The Basilisk Heart hung in the containment field above the Blood Wyvern's ribs, turning slowly, the way a planet turns.
It was the same orb I'd carried out of the Temple of the Serpent: dark green, almost black at the center, with veins of gold running through it like slow lightning. Every few seconds the veins brightened and dimmed again. It was a heartbeat. Somewhere around my second week of studying it, I'd stopped pretending otherwise.
Below it, the Skeleton lay finished, scarlet bone humming with Vakrt's programming and the layers I'd added on top. The Arch Lich's skull sat at its head, white and silent, a mind of my own design written into it. The Evernight Staff waited on the bench beside the limiter. Body and Mind were done. A good part of the fifty hours was already gone.
What was left was the Soul.
