We started at sunset.
The laboratory had been cleared of everyone who didn't need to be there. That left four people behind the glass: Paul, Dr Thorne, Master Valdris, and Jin, who had no technical reason to stay and had made it very clear that he was staying anyway.
I sat cross-legged in the centre of the chamber. The three materials had been placed around me in a triangle. The Void Beast essence floated directly ahead, breathing slowly in its field. The Storm Titan matrices sat to my right, a lattice of crystal shot through with small, restless lightning. The Abyssal Emperor bone lay to my left, dark and still.
"Remember," Dr Thorne said over the speaker, "you're the bridge, not the destination. Let them meet through you. Don't let them settle in you."
"Understood."
The chamber sealed with a soft hiss. The noise of the Tower vanished, and with it every stray thread of outside mana. For the first time in days, it was completely quiet.
I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing.
