Kai took one last glance at the shimmering fragments.
Vael ruffled its feathers lightly atop his shoulder, sensing the strange static building in the air.
"...Something feels off," Kai muttered.
As he stepped through the ruined archway and exited the chamber, a low rumble trembled beneath his boots. His head jerked upward, and—
Crack!
The already unstable ceiling above gave a groan of death.
Then another.
And then—
BOOM!
Massive slabs of stone collapsed behind him, dust and fragments exploding outward.
The columns splintered, arches snapped, and the ruin itself began to fracture like a dying beast.
"Shit!"
Kai broke into a sprint, racing down the uneven hallway as tremors rocked the foundation.
Debris fell around him like hailstones from hell, and the mana-rich stone pulsed erratically as residual wards began to implode one by one.
"Move, move, move!"
Vael screeched as a jagged piece of the ceiling crashed down just inches behind them.
