Sonder stood in the middle of a wide hall, her thoughts shifting.
The lord of the dark knights must be somewhere.
This place was already hard to reach, and none of those in it seemed to be hostile to her. It wasn't meant to stop her, and she didn't think this was some kind of test.
There must be a reason for this.
A throne room wouldn't be hidden. It would be placed in the heart of the castle.
She closed her eyes for a moment and let her senses stretch outward. Like a wave of water, she let it flood everywhere; wide but shallow.
And the more she sensed, the less it felt like the castle had any structure.
As the power washed over the dust-creature, it was caught in it like waves, being pulled to and fro.
She was searching for something not like the rest of the castle.
Not a duplicate, she thought. She hoped that there was only one.
She felt rooms layered atop rooms, halls folded through stone without rhyme or reason.
She brushed past the presence of more knights wandering, seemingly moving with a purpose unknown to Sonder.
She moved slowly, as her reach had a certain limit and couldn't cover the entire castle at once. If she continued trying to cast such a wide net, she would overlook many details.
She pulled it back but intensified it.
Gradually, she noticed what her senses had skimmed past before.
And a detail became obvious. A pattern.
The knights were not wandering at random, instead circling a specific part of the castle.
Their paths formed a vast, uneven ring, altering by small degrees, pauses, turns, and slight detours that only became obvious when watched long enough. And from far enough away.
Were they guarding it? Or avoiding it?
She followed a pair of knights, keeping her distance. They did not glance her way. Their steps were measured and unhurried.
They passed through halls she had already seen and crossed courtyards she recognized.
It took a while, but they entered a corridor she had not sensed before.
Unlike the others, it was fully straight.
The corridor did not bend. It did not branch. It did not overlap with anything else. It cut cleanly through the castle like a line drawn.
When she extended her senses toward it, she hadn't seen or felt it before.
She let the knights continue ahead and stepped into the corridor after them.
This was the path everything else curved around.
Tall doors stood at the end, massive enough for even the feathered dragon to fit through.
Beyond those doors, she felt a presence unlike any other in this land.
She readied herself and walked forward.