The moment Moon stepped through the trapdoor and started going down, he lost connection with Theo.
The ice of the spire or the depth of the descent, something cut his communication device off completely.
Theo's warnings could no longer reach him. The channel that should have carried the alarm of the white commander's approach went dead, and Moon had no way of knowing it.
He was moving deeper into the earth, deaf to the danger racing toward him from the north.
"I need to be quick," Moon muttered, unaware of just how quick he actually needed to be.
The passage was pitch dark, the ghostly glow of the upper chamber swallowed the moment he descended.
He rushed down the staircase, a lighting rune crackling in his palm to light the way.
The stairs ran deep. Moon ran them at speed, and it still took nearly ten seconds of hard descent before the passage finally opened at the bottom into a massive chamber.
