The Princess of Siranteos

The service passage ends at a vertical shaft split with rubble and black stone dust. Above, the ceiling groans. Below, a violet seam pulses once, like a trapped heartbeat.

Kha'zura braces himself at the shaft wall, golden scales dim in the dust. He sets his hands to a jut of broken masonry, testing the climb for holds.

A fresh crack snaps overhead, showering grit into the shaft. Kha'zura hauls the first slab aside and exposes a narrow handhold, just enough for Eden's ascent to begin.

The way forward is clear now, and terrible, if Eden reaches the top she will either keep the entity caged or bring its release within reach.

He answers at once, driving both hands under the broken slabs. Stone grinds and shifts, and the handhold opens wider under his strain.

Dust pours down the shaft in a choking sheet. Eden gets her opening as the rubble gives way, but the impact splits a fresh seam of black stone from the wall.

Above them, the ceiling groans again. The climb is available, the dust stings, and the violet pulse below beats once more like a warning.

Eden grips the new hold and hauls herself into the shaft. The stone bites at her palms, but the opening holds.

She climbs hand over hand, halberd strapped tight to her side, boots scraping for purchase as dust rains past her face.

Below, the pulsing violet seam flashes through the crack, and the wall answers her weight with a deep, unhappy groan.

A fresh trickle of grit spills from above. Eden keeps moving, and the shaft gives way to a narrow ledge cut into older stone.

She pulls onto the ledge at last, shoulders high with effort, while the dust cloud swallows the broken opening behind her.

The stair of ruin below shudders once more, and somewhere beneath the stone, the seal beats again, waiting for the party's next move.

He plants a boot in the broken stone, then climbs with a warrior's economy, one hand catching the rough lip Eden found.

The ledge answers with a low shiver, but it takes his weight. Dust spills from the seam below in a dull silver veil.

Above them, the shaft opens into a sliver of pale daylight. Below, the violet crack pulses once, then settles into a tense, waiting glow.

Eden drives upward after Kha'zura, boots finding the old seams Nazareth pointed out. The ledge flexes under her weight, then holds, and the shaft mouth drops away beneath her as she clears it.

Dust sifts past her shoulders in a thin silver curtain. Below, Kha'zura steadies on the stone lip, while the others remain clustered in the gloom under the wounded wall.

Ahead, the ascent tightens into a narrow climb toward the daylight sliver. The violet seam beneath them gives one slow pulse, then quiets, as if the ruin is deciding whether to keep cracking.

Eden plants one hand on the lip above and drives herself higher, leaving the ledge behind. The stone shivers, but her boots find purchase in the old cut of the shaft, and the light above broadens into a bright wound in the ceiling.

Below, Kha'zura shifts to give her room, while the others hold their ground in the dim. Dust drifts down between them like ash caught in a prayer.

At the top, the slit opens into a narrow break in the ruin, enough to show pale daylight and a strip of open air beyond. The violet seam underfoot gives one hard pulse, then settles, as if the chamber has decided this climb is allowed.

Eden reaches the upper gap and clears it, the first breath of open air meeting her face as the underhall falls away beneath her. The route to the surface is there, though the ruins still groan around it.