Morana stood still in the sudden quiet, flames still licking at her fingertips. She turned in a slow circle, scanning the dark road in both directions for any sight of him but she found nothing.
Then her gaze dropped to the ground.
There. Right where Arius had been standing was a shadow on the ground, and it was shrinking. Not cast by anything she could see. It contracted steadily inward, pulling toward a single point like water draining from a basin.
She moved before she finished thinking. Inky tendrils shot from her outstretched hands and plunged into the shadow, forcing it wider. The darkness peeled open like a wound in the earth, just large enough for her to fit through.
Morana stepped into it.
The drop lasted less than a second. She hit the ground hard and bent her knees, absorbing the impact, and straightened into a crouch with her hands already raised to fend off any sudden attacks.
She was no longer on the road from before.
