Kai crouched beneath a sandstone arch as rain hissed against the carved stone, each droplet tracing patterns on the centuries-old reliefs. He could hear the pounding of his own heart and, somewhere ahead, the measured thump of something heavy—mechanical, unceasing—patrolling the ruined corridor. Sweat and dust streaked his face; the stolen memory shard burned like ice in his pocket.
Kai crouched beneath a sandstone arch as rain hissed against the carved stone, each droplet tracing patterns on the centuries-old reliefs. He could hear the pounding of his own heart and, somewhere ahead, the measured thump of something heavy—mechanical, unceasing—patrolling the ruined corridor. Sweat and dust streaked his face; the stolen memory shard burned like ice in his pocket.