The blue-lit stair opens into a round chamber, where a recessed ring beside the threshold lies untouched by the rotating radiance. Its stone is still, almost warm.
Seris steps into the quiet ring and studies the fragment in Davis’s hand without reaching for it. Tavren remains near the stair, lantern raised toward the sealed passage.
Seris
There is something my order concealed. This descent was not built only to reach the prison. It was built to judge who was permitted to approach it.
Tavren
Seris, not all of it. The oldest keepers believed the descent could distinguish a bearer from a trespasser, but they never proved how.
The stone beneath their feet slowly warms. Rings of blue light rotate across the chamber floor, stopping short of the recessed refuge as if an unseen boundary holds them back.
Seris
If the ward is judging intent, then the fragment may not be the only thing it is weighing.
Tavren
Stay within the ring until the warmth settles. Something below has noticed us, and I would rather meet its next question from solid ground.
Pass the descent’s judgment