Adventure of jox 2

Valerius steps closer, both hands high, each move careful as a blade edge. Their gaze flicks from the hovering blood sphere to Jox's face, then to the unconscious senator, like they are measuring which mercy still exists.

The low hum of Jox's magic answers them, violet light thinning around the plaza stones. The trapped bandit gives a broken whimper from the ground, and the grey-robed figure remains still at the edge of the square, unreadable.

Valerius reaches into their cloak and produces a folded map, held out with trembling fingers. The paper shivers above the blood-lit cobbles, close enough to take, far enough to deny.

Jox holds the spell steady. Above the senator, the blood sphere pulses once, and the whole plaza waits for his answer.

Jox twists his hand, and the spell answers at once. The blood sphere clenches into a hard red bead above the senator, then collapses inward. The unconscious man goes limp against the air, eyes streaking red, as the plaza seems to hold its breath.

The grey-robed figure steps forward for the first time, cloak folding around them like smoke. Violet light hisses against their approach, thins, and gutters low at their feet.

Jox drives the pressure sideways instead of higher. The senator drops from the air and hits the stones with a dull, final thud. Valerius flinches, then freezes as the grey-robed figure’s chest tightens under the same unseen force.

Valerius thrusts the map into Jox’s reach with shaking hands, then lets go as if the parchment burns. Their stare flicks from the dead senator to the grey-robed figure, fear hardening into a bleak, reluctant decision.