The ramp shuddered beneath their feet.
From below, the ruin exhaled, long, hollow, and wet.
The air thickened, the walls seeping condensation that shimmered with faint phosphorescence.
For a heartbeat, Caedrion thought the entire structure was bleeding light.
Then came the smell.
It wasn't rot. It was sterility undone, ozone laced with something metallic and faintly sweet, like the breath of a corpse preserved too long.
"Containment sector compromised," the voice whispered from nowhere. "Entities reconstituting from stasis medium. Estimated count… indeterminate."
Thalassaria's trident brightened, its haft vibrating in her grip. "Show yourself," she hissed to the dark.
Nothing answered, only a deep, biological hum, so low it was almost felt instead of heard.]
The sound of ley resonance being drained.
Caedrion felt it in his veins, the tug, subtle at first, then stronger, a magnetic pull on the very core of his energy.
