The air inside the altar chamber thickened with each passing breath, turning every inhalation into a weighty labor. Dust hung in the shafts of lantern light, drifting lazily like spectral motes, yet stirred by vibrations so subtle no ear could catch them, only the body: a pulse beneath stone, steady as a heartbeat, ancient and patient. The ruin seemed alive, coiled around them, watching, waiting.
Leo wiped his palms against his tunic, but sweat clung stubbornly to his skin despite the chill creeping along the marble floor. The fragment inside him throbbed with restless urgency, a living thing pushing at the boundaries of his mind. It pulled him toward the three cracked pillars, its whispers weaving through his thoughts like tongues of fire. Come. Touch. Merge. Know.
