The ledge shudders again. Dust sheets from the cracked dome above, and the violet pulse in the glass key makes the stone answer with hairline splits.

Below the ledge, a hanging staircase sways on rusted chains, vanishing into the tower's dark throat. Across the broken slab, the House Xar stranger steadies themself, eyes fixed on the key.

Kynes raises the glass key toward the stair and the nearest stones dull, as if the pulse is finding purchase in them. The swaying steps still look deadly, but they stop tearing free.

The fissure widens with a grinding crack behind them. If Kynes descends now, the key may carry him deeper through the collapsing tower, and House Xar will not let the escape go unanswered.

Kynes hurls the spell down the broken throat of the tower. Fire blooms at the stranger’s feet, a bright sheet that forces them back behind the slab.

The blast washes over the ledge and sends rubble skittering. The hooded figure flinches, cloak snapping in the heat, and their grasp on the key breaks.

Bren catches Kynes by the arm and yanks him toward the stairs. The first steps hold, locked by the key’s violet pulse, while the tower groans behind them.

Below, the hanging stair swings once, then settles into a trembling path. Over Kynes’s shoulder, the stranger staggers in smoke, one hand reaching through the heat.

The passage down yawns open under Kynes’s feet, dark and swaying, while the shattered summit cracks again above.

Kynes twists his hand in the air, and the hooded stranger jerks hard as if seized by an invisible hook.

They slam sideways into the firelight, cloak flaring, then vanish behind the broken slab with a cry cut short by stone and smoke.

A sharp clatter follows them, a metal object skidding across the cracked floor and flashing once in the heat.

Bren shoves the hanging stair toward him as the violet pulse in the steps steadies, just enough for another body to trust.

Behind them, the shattered dome coughs down a fresh burst of dust, and the path below gapes darker than before.

Kynes drops onto the swaying stair and takes the descent in a rush of boots, rope, and splintering stone.

The violet glow in the steps holds under his weight, brightening as the whole run shudders beneath him.

She follows close, one hand skimming the wall while dust pours from the cracked dome above.

Behind them, the summit mouth buckles inward with a grinding roar, and the stair flexes but does not give.

As Kynes reaches the next landing, a small metal seal tumbles from the rubble and bounces against his boot, faintly warm.

The metal object rests against the stone, its surface etched with faint, ancient runes that pulse in time with the key.

Kynes slides the seal into his vest pocket in one smooth motion, and the runes' faint warmth vanishes against his chest.

Stone dust sheds from the cracked dome above as he rises, staff in hand, smoke trailing past his face.

Bren points down the broken stairwell, her other hand braced on the wall while loose grit skitters past her boots.

A thin ringing tremor runs through the masonry, and more rubble pours from the collapsed summit entrance behind them.