The shadows receded gradually, like a reluctant tide drawing back from shore. As Eren's vision adjusted, he found himself in a chamber drastically different from the throne room they had left. Gone were the high ceilings and imposing thrones of polished wood. The air here felt older, charged with an energy that made the fine hairs on his arms stand on end.
They stood in a circular room with walls of polished obsidian that reflected their images in distorted, shifting patterns. Eren studied these reflections with wary fascination—his own face stretched and compressed as if viewed through rippling water, Kaida's form seeming to shimmer between solid and spectral.
Seven alcoves were carved into the walls at equal distances, each containing a small pedestal that glowed with a different colored light. The chamber felt ancient, as if it had existed long before the palace above had been built—perhaps even before the mountain itself had taken its current form.
