The bone-pit trembles in a steady pulse. Soros stands at the seal’s center, and his shadow stays fused to the golden filament, as if the floor has taken a second heart.
Cold weight gathers in his bones. The dragon’s power presses upward through the tether, not as a burst, but as a patient strain, testing every breath he takes.
The Grave-Warden
Hold it there. Let it climb, then force it through the circle. If you flinch, the seal will remember.
Valerius jerks against the post, wrists bound tight, eyes wide at the sight of Soros bearing the strain that once crushed him.
Valerius
You cannot keep feeding it like this. It will take everything from you.
Soros Corvanus
The tether is stronger, but it is also heavier.
The golden filament brightens, then steadies. Soros does not break the seal, but the cost shows, a faint shiver in his stance, and the pit answers with a lower, hungrier hum.
“I force the tether through the circle”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled +0)
Soros drives the tether harder through the circle, and the golden filament answers with a clean, ringing pull. The glow tightens into its runes, no longer straining upward, but sinking into the pit’s old geometry.
The lowered hum deepens into a steady undertone. Bone dust skates along the cracks, then settles as the seal takes the strain and holds it.
The Grave-Warden
There. It accepts the burden now.
Valerius
What have you done to it?
Valerius reels back against the post, staring at the brighter seal, while the Warden’s lifted hand slowly lowers, approval edged with caution.
The Grave-Warden
If it is to last, it needs a keeper who does not break first.
The circle remains firm, but the pulse now rides Soros’s shadow like a chain of living embers, waiting for the next command.