Whoosh!
BOOM—
Ethan moved first.
A golden aura burst from him like a radiant shield, warm and unshakable, flaring up around Kaelira and blocking the twisted pulses surging from the six-pointed star array.
Kaelira blinked, startled. That shield—its texture, its stability—it was stronger than anything she could conjure herself.
Ethan stepped forward, calm and steady, walking straight toward the center of the array.
Just as his hand reached out to touch the heart of it—
Whoosh!
A figure tore through the array like it was breaking through a membrane.
But it wasn't human.
Its form was a patchwork of smoke and bone, half-transparent, its presence so wrong it made the air feel colder, heavier.
Worse still—its aura wasn't purely from the Dungeon. It reeked of something else, something foreign, like it had been tainted by an outside force.
