The words struck like ice water down his spine. For one awful second he felt the truth of them, not as philosophy but as sensation. The building, the maps, the cathedral, the long chain of damage and response, all of it was feeding something, and he was inside that chain whether he wanted to be or not.
Then Fang's voice cut through the comm again.
"Power isolated. West wall feed severed. The corridor is losing its charge. Ren, if you can force the entity towards the ward line, it may collapse under the loss."
Ren looked at the shimmer near room sixteen. The shape there had grown thin, its edges fraying where the ward field from the second anchor cut across the floor. The room itself was starting to fight back. Good, he thought. It had to. The institute could not remain passive any longer.
