The moment the twentieth person sat, the tower's low hum deepened into something heavy and wrong.
It was not a gradual change. One heartbeat the clearing was still. In the next second a bone-vibrating resonance slammed through the stone like a hammer blow from inside the earth. Teeth rattled. Lungs stuttered. The air itself seemed to thicken and press against every eardrum.
Several of the seated people tensed at once.
Wukong's golden eyes snapped toward the tower. "Something's coming."
Soren Vale's thin fingers tightened in his lap. 'That resonance is not normal. The Trial is about to start.'
Sylphy's silver markings flickered. "Everyone stay in your circles."
Then a sudden shockwave exploded outward.
It came from the twenty circles at once, a violent ring of force that ripped across the platform. Everyone who was not seated was blasted off the stone like leaves in a storm.
