Captain Vane advances half a step, then stops as the hooded figure convulses. The violet glow under the cloak splits the fabric from within, not like spelllight, but like something living pushing out.
The cloak rips wide. Cold, dark strands are fused into the figure’s side and throat, and the thing behind the wall answers with a low shudder through the stone.
The glow is coming from inside them.
The Hooded Figure
Kara... the key... now.
The brass key in Kara’s hand pulses hard once, then again, hot and cold at once. Sereth’s soldiers falter, some lowering their weapons, others staring at the breach as frost crawls faster over the hall.
Captain Vane
Hold. That is not a seal keeper. It is part of the thing.
The hooded figure sags against the widening crack, violet breath spilling from their mouth. The dark shape in the wall presses closer, and the soldiers begin to break rank.
The Hooded Figure
I was never guarding it alone.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn how to stop the nightmare
✓ Quest Accepted
Force Vane backward
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The hooded figure twists toward the breach, and the wall answers at once. Frost bursts across the floor in a spiderweb rush, while the dark shape behind the stone swells against the crack like it has found a throat to speak through.
The Hooded Figure
No. Not a seal keeper. A latch. I was the latch.
Captain Vane’s weapon drops a fraction. His soldiers recoil from the wall instead of Kara, all eyes snapping from the key to the thing pressing outward.
Captain Vane
Forget the key. Shield the breach. Do not let that thing take a body.
The brass key jerks in Kara’s hand, tugging hard toward the wounded figure as if the oath itself is trying to choose a side.