Amber light breathes through the root-chamber, calm for one heartbeat, then restless again. The seal on Xarsthos’s arm thrums in answer, as if something below the stone hears it and stirs.
The Hooded Figure
You have it under control. Good. Now push farther, and see whether the ward bends to you, or drains you dry.
The Hooded Figure steps half from shadow, hand lifted toward the glowing ring in the floor. Bera remains near the chamber edge, tense and watchful, her eyes fixed on Xarsthos’s arm.
Xarsthos
The ward is tied to him as much as to the stones.
Bera
Xarsthos, do not let him press you too hard. The seal is steady now, that should be enough.
The amber pulse tightens, then spills in a thin line across the floor toward a dark seam in the rootwall. The chamber is showing him a path, and a price.
The Hooded Figure
There. You feel it, don’t you? The ward leads onward, but only if you carry its weight yourself.
Enter the deeper path beneath the rootwall