Outside...
Liss paced.
Back and forth.
Back and forth, her boots kicking up small clouds of dust from the crater's edge.
She waited. And waited.
And waited, her arms crossed tighter with each passing minute, impatience gnawing at her.
"Okay, what the hell."
She walked up to the cube of shadow, its surface smooth and impenetrable, looming like a black monolith.
Knocked once, her knuckles rapping sharply.
"Kael?"
Silence, thick and mocking.
She knocked harder, frustration building. "Lital? You done molesting him yet?"
Nothing—no response, no shift in the shadows.
Her brows furrowed, a flicker of genuine concern cutting through the annoyance.
Then she knocked harder still—no, punched it, her fist connecting with a solid thud.
Lightning flared around her knuckles as it struck the cube, blue arcs crackling across the surface.
A crack spiderwebbed outward, thin lines fracturing the darkness like glass under pressure.
Then—shatter.
