The reinforced portals of the lower archive swung shut behind the fleeing apprentices with a resounding thud.
Although the fortified portal held against the physical dust, the grey blight seeped through the living roots beneath the flagstones.
Eirwen pressed both palms against the corridor masonry, her twelve silver Shards flickering under the suffocating pressure of Concord.
Hajin stepped into the junction, extending the shimmering links of the Chain across the eastern archway to bar the passage.
"The foreign voice stopped advancing across the open floor, so the next invasion will exploit botanical memory," he observed.
Eirwen drew a slow, shuddering breath, wincing as spiritual backlash pulsed through her wounded and bandaged forearm.
"I can grant healthy roots an ancient memory to carry, though the Forest Remembers cannot manifest at full scale," she replied.
Didi raised her glowing hands near the stairwell, letting Crowned Frost form a crystalline line along the descent.
