The Domini saga

The portal gapes in the corridor wall, cold light pouring over cracked stone. Two robed enforcers stand on the far side, palms lit with void-lattice glare. Bren squares herself beside Kynes, and Kaelen raises a hand as if to steady the breach.

The nearest enforcer thrusts both hands forward. The corridor shudders, and black-violet lines race through the plaster toward Kynes like veins seeking a heart.

Bren lunges in before the pulse can catch Kynes, driving her blade into the glowing seam and breaking the surge apart in a spray of pale sparks.

The second enforcer turns, and Kaelen moves with them, not back to cover, but straight into the portal's glare. His hand dips toward the route map at his belt, as if to fold the path away from everyone else.

For one sharp instant, the betrayal is clear. Kaelen is not leading Kynes to the architects, he is sealing the route behind him. The enforcers brace to strike again, and the corridor begins to buckle around the open breach.

Kynes lets the staff drop. Pale threads and loose breath-light rush inward, knotting above his brow into a crown of cold radiance. The corridor flashes white as the spell breaks loose.

The first enforcer jerks mid-cast, their void line snapping apart into drifting ash. The second staggers back as the light shears across the portal edge and slams into Kaelen's turn.

Kaelen recoils with a strangled curse, one hand clawing at the route map as the fold-work tears free at his belt. The paper curls black at the corners.

Bren flinches under the wash of it, but the crown bends cleanly around her and leaves her standing. Frost-bright dust settles on her blade and shoulders.

The crown gutters once, then the corridor falls quiet except for Kaelen's smoke-blackened breathing and the torn hiss of the open breach.