The clamor of battle raged across the outer academy, and yet, within the depths of ElderGlow, the only sound was the steady hum of arcane seals attempting to stabilize themselves.
Woooshhh...
Dean Godsthorn appeared once more before the central core vault.
Not through a flash of teleportation or a ripple in space—but as if he'd simply walked from one moment to another.
His long white beard swayed with each step, and in his hands, he carried two items unlike anything seen above ground in centuries.
One looked like a needle, but it was over a meter long and pulsed with runic symbols that floated slightly off its obsidian body.
The other, a hammer, wide-faced and copper-toned, shimmered with compressed energy—its weight evident in the way space bent slightly around its head.
He moved with measured grace toward the enormous vault door, kneeling at the crack on the ground—the same fracture he'd spotted earlier.
