Yona, Lenko, and even Diego turned as one… not because they heard him, but because they felt him.
A force pressed from beyond the gate, straining against the shimmering wall of nothing, rattling the air like a muffled thunderclap.
The ward still held, its surface shimmering faintly, rejecting the intrusion with stubborn light. Yet the man's boot rested against it, sinking into the glow as though it were nothing more than a door that refused to yield---a wall of pulsing red, a shimmer of emptiness.
That shouldn't be possible.
She had felt it herself… her blades sank into the barrier only to be hurled back with twice the force. Diego had thrown his whole weight behind his claymore, nearly losing it when the recoil wrenched through his arms. Lenko's fists were still bruised, his knuckles torn from even a brush against the surface.
The ward did not yield. It pushed back harder than it was struck.
And yet here he stood, pressing into it as if it were nothing at all.
