The hard-light bridge locks into place over the void channel, each golden slab clicking to Kynes’s heartbeat. The Soul-Cutter throbs red in his grip, and the shadow-mark on his palm stirs like something waking hungry.
Venom
At last. Let the well open. Let it know us.
Bren steps closer to Kynes’s flank, blade low, eyes fixed on the bridge. Dust rains from the cracked ceiling as the vault’s walls tilt inward, funneling him toward the conduit.
Bren
Kynes, keep that thing quiet. I do not trust what is reaching for you.
Kynes
The bridge is keyed to the blade and the mark.
The gold path brightens, then splits, showing a second pulse beneath it. One current answers Kynes. The other answers the shadow in his hand. Ahead, the void-well waits like an open throat, and the vault demands a single heir.
Venom
Step. Claim it. Or I take the step for you.
✓ Quest Accepted
Assert control over the void-well
“I remind venom he was pretty much there when the last 2 people betrayed me and that I did sever my hand to lead xar on a wild goose chase so there for do not test me”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Kynes
You were there when the last two turned on me. I cut my own hand off to mislead Xar. Do not test me.
Venom
I was there. I remember the taste of betrayal on your blood. You do not bluff with your own flesh.
The black-violet mouth on Kynes’s palm stills. The pull in his hand does not vanish, but it slackens, like a leash forced back into a fist.
Venom
He has paid in pieces before. Not for show. Not for me.
Bren lowers her blade a fraction, watching the palm-mark and then Kynes’s face, reading the change before she trusts it.
Bren
Good. Keep that edge. If it reaches for you, I want it to learn caution.
The bridge holds steady under Kynes’s heartbeat. The gold and crimson pulses separate, and for the first time the shadow in his hand yields the next step to him.
Quest Complete
Assert control over the void-well