The air inside the ruin hadn't changed much. Still thick with energy, still humming with that strange calm Arden had come to recognize.
Rael, though, was less composed.
"Was it really okay to just... scam them like that?" he asked, a bit too fast, his voice low but tense. "Those were the five great clans. What if they come after us?"
Arden didn't even slow his steps.
"They won't," he said simply. "Not while I still have control over the ruin. They won't risk it."
"But still—"
"They're cautious, Rael. Scared, even. No one's going to try anything stupid when they know I hold the key to something they desperately want. They'd rather bite their tongues than lose access."
Rael said nothing more. He just let out a breath, slower this time, as he let the energy around him settle into his senses.
The ruin responded. Soft pulses of aether wrapped around him like a slow tide, and his eyes widened slightly as he felt its density.
