The Static Weight of Iron and Ash: A Reckoning on the Desolate Asphalt Verge
CHAPTER 1: THE FRICTION OF EXILE “Get the hell off the stool, old man.” The words smelled of cheap menthols and stale adrenaline. The younger one leaned in so close his gold-plated chain rattled against the laminate edge of the counter. Elias didn’t look up from his coffee. The surface of the lukewarm liquid had…