The city hall rose at the center of the island like a wounded monument, its wide stone façade wrapped in heavy chains that disappeared into walls, windows, and streets beyond. Even from a distance, the pressure was palpable. Mana clung to the air in slow, restless currents, and beneath it all lay the unmistakable sense of something being forced to obey.
This was it.
According to Harper and Maria, everything converged here. The chained inhabitants. The control network spread across the island. And somewhere inside that massive structure, the Shard that fed the Second Pillar's influence.
"No one stronger than Ascendant is guarding it," Harper said quietly as they moved closer, eyes fixed on the building. "If there was, we would have known."
