She also noticed how some of the fortress's strongest Awakeners seemed oddly dull-eyed when near the anchor, as though something had hollowed them out.
Most telling of all, she once overheard two servants whispering late at night outside the kitchens:
"…the offerings again. My cousin's district. They say three families vanished. All recorded as 'relocated'."
"Shh! Do you want your tongue cut out?"
Ling Yu's eyes had gleamed in the darkness, her suspicions confirmed.
One evening, while Xu Mochen was busy drunkenly boasting in the banquet hall, Ling Yu slipped away. She had memorized the patrol routes. Her footsteps were silent as she moved through the dim halls, deeper into the fortress than she had ever been allowed.
The air grew colder the further she went. The walls here bore no decorations, no torches, only faintly glowing runes that pulsed in time with the anchor's rhythm.
And then she saw it.
A vast and circular chamber.
