“You wanted a building that stood higher than the clouds. You never considered what would happen if it fell.”

—Azdrogaw the Builder, to the Prince of Parason

The bike lurched forward—the three wheels all turned at the same time, and they whipped around toward the exit. Reida ducked down as they darted through the system of back alleys. They came to what appeared to be a dead end—Reida maintained speed while closing in on a concrete wall. Zaina shouted—at the last second they swerved, pulling out into the main road.

Reida sharply turned the bike’s steering bars, barely dodging another grounded vehicle on seven wheels. All Zaina could do was hold on for dear life as Reida weaved in and out of traffic with reckless abandon, her hair whipping onto Zaina’s face.

Mercifully, their ride came to an end on the main road. Reida stepped off and helped Zaina, who was shaking, to dismount and stand. The noise was amplified here, as was the size of the crowd surrounding them.

“I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but you drive like you’re trying to kill someone,” Zaina said in a shaky voice.

“I only hear it from the ones that survive.” Reida winked. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where are we going now?”

“To the highest point in Otmonzas,” Reida said. “Agrilan Tower.”

“What—why?”

“I’ll explain on the way. Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time. Come on, let’s get going.”

Reida walked into the ground-floor door of a nearby skyscraper. For a second, Zaina lingered behind, turning back—there, in the not-so-far distance, was Bilvane’s black tower, looming over almost everything. Both buildings extended into the foggy layer of the sky.

“Hey!” Reida called out from inside. “Come on! We are on a schedule, you know.”

Zaina hurried inside. The first floor was devoid of people; with all the desks, glass panes, and seating, she guessed it was some sort of reception area. Reida darted toward the elevator in the back, a black capsule in a sleek, white tube.

“What is this place?” Zaina asked as she stepped into the elevator.

Reida pushed a button and said, “It used to be the headquarters of one of Bilvane’s rivals. Now it’s rented out for office space by Bilvane—but the rooftop is usually used for parties. That’s where we’re headed.”

“To a party?”

“That’s right. So be on your manners.”

The door closed, and without a moment’s delay, the capsule rocketed upward—Zaina’s knees almost buckled, but she kept her legs under her.

Most of the elevator’s tube system was hyper-glass, giving an excellent view of the city’s infinite lights stretching out, growing smaller and smaller as they ascended. The gray smog clouded their view for a few seconds, but then they emerged above it, and it was unlike anything Zaina had ever seen. Her jaw dropped. There above the clouds were only two peaks—theirs and the black monolith. None of the light or noise from below was present. For the first time since she’d gotten here, Otmonzas was quiet. Here above the world she felt like she could pluck a star right out of the night sky.

The capsule came to a stop and popped open. Zaina’s eardrums nearly exploded as bass-boosted music blared into her ears, and she closed her eyes to keep strobe lights from flashing in them. This wasn’t like any party she’d ever been to—not that she’d been to many.

Reida walked out, seemingly unbothered, and strayed toward the edge of the dancing crowd. Zaina followed. Anyone who laid eyes on them generally looked the other way, though a few people hurriedly made for the exit.

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Zaina sighed. If only they knew we’re here to help.

They made their way to one of the side walls, where the crowd was thinnest. Zaina’s ears were ringing and her head aching from the bombardment of music; still, she was lucid enough to watch Reida pull two one-foot-diameter discs with glowing edges from a compartment in the back of her armor. She then put two wrist-bracers on, each shining with the same light blue glow.

Reida threw one over the edge of the building—it wobbled in midair and then hovered in place, stiff as a board. Reida stepped onto it—the bracer on her wrist controlled the other one, and with a smooth motion, she brought it in front of Zaina and nodded toward it.

A sharp sense of fear gripped Zaina as she stared at the disc. The gray clouds below weren’t as beautiful on the edge of a building. She gulped and stepped onto it—her foot barely fit. It didn’t rock or sway as she stepped on, but she was still barely able to keep her balance.

Reida mouthed the words Hold on.

The disc moved forward—it was slow and steady, but Zaina still almost lost her footing. She crouched down, gripping the sides of the floating disc with her hands and pressing her feet against its surface. They crept forward in midair, moving at about a walking pace. Reida was perfectly balanced on her disc.

How is she so calm? Zaina wondered. A drop of sweat fell from her nose. It missed the disc entirely, and she lost sight of it quickly; it had fallen somewhere amid the dense fog hundreds of feet below. She gulped.

The noise from the rooftop faded away as they ventured out further. Before long it was low enough that Zaina was able to hear again.

“So,” she said, “what’s the plan for getting in? I thought you said this place was like a fortress.”

“I’ll fill you in on everything when we reach the rooftop.”

“Why did we have to come this way?”

Reida shot her a perplexed look. “What, don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights?”

“Not usually, but this—this is a little insane!”

“Hold tight and you’ll be all right,” Reida replied. “We’ll be there in a few more minutes.”

A ship burst through the layer of smog below and shot into space before Zaina blinked. A knot formed in her stomach—they didn’t want to be seen, obviously, but they also didn’t want any oblivious pilots crashing into them from below.

Zaina sighed with relief as they reached the three-quarters mark. Ships streaked away at random, but Reida kept them out of harm’s way.

This might go smoother than I thought.

Another ship, this one much bigger, broke free of the cloud below. Its secondary engines gave off a fiercely bright blue glow as they activated. The transport burst upward, causing a shock wave. The disc beneath Zaina’s feet tilted, then fully rotated; she lost her footing and then her grasp. A shriek escaped her lips as she plummeted toward the surface below.

Thinking quickly, she grabbed the hook-gun. She tried to quell her panic—there was only one shot at this. She lined it up and pulled the trigger—

Yes!

The metal tip careened at the hovering disc and went right through its center, piercing its internal circuitry. Its light sputtered and faded.

No!

Weightlessness and dread were the only sensations she felt. She’d come this far, only to die like this? It wasn’t fair.

Suddenly, Zaina’s descent jerked to a halt. She yelped, hanging on for dear life to the hook-gun’s handle. She glanced upward. Reida, still atop her own floating disc, had fired her hook-gun through Zaina’s broken one, holding it in place.

At the same time, they both retracted the lines on their hook-guns until the flat sides of their discs met. Reida’s face was turning red from bearing Zaina’s weight, but she held strong. Reida’s functional disc flipped and dipped below Zaina’s feet, allowing her to step atop it; Reida knelt upside-down against its bottom, gripping the edge with one hand and the hook-gun with the other to hold herself in place. It wasn’t ideal, but neither of them were falling.

Zaina gasped for air while trembles rocked her body, and her heart beat like an ever-intensifying drum. “Holy fuck, that was close. Thank you, Reida—you saved me.”

“Don’t mention it,” she replied, breathing heavily. “You really have a flair for the dramatic, don’t you?”

Zaina replied sheepishly, “I—I guess.”

They touched down without further incident, landing atop the titan in the sky. The roof, at least two-hundred feet in diameter, was flat, with no side walls or guardrails; two mini-towers with assortments of long, metal rods and dishes—some kind of communications rig?—jutted upward from the building’s center. Other than that, three massive box turbines were placed to help regulate internal temperature.

Zaina’s heart was still racing with thunderous fury—it clearly didn’t agree with her life choices today. She fell off the disc and tried to stand on her shaking legs; they buckled, and she crumpled to her knees. Beside her, Reida landed flawlessly and helped her up.

“Thanks,” Zaina said. “So, what now?”

“Well, good news and bad news. The good news is, the easy part’s almost over. I’m sure you can extrapolate the bad news.”

She almost threw up in reply but held it down. “That was the easy part?”

“Yeah,” Reida said, sitting and leaning against one of the gently whirring walls containing the box turbines. That same cocky half-grin came over her face. “For now, we wait here for the signal. Then we’ll really have some fun.”

Zaina gulped, her shoulders sinking. What the hell have I gotten myself into?