Chapter 237

The Hall of Elders was carved from limestone centuries before the city grew into its current drenched form. Ancient stone met modern tech - holographic displays flickered across worn walls, and climate control kept the chamber at a perfect temperature despite being hundreds of feet underground.

Twelve thrones formed a semicircle on the raised dais, each carved from a single block of marble and inlaid with circuits that pulsed with a soft blue light. The elders occupied their seats like royalty, some appeared barely out of their twenties, while others wore their centuries openly in lined faces and gray hair.

Some clung to the old ways, wrapped in formal robes that wouldn't have looked out of place in the French Revolution. Others embraced the modern era with their smart-fabric suits shifting colors with each movement, bio-monitors tracking their vital signs in holographic readouts that floated beside their thrones.