The Domini saga

The passage opens into a vast hub of stone ribs and sunk pillars. Ledger-lines crawl across the floor, and dust pours inward toward a black seam at the center.

A spectral master rises from the seam, tall and road-worn, its outline made of toll marks and route sigils. The tunnels bend around it, folding into a maze of traded paths.

The void-parasite in Kynes's mark stirs at the master’s hunger, tugging toward the seam. Bren shifts to guard his flank as the geometry tightens, and the hidden architects’ trail glows deeper ahead.

Kynes answers with a flat refusal and drives the shadow mass out from his mark. It spills low across the floor like ink in water, laced with his own hungry parasites.

The dark wave hits the Master of the Inland Road and wraps its toll-mark body in a choking coil. Route sigils flicker, then buckle under the pressure.

Its attempt to hold shape fails. The seam drinks it downward, and the maze of paths around the hub stutters as if a hand has been cut from the map.

The void-parasite in Kynes's palm surges, eager and vicious, while the master is dragged half-submerged into the black seam.

When the shadows thin, the spectral road-worn figure is no longer standing. Only a crushed knot of toll marks remains at the seam, and the hidden trail beyond it stands exposed.