The walls were lined with heavy, rusted iron restraints that still hummed with the residual frequencies of binding arrays, and the stone surfaces were scarred by the violent, desperate claw marks of children who had been dragged into the dark.
The suffocating panic of his companions quickly yanked his attention back to the immediate logistics of their perimeter.
He soon realized Yuan and Varis still couldn't see, their boots shuffling uselessly against the invisible floorboards as they let out low, ragged mutters of confusion, and he couldn't just allow them be helpless in an environment this volatile.
Leaving two magi completely blind inside the inner sanctuary of a hostile shadow organization was a tactical liability he couldn't afford.
He stretched his hand outward, his fingers relaxing as he willed a precise, highly controlled pulse of mana to gather at the tips of his gloves.
