CHAPTER 10: THE GUTTER CATHEDRAL

The hybrid rune didn't just hunger. It *screamed*. 

Kael crouched in the filth-strewn shadows beneath New Avalon's wastewater pipes, the Academy's alarms wailing far above. Rain—thick with industrial runoff—sluiced off broken concrete, pooling around his boots. His right hand was a **caged star**. Violet-indigo light bled through his clenched fingers, casting jagged shadows on the dripping walls. Every pulse echoed the **gnawing void** in his bones. 

*Feed me*, the rune hissed. *Or I eat you instead.* 

He'd devoured the Skyreach Gate's death-throes. Now his own life-force was the only fuel left. 

***THUD. THUD. THUD.*** 

Heavy boots pounded the walkways overhead. Searchlights speared the toxic fog. 

**"—last seen Sector 7-G!"** a mechanized voice barked. **"Void Terrorist classification! Execute on sight!"** 

*Silas.* He'd moved fast. Kael's face now glowed on every rune-screen in the city: **WANTED – KILL PRIORITY**. The reward? Ten thousand credits. Enough to buy a slum lord's loyalty. Or a knife in the dark. 

Kael pressed his burning palm against the wet concrete. The rune flared, drinking residual void-energy from the pipes—scraps of Gate-leakage, stale and bitter. The gnawing eased… for now. 

*Survive. Find the Scarred Hunter. Burn Silas's world down.* 

A child's whisper cut through the downpour: 

**"Rune-eater…"** 

Kael froze. A small figure stood ten paces away—a girl no older than eight, her face half-hidden by a tattered hood. Her eyes reflected his rune-light: wide, unblinking, **violet**. 

**"You glow,"** she murmured. **"Like the Preacher."** 

Before Kael could speak, she darted into a crack in the tunnel wall. He followed, squeezing through dripping stone into a cavern lit by bioluminescent fungi. The air hung thick with the scent of wet earth and ozone. 

And there it rose: 

**The Gutter Cathedral.** 

Not a building. A *cave system* transformed. Crumbling statues of forgotten saints stood guard beside flickering rune-tech generators. Neon prayer strips—salvaged from billboards—dangled from stalactites (*"POWER IS SALVATION"*, *"THE GATES JUDGE"*). At the far end, a shattered stained-glass window (depicting Hunter martyrs) had been repaired with scrap metal and wire. Below it, on a throne of rusted reactor cores, sat the **Scarred Hunter**. 

He looked older in the fungal glow. The scar cutting brow to cheek seemed deeper. His worn armor was gone, replaced by a patchwork cloak of circuit boards and ballistic weave. 

**"Took you long enough, kid."** His voice was gravel wrapped in static. **"Silas's hounds are chewing through my outer tunnels."** 

Kael stepped forward, rune-light painting the cavern floor. **"You knew. About Soul-Forging. About the Assessors."** 

**"Knew?"** The Hunter's laugh was a dry cough. **I helped *build* the first prototypes. Before I realized they weren't weaponizing the Void…"** He leaned forward, eyes like chips of obsidian. **"…they were *feeding* it."** 

He tossed Kael a chunk of black rock veined with indigo. **"Resonance ore. From the deepest tunnels. It'll quiet that thing on your hand… for a while."** 

Kael caught it. The rune's scream softened to a hungry murmur as it absorbed the ore's energy. **"Why help me?"** 

**"Because Silas fears you. And what he fears, he destroys."** The Hunter pointed to Kael's neck. **"That needle? It's not just a tracker. It's a *cage*. Silas built it to contain *me*… before I cut it out."** He pulled back his collar. A knotted scar, raw and recent, circled his throat. **"He refined it for you. Stronger. Crueler."** 

Footsteps echoed in the outer tunnels. Shouts. Closer. 

The Hunter stood. **"No time for history lessons. You need to vanish."** He shoved a rusted data-chip into Kael's hand. **"Locations of Silas's Soul-Forge labs. Hit them. Starve the Gates. And Kael?"** His gaze locked onto the hybrid rune. **"When you break the next lab… *let the rune feast*. It's the only way to break the needle's hold."** 

Kael stared at the chip. **"What happens when the rune's hunger outgrows the labs?"** 

The Hunter's smile was a blade. **"Then you feed it Silas."** 

A explosion rocked the cavern. Dust rained from the ceiling. 

**"GO!"** The Hunter shoved Kael toward a hidden fissure. **"The girl will guide you!"** 

The child—her violet eyes bright—grabbed Kael's wrist. Her touch was ice. **"This way, Rune-eater!"** 

As Kael plunged into darkness, he glanced back. 

The Scarred Hunter stood before his throne, a heavy-caliber pistol in each hand. Hunters in Academy black poured into the cavern, rifles raised. Silas's voice crackled over their comms: **"Take the old man alive! I want his *screams* to—"** 

The Hunter's guns roared. Muzzle flashes lit his scarred face—fierce, feral, finally **free**. 

***"COME ON, YOU GHOSTS!"*** he bellowed. ***"LET'S REMIND SILAS WHY HE FEARED US!"*** 

The girl yanked Kael deeper. The gunfire faded, replaced by the drip of water and the rune's insistent gnawing. 

Kael Thorn ran—not toward safety, but toward war. 

End of chapter 10