Noah watched from the deck of the heavily damaged Airshark as the island turtle retreated under the water. He was unable to see if anyone had survived the ruthless attack. Suspiciously, there was no movement from the Kraken. The feeling of being watched had disappeared along with the Kraken sometime during the storm.

The Fallen Citadel was revealed below them, floating in the sky as it became illuminated by night's aurora borealis. Its silhouette was entirely different. All that remained recognizable was the vast gate made of segments taken from salvaged boats. It no longer resembled a ship, instead of looking more similar to a fortress. It was now shaped like a square with high metal walls built from gleaming metal plates welded together. Parapets encompassed the entire construct. Armored Fallen militia wearing open-face helmets with various coloured plumes patrolling the walls.

Behind the wall, slender towers were rising above the walls, lining narrow walkways with flat rooftops. They were built on top of the enclosed depths of the Fallen Citadel. The buildings were of different heights, interconnected by bridges that led through open arches to create a three-dimensional maze. People could be seen strolling across the bridges and cramming through the narrow walkways.

In the centre of the fortress, there was an enormous palace built atop the cruise ship's remains. It was capped by a massive glass dome releasing coloured light into the night sky. Vegetation obscured the contents of the dome from view as it pressed against the inside of the glass. The dome was encircled by a balcony that had a sheltered off-shoot extending toward the front of the fortress, ending above the colossal gate.

"Prepare yourself. If all goes well, our contact will be on duty. The worst-case scenario is that Ronan gets impatient and summons us directly to the throne room. We don't want that. We need to meet with the resistance and speak with David," Josh said to Noah.

The Airshark was descending toward the colossal gate. He could now see underneath the shelter of the balcony. A Fallen soldier was standing in front of a brass steering wheel, wearing extravagant pilot armour with a yellow-plume. The wheel glowed with green-lifeforce atop a tiered platform. As the man navigated, his eyes briefly flashed with yellow light. He barely glanced at the heavily damaged Airshark as he piloted the Fallen Citadel.

Noah heard someone shout out an instruction from a hidden vantage point above the gate. It opened to allow them to passage in response to the sentries order. Noah saw the ballista was still at the gate entrance, but reinforced glass segments had replaced the floor behind it. He could vaguely see the calm ocean far below as people hurried about their tasks across it.

"Why don't we fly to the resistance directly?" Noah asked.

"We can't fly above the walls to enter the Citadel directly by Airshark, or we will be shot down as an invader," Bruce, the pilot, replied.

"That makes sense. What do we do now?" Noah asked.

"Now we be quiet, you need to act the part of a prisoner, or else people will become suspicious," Wayde said as he returned on deck holding a pair of iron shackles.

"Do you want me to put them on? Noah asked.

"Please trust us, Noah," Josh said.

Noah didn't say a word as he raised his arms with his wrists presented to the armoured man. He unceremoniously clamped them on while locking them with a key, which he hung from a cord around his neck. They had entered the interior of the Fallen Citadel. Airsharks were suspended above the glass floor by chains attached to their wings.

I hadn't noticed those indentations before. They must be where the chains attach to. Hold on, what's that?

There was a colossal mechanical suit of armour standing below a sizeable cylinder opening in the ceiling. The construct was held in place atop a circle plinth by metal restraints with the occasional shimmer of coloured light reflected from above. In its hand was an enormous warhammer with the sculpted statue of a giant man with a muscular physique. It was Alex.

Josh was staring at the statue intently while his eyes glowed with purple-lifeforce. The colossal armour looked prepared for battle. The giant helmet on its head was open, revealing the interior. There was a plush bench ringing the interior atop a raised platform. A solitary chair was placed at its base for the operator to sit.

"Is he still alive?" Noah asked.

"Yes," Josh replied simply without moving his eyes.

"Dock at repair station thirteen!" A voice called to them, interrupting Josh's thoughts.

"That's the docking master. We're in luck. It's the member of the resistance," Josh said.

Bruce steered the Airshark into an empty bay labelled by a painted thirteen above it. There was a service walkway above with a Fallen ability-user and a pair of lightly clothed men. The ability user's armour was more decorative than usual. His helmet had a blue-plume, and he wore a black cloak with the image of a serpent on it.

The pair of men dropped down from above, each holding a thick chain to descend. The men clamped them into the wings before turning to Bruce, indicating they were done with their heads lowered in submission.

Bruce's demeanour had changed upon entering the citadel. He was now radiating an aura of arrogance and superiority. His eyes filled with coldness. He dismissed the men with a wave as he deactivated his [Levitation] ability.

Noah and the other men stumbled as the damaged Airshark dropped, taking the slack out of the chains. He could see that the service platform aligned with the top deck of neighbouring Airsharks. While he wondered how they were going to disembark, a suspended platform lowered beside them. It was operated by another blank who avoided eye contact with Bruce at all costs.

"Move, prisoner. Get on," Wayde commanded as he gave Noah a shove from behind.

Noah ignored the provocation as it was a part of their act. He stepped onto the suspended platform, followed by the armoured men and Josh. The pair of workers who docked the Airshark climbed the chains back to the service walkway while the third worker operated a winch to continue lowering the suspended platform. The worker waited submissively until his passengers disembarked, then he returned to the service walkway overhead.

"We will need to travel through the service decks to reach the resistance hideout. Hopefully, we don't draw any unnecessary attention. Walk quickly," Josh informed Noah.

Josh began to lead the group into a side passage. It was wide enough for the group to walk alongside one another, but they travelled in a single-file line with Josh at the front and Wayde at the back. Noah was in the middle, behind Bruce, who acted as if he was being guided on a critical mission. Noah could hear the sounds of a workshop ahead in the distance.

They arrived at a large open factory that contained over one hundred workers. Ability-users utilized a wide variety of abilities as unawakened did the grunt work of hammering or pouring liquid metal into moulds.

One man, in particular, stood out from the rest. He was twice the height of the people hurrying past him with a thick red beard. He stood in the centre of the room, bellowing out orders to people and directing the transport of materials to where they needed to be.

Noah suddenly stopped walking, causing Wayde to crash into his back with a curse. Noah was staring at the giant boss. His size wasn't what caught Noah's attention. It was the extra pair of muscular arms that shimmered with green-lifeforce, waving about a hammer.

"What are you staring at? Get that human waste out of my forge!" The giant bellowed at their group.

"Yes, forge master. We're just passing through," Josh answered.

The man ignored his reply as he seemed to forget their existence as he resumed barking out orders instantly. Workers furtively cast glances in their direction but continued to hurry, being careful not to draw the forge master's ire.

"Who was that?" Noah asked as they left the factory through another side passage.

"That was the forge master. He's who invented the Airshark. His only ambition is to create new and progressively more complex machines that utilize the new abilities that are awakened. He is not a member of the Fallen but is too valuable to be discarded. So he works directly for Sophie. She used to be a mechanic before the Arrival. That's why the pair worked together to create that giant suit of armour we saw... It's called the Titan. Please don't ask any more questions until we reach the resistance. Our time is limited," Josh said.

His voice seemed to waver at the mention of the mechanical suit of armour. Noah suspected he was thinking about his lover, who was being used as a weapon for the Titan.

They continued to walk until they arrived at a set of closed doors. Josh turned to face the group before speaking.

"Noah, ready yourself for what's on the other side of these doors. This is where the food is prepared for the entire citadel. Only the ability-users are supplied meat that the Airsharks bring in. The rest of the population is supplied rations," Josh said.

"I know about the [Create Rations] ability. What's wrong?" Noah asked. He got an ominous feeling as he saw the look in Josh's eyes.

"They use the corpses of dead blanks. Most of them are from natural causes, but some of them aren't," Josh said with revulsion heard in his voice.

"What about the ability-users?" Noah overcame his feeling of disgust to ask.

"It would be bad for morale if the awakened become converted. It would make joining the Fallen a lot less appealing too. Their bodies are buried at sea. Although, there are rumours that Ronan secretly has ability-users turned into higher grade rations for his inner circle during the harvest of their origin crystal. But the resistance has so far been unable to confirm it. Let's go," Josh answered.

Josh placed his hands against one of the doors and pushed. Standing through the doorway was a group of more than ten Fallen militia waiting for them.