"Haah!"
[Ardeon may ask his second question.]
He couldn't afford another mistake.
He had already lost one question, and the sting of that failure still burned in his chest.
The arena felt colder now, as though the sky itself had grown impatient.
Students whispered among themselves in nervous voices, but their words were muffled by the beating of his own frantic heart.
He needed his second question.
He needed something sharp.
Something that could cut through Aestrea's calm and expose something, anything that could drag him down.
"Huuhh...." Ardeon inhaled deeply and let his consciousness sink inward.
Magic flickered faintly across his irises as he reached out to his team, tapping the connection they shared.
Seris. I need information. Everything you know about Aestrea. Now.
There was a short pause, a soft mental click, and then Seris's voice entered his mind, hurried, breathless, and strained with worry.
Ardeon? What's happening? Did something in our plan go wrong?!
