The gemstone light settled into a steady, cold glow. Shadows stretched long across the floating platforms and the broken rooftops of the old buildings below. Dust drifted lazily through the beams, disturbed only by the slow movement of air that had no clear source.
Alice's squad held their formation without a spoken order. Lightning flickered faintly around Alice's fingers; earth elemental energy thickened under the Dual Elementalist's boots; several others quietly reinforced their defenses. No one broke ranks. The two Ninth-stage auras pressed against them like a physical weight, heavier than the cold that still clung to their clothes.
One of the Ninth-stage Sovereign Gnomes stepped forward on a wide ledge of dark stone. His skin was the color of old ash, and a thin scar ran from the corner of his mouth to his ear. He studied the twelve humans with open amusement.
