Leroy instinctively shielded Lorraine and scanned the shadows. The ancient stone pillars and the earth-crowned ceiling, buried for centuries, still held against the tremor.
Haaaaa—
A breath. Warm. Deep. Alive.
The rumbling ceased, the torch steadied, its flame stretching calm light into the chamber. His heartbeat thundered. Something was here.
He wanted to leave. "Did you hear that?" he asked, already rising. Was this old building giving out?
But when his eyes fell on her, he froze. Lorraine's fingers clutched his shirt, her face stilled in a way he had never seen before.
Are her eyes going to glow again?
He watched, caught between fear and awe, as she exhaled. An aura unfurled from her, soft, radiant, brushing his soul like unseen wings. Her lips parted, and she spoke in High Veyrani, her voice clear as chimes in winter air:
"When the river breaks its flow, when the stars weep fire,
The mountain shall waken, the world shall grow dire.
