The alarms were already screaming when Kael reached the containment level.
Red light strobed through the corridors — warning glyphs sparking, doors locking, voices shouting in overlapping frequencies. He cut through the noise like a blade through smoke, his scythe humming low and steady in his grip.
Behind him, Liora kept pace, her expression grim.
“Whatever you’re planning,” she said between breaths, “you’ve got maybe three minutes before the Council overrides everything.”
“Then we don’t waste a single second,” Kael replied.
The closer they got to Deep Containment, the colder the air became. The walls were thick stone threaded with channels of pale light — the kind meant to suppress spectral energy. Each step forward made Kael’s tether flare brighter against his ribs.
Avery.
The pu
