Clayton's eyes snapped open.
For a moment he thought he was still falling.
The memory of the traitor Verdant Lord's gaze clung to him, sharp and cold. But when he reached for the ground beneath him, it was solid. Not soil, not stone, but something in between, a living surface that pulsed like a slowed heartbeat.
'Great,' he thought as he forced himself upright. 'Another puzzle to solve'.
Around him, the others finally stirred awake, each groaning as they shook off the disorientation.
"Everyone alive?" Clayton asked, his voice steady despite the pounding in his chest.
Torren grunted as he sat up, brushing ash off his shoulders. "Alive, bruised, not dead," he grinned. "For a moment there, I thought we'd fall to our deaths. But hey, what do you know? We survived".
Clayton chuckled. "We survived, for now".
Torren rolled his eyes at that but didn't say more.
