Nate hit the floor badly.
His knees folded under him, and one hand struck concrete before he caught himself.
Above, the platform was already closing.
For a moment, he could still see Cade, Kellan and the others gathered around the opening.
Then darkness covered them.
Graveshare tightened around his right forearm.
A pale display appeared.
SUCCESSION CANDIDATE: NATE CALDER
FIRST MOURNING
MOURNING MARKS: 6
STORED ENERGY: 61%
A second section followed.
RESERVE CONTROL TEST
FLOW LIMIT: 10%
Nate understood what the number meant a second too late.
Graveshare opened the connection.
Energy entered through his right arm.
His breath caught.
His Core had not changed. Neither had his pathways.
The reserve belonged to Graveshare.
His body was only the route.
Pain spread from his shoulder across his chest.
Nate reduced his circulation.
Graveshare continued feeding the amount allowed by the trial.
"Shit."
Light spread through the chamber.
Five metal doors surrounded a circular room. Part of the sixth wall had collapsed inward.
No staircase.
No visible way back up.
The first door opened.
A construct came through at a run.
Short blades extended from both forearms.
Nate drew his field knife.
The machine attacked immediately.
He avoided the first blade.
The second struck Graveshare.
Feedback travelled through the plates and into his shoulder.
His arm seized.
The construct followed.
Nate almost reinforced harder.
Instead, he loosened the shoulder.
Rovan had spent months forcing that lesson into him.
Movement first.
Energy followed.
The next strike passed beside him.
The construct’s right arm straightened.
Commitment.
Nate stepped inside.
Killing Step.
His knife entered the exposed elbow joint.
He twisted.
Metal broke.
The construct collapsed.
Graveshare remained hot against his arm.
FLOW LIMIT: 20%
The pressure increased.
Nate dropped to one knee.
Body Memory reacted around his shoulder, repairing strained muscle while the pathway beneath it continued to burn.
The Skill could protect the tissue.
It could not widen the route.
Another door opened.
Two constructs entered.
Nate stood.
One came directly at him while the second circled.
He reinforced his legs.
Too much.
His first step carried him farther than intended.
A blade cut through his coat.
Nate reduced the flow.
The second construct struck his thigh.
His leg buckled.
Body Memory pulled from the energy crossing his Circuit and stabilized the damage.
Nate finally understood what First Mourning was testing.
He had more energy available than his First Circuit knew what to do with.
The danger came from how much he allowed through.
He backed toward the wall.
The machines could no longer surround him.
The first attacked alone.
Nate slipped the blade, trapped its forearm against Graveshare and drove his knife under the shoulder plate.
The second crashed into it.
He let the collision move him and buried the knife in its central seam.
A twist locked the mechanism.
The first machine tried to rise.
Nate finished it.
His breathing had become ragged.
FLOW LIMIT: 35%
The next increase blurred his vision.
Old weak points in his circulation flared.
Shoulder.
Ribs.
The return route beside his Core.
Blood reached his upper lip.
Nate wiped it away.
"Enough."
The display answered.
FIRST MOURNING IN PROGRESS
CONTROL TEST CANNOT BE INTERRUPTED
The lights went out.
Nate stopped.
Metal scraped somewhere ahead.
Then to his left.
A foot touched concrete.
Air moved beside him.
Nate turned with the strike.
Something passed across his shoulder.
He caught the limb against Graveshare and redirected it.
The machine recovered immediately.
Energy continued pressing through the connection.
Nate kept his circulation narrow.
Only enough reinforcement to move.
The construct struck where he had been.
His boot touched the knife he’d dropped.
Nate kicked it upward and caught it.
A joint clicked in the dark.
The arm extended.
He entered beside the sound and drove the knife forward.
Metal collapsed against him.
The lights returned.
The construct lay at his feet.
FLOW LIMIT: 50%
The increase folded him forward.
A heavier sound came from the collapsed section of wall.
Something pulled itself free.
The new construct was larger, with armour covering almost every joint.
It charged.
Nate moved aside and struck the knee.
His knife barely entered.
The back of its arm caught his chest.
He hit the floor.
Pain spread beneath his ribs.
Body Memory activated.
The next blow shattered concrete beside his head.
Nate rolled away.
Energy was everywhere now.
Waiting behind Graveshare.
He pushed too much into his legs.
His balance broke immediately.
Nate corrected, then cut the flow again.
The construct charged.
He waited.
Its arm swung.
Weight committed.
Nate entered.
The knife struck the same knee.
Again.
The third hit punched through.
The construct collapsed sideways.
Nate drove the blade into the exposed mechanism.
It stopped.
He remained crouched.
FLOW LIMIT: 70%
Pain ran through his right shoulder.
Body Memory repaired the muscle around the damaged pathway.
The pathway stayed raw.
The final door opened.
One construct stood beyond it.
It waited.
Nate stepped right.
It followed.
He stopped.
So did it.
Then it advanced.
An opening appeared beneath its shoulder.
Too obvious.
Killing Step still recognized the committed line.
Nate entered.
The construct changed direction.
Its fist caught his injured ribs.
He stumbled backward.
The opening had been bait.
It approached again.
Another gap appeared.
Nate ignored it.
The construct closed and caught his knife arm.
Nate twisted free.
The knife didn’t.
It skidded across the room.
The next strike came immediately.
Nate raised Graveshare.
Metal slammed against the plates.
Something shifted inside the armament.
Black material extended beyond his wrist.
A rough edge formed.
Nate caught the construct’s arm with it.
The edge shattered.
Feedback tore through his shoulder.
Too much.
He had forced the weapon the same way he had once forced circulation through damaged pathways.
The construct came again.
This time Nate drew less.
The black edge returned.
Shorter.
Cleaner.
Stable.
The machine struck.
Nate moved with it.
Graveshare caught the forearm.
The edge entered the exposed joint.
Nate turned with the construct’s motion and drove it deeper.
The machine stopped.
The blade disappeared.
A message appeared.
MOURNING EDGE
PROVISIONAL FORM ACCEPTED
Nate looked at Graveshare.
Mourning Edge used the reserve directly.
But controlling that energy still depended on him.
His pathways remained the limit.
The display changed.
FLOW LIMIT: 100%
Nate’s face went cold.
The safety limiter disappeared.
Graveshare opened fully.
Energy pressed against the interface in his arm.
His legs failed.
He hit the floor.
The entire reserve was not being dumped into him.
Graveshare had simply stopped protecting him from taking too much.
Every demand from his body widened the flow.
Body Memory pulled energy toward his ribs.
His legs tried to reinforce.
His injured shoulder tightened.
Each reaction asked for more.
Blood filled Nate’s mouth.
Vale had been Second Circuit.
That hadn’t saved him.
More developed pathways only increased how much a bearer could safely control.
They did not make bad control harmless.
Nate closed his eyes.
He stopped trying to become stronger.
One foot moved.
Rovan’s sequence.
A training pattern Nate had repeated hundreds of times.
Shift.
Step.
Turn.
The first rotation hurt.
He continued.
His body moved.
Energy followed.
Another step.
Turn.
Return.
The second rotation was cleaner.
Graveshare offered more whenever his body demanded it.
Nate kept the demand below what his pathways could carry.
Again.
His legs shook.
He restarted.
Step.
Turn.
Return.
Nothing about his Circuit had changed.
He was simply controlling the connection.
Again.
Then again.
The pain began to fall.
Graveshare remained fully available.
Nate stopped trying to use all of it.
A display appeared.
CONTROL STABLE
He completed another rotation.
STORED ENERGY: 14%
First Mourning had burned through most of the reserve that survived Malvern.
One final rotation.
The interface changed.
FIRST MOURNING COMPLETE
BEARER SURVIVED
SUCCESSION ACCEPTED
Nate stopped.
Another panel appeared.
GRAVESHARE
BEARER: NATE CALDER
MOURNING MARKS: 6
STORED ENERGY: 11%
Then:
FIRST EVOLUTION UNLOCKED
MOURNING EDGE
The plates shifted.
Nate kept the connection narrow.
A black blade extended beyond his fist.
Clean this time.
He held it for three seconds.
The reserve dropped.
STORED ENERGY: 10%
Nate released it.
The blade withdrew.
His Core remained the same.
His pathways remained the same.
His two Nodes remained the same.
Graveshare had changed bearer.
Nate had not gained another Circuit.
The platform began to rise.
Cade had his rifle pointed at the opening when Nate came back up.
Kellan stood beside him.
Arlen remained near Rell’s body.
Nate climbed onto the platform.
Cade looked him over.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
"You’re bleeding."
Nate wiped his mouth.
"I noticed."
"Ribs?"
"Still attached."
Cade lowered the rifle.
Varek stared at Graveshare.
"Did it work?"
"It accepted me."
Arlen approached.
"How much is left?"
Nate checked.
STORED ENERGY: 10%
"Not much."
Varek frowned.
"The trial burned more than fifty percent?"
"Yes."
"And the marks?"
"Still there."
Arlen nodded.
"They aren’t fuel."
Nate looked at them.
"They’re records."
"Yes."
Six marks.
Six linked deaths from the old deployment.
The energy those deaths had once added was different.
Rell had spent part of it during his years as bearer.
Vale had burned more during his failed succession.
Nate had just consumed most of what remained.
The marks stayed.
The reserve did not.
Cade pointed toward Graveshare.
"And you?"
Nate opened his Circuit slightly.
His Core produced the same familiar current.
Nothing felt larger.
"Still First Circuit."
"Graveshare?"
"Separate."
Nate flexed his right hand.
"I can draw from it. Anything I use still has to pass through my pathways."
"Output?"
"Same limit."
The display changed.
OLD DEPLOYMENT: TERMINATED
SURVIVING ROSTER MEMBER RELEASED
ARLEN VOS
Arlen stared at his name.
His hand moved slowly to his chest.
Kellan noticed.
"You all right?"
Arlen took a breath.
"Yeah."
Another display appeared.
NEW BEARER: NATE CALDER
ACTIVE DEPLOYMENT LINK: NONE
NEXT DEPLOYMENT LINK: STANDBY
Cade read the last line twice.
"What happens on the next deployment?"
"It reads the official roster when the mission starts," Arlen said.
Nate looked around the chamber.
Cade.
Kellan.
Varek.
Lysa.
Garr.
None of their names appeared.
"This team isn’t linked?"
"Your deployment started before succession. Graveshare doesn’t rewrite a roster halfway through."
"And when a deployment closes?"
"The active link ends."
Cade’s expression hardened.
"Can Calder stop it himself once it starts?"
"No."
Cade looked toward the stairs.
"Then we’re finished here."
Arlen bent beside Rell’s body.
Kellan helped him lift it.
Varek took the other side.
Nate followed.
Graveshare sat heavy around his forearm.
Ten percent remained.
His Core would recover after sleep.
Graveshare would not.
The next time Last Contact opened a deployment with Nate on the roster, Graveshare would read every name attached to it.
And if one of those names died before the mission ended, Nate knew where the energy would go.
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