Immortality, An'karset reflects, is largely a matter of inventory management. His empire hums with cold efficiency — until a power surge in the Black Heart chamber lets a soul slip through his carefully constructed metaphysics. A volunteer is dead, a slave girl named Nari stood too close, and the Pharaoh's closed system has sprung a leak. For a being who rules by calculus, an uncontrolled variable is the most dangerous thing in the world.
