The Chieftain's directions had been simple enough in theory.
"The Hall of Restoration," he'd said, "you'll find it in the Northern Segment of the Fourth Layer."
In practice, it was as good as telling me to find a single grain of gold in a desert.
I remained seated on the courtyard tiles for another fifteen minutes, waiting for my mana to climb back to usable levels. The numbers flickered steadily upward, one point every few breaths.
Before long, I was fit enough to move again, so took off, out towards the city.
------------------------
The sight waiting beyond the layer's edge made me pause.
The chasm of that vast inverted cone was so deep, the bottom blurred into shadow. From here, the Divide I had crossed weeks ago seemed a crack in comparison.
I counted fifteen visible tiers before the light thinned too far to see.
Fourth Layer, he said… but, fourth from the top, or the bottom?
I exhaled through my nose. Of course, he didn't specify which.
