Bren lunges past Kynes’s shoulder, blade low, trying to cut off the figure reaching for the pedestal. The red lantern room jolts with motion, shadows snapping hard against the walls.

The second silhouette veers toward the red source anyway, fingers stretching for the glow. Kynes stands at the threshold, with Nezznar ahead and the pedestal suddenly exposed.

Bren checks her stride, bracing for a counterstroke as the room tightens around Kynes. The open door behind him throws in a thin strip of outside fog, framing the chaos.

Nezznar’s magic gathers in the cramped chamber, a cold pressure building near the red glow. Kynes must move now, either to intercept the grasping figure or anchor himself against the spell.

Kynes closes his hand and the room locks. Nezznar jerks mid-cast, the Hooded Figure freezes in a half-step, and even the red glow seems to pinch narrow around them.

Bren halts beside Kynes, blade still up, eyes flicking from one trapped body to the other. The fog at the doorway curls in, touching the floor and stopping at the edge of his field.

The pedestal answers with a thin pulse. Under Kynes’s hold, the red light condenses into a bright seam along its rim, exposing a hidden mark carved beneath the lamp glow.

Nezznar strains against the invisible grip, but only the cloak shifts. The chamber stays trapped in Kynes’s spell, silent except for the low thrum of the pedestal and Bren’s measured breathing.