Austin sat on the Timber Lodge porch while the mountain’s nine floors hummed below him.
The core in his chest contracted. Heat and pressure rose together.
The porch beams groaned. Austin added ballast to his belt. “Proper ballast solves most load problems,” he said. Then he tightened containment before the weight could spread.
Above him, the Second Sun brightened. Broad loops of fire formed a crown around it. Warm light crossed the valley.
Then a second warning appeared.
Two pulses answered inside his chest. They were not yet separate cores, but each pulled against the other.
Tie Kuang arrived with a level. “Is the breakthrough stable?”
“The power is stable. The structure is not.” Austin showed him the warning. “If the core splits, the two centers will orbit. Their gravity will create shear through the mountain and the grid.”
