Chapter 129 - Chapter 129: The Choke Alignment

The space between the moss-slicked stone blocks of the conduit did not allow for a tactical spread. It was an iron bottleneck—barely four feet wide, built to carry the unrefined runoff of the upper delta foundries rather than human transit. The air inside the stone throat was thick with the yellow, stinging fog of burning selenium and melting copper insulation pouring out of the shattered chancellery terminal housing behind them. Every breath was a dry, rasping effort that left a bitter, metallic coating on the tongue.