---
She blinked, eyes focusing. "You… caught me." Her voice quavered, then steadied. "Thank you." She tried to stand but her legs wobbled. Kai helped her.
A metallic clatter drew their gaze: Darius rose ten paces away, armor scratched, aura sparking erratic from the fall.
Darkness cloaked them but faint bioluminescent fungi along distant cavern walls cast eerie turquoise glow, enough to show outlines and the immeasurably vast pit stretching into gloom.
In the centre, perhaps half a league off, a mound of pearlescent crystal pulsed a veins of star-crystal glowing like the heart of the world. The cavern floor rippled with worm-made tunnels, each wider than palace halls.
Mia exhaled awe. "This must be the Ruler's inner nest… or something else."
A shuffle. Darius lifted his scorpion blade. Fury radiated. "Still protecting her, Kai? Heroic. But now you're far from the squad, far from Queen's justice. No witnesses."
