like steam escaping a pipe.
All three of them looked past Thalos. They looked directly at Elara.
The glowing blue light of her mutation was like a beacon to them. It was pure energy. Pure food.
"Mine!" one of the rats shrieked. It could not speak, but the intent in its hiss was clear enough.
Thalos did not wait. He did not check his corners. He did not hesitate.
He lunged.
He moved faster than a human should be able to move. He closed the distance to the lead rat in a blur of grey motion.
"Welcome to the wrong room," Thalos roared.
He swung his fist.
SPLAT.
His armored fist connected with the first rat's skull. There was a wet crunch, and the rat's head simply ceased to exist. Brain matter and dark blood sprayed across the wall.
[Enemy Defeated: Corpse Rat.]
[XP Gained: 15.]
The other two rats did not flee. They were frenzied by the scent of Elara's energy. One of them leaped at Thalos, aiming for his throat. The other scurried past him, scrambling over the furniture, heading straight for the girl.
"Elara! Run!" Thalos shouted.
He raised his arm to block the jumping rat. Its teeth clamped onto his forearm.
CRUNCH.
The rat bit down hard. But instead of tearing flesh, its teeth met the [Dermal Plating] Thalos had harvested from the Beetle.
The rat's teeth cracked. It squealed in confusion.
Thalos grabbed the rat by the scruff of its neck. He ripped it off his arm and slammed it onto the floor. He stomped on its spine with his heavy boot.
SNAP.
[Enemy Defeated: Corpse Rat.]
[XP Gained: 15.]
Thalos spun around.
The third rat was already in the air. It was mid leap, its claws extended, aimed right at Elara's face.
Thalos was too far away. He reached out, but he knew he would be too slow.
"NO!" he screamed.
Elara did not run. She did not scream.
She raised her hand. Her crystal eyes flared with a blinding blue light.
"Stay," she commanded.
The air in front of her shimmered. The temperature dropped to absolute zero in a split second.
FLASH.
A cone of cold energy erupted from her palm. It hit the rat in mid air.
There was no sound of impact. Just the sound of instant freezing.
The rat stopped moving. It hit the floor with a heavy THUD. It did not twitch. It did not bleed. It was a solid block of ice, frozen so thoroughly that its internal organs were preserved in suspended animation.
Thalos stood there, his chest heaving. He looked at the dead rats. Then he looked at his sister.
Elara lowered her hand. She stared at the frozen rat, looking surprised by her own power.
"I..." she stammered. "I just wanted it to stop."
Thalos walked over to the frozen statue. He tapped it with his claw. It rang like a bell.
He looked back at Elara. The fear in his chest was replaced by a grim realization.
The Titan had not just changed him. It had weaponized them both.
[Combat Encounter Ended.]
[XP Total: 30.]
[Warning: The scent of blood is spreading.]
"We can't stay here," Thalos said, kicking the frozen rat toward the door. "You were right. The heartbeat is calling them. If the rats heard it, others will hear it too."
He went to the closet and grabbed his heavy backpack. He started shoving protein bars and water bottles inside.
"Pack your things, El," Thalos ordered. "We are leaving."
"Where?" Elara asked, shivering as the adrenaline faded.
Thalos looked at the ceiling, toward the distant, heavy plates of the Spine Sector.
"Up," Thalos said. "We are going to find the heart of this thing. And we are going to eat it."