***
{Inside The Projection}
Malik stood in the center of the kingdom, somewhere deep underground.
Very deep beneath the royal palace, down in an old chamber, forgotten even by the nobles who claimed to rule.
His feet were planted near the heart of a spell...
One spiraling out with threads that branched across the entire chamber and beyond it.
Runes, arcs, and lines, some so detailed they looked carved by God.
A drawing.
No—a system.
A contraption of soulcraft.
One that spanned the entire kingdom.
Out through tunnels, through old sewer lines, through ruined aqueducts, up foundations, and out into the street above. Under houses, ruins, and even the Academy rubble.
It was everywhere.
A massive, interconnected rune formation.
A kingdom-scale ability, weaved together with exacting precision.
It reached the twelve pillars of fire, the same pillars that had once erupted into the sky and trapped every living thing within the kingdom.