The floor shudders hard under Kara’s boots. Frost climbs the stones in spiderweb veins, and the breach in the wall yaws wider as something black drags at the ruin from within.
Captain Vane throws his weight against a cracking slab, shouting for his soldiers to brace the hall. Their fear is plain now, but they keep their hands on the stone.
The Hooded Figure
Kara, the key, now. It is calling to it.
The brass key in Kara’s hand jolts hot, then colder than ice. Violet light leaks through the hooded figure’s torn cloak, pulsing in the same rhythm as the widening dark.
Kara
The key is tied to the breach.
Captain Vane
Hold the wall! If that thing comes through, we are all lost!
Stone groans. A fresh裂 of frost splits across the floor between Kara and the wall, and the black shape tugs again, taking a chunk of masonry with it into the void.
For one sharp instant, the key’s pull matches the darkness’s pull, and the hall hangs on the edge of collapse.