The silence lasted exactly three heartbeats.
Then the arena erupted.
The Shadeborn spectators didn't just murmur or vibrate they screamed. The sound wasn't audible in any human sense, but Alex felt it as pressure waves that made his teeth ache and his damaged ribs flex painfully. Their translucent forms shimmered with chaotic light, creating strobing patterns across the Grand Arena that hurt to look at directly.
The Ironhide servants abandoned all pretense of their duties, converging at the arena's edge with their burning eyes fixed on the Warden's wounded face. Some pointed, others made gestures that might have been warding signs or expressions of disbelief. The collective shock rippled through the facility's hierarchy like an earthquake through carefully stacked stones.
Even the Labyrinth Keeper's robes had stopped their perpetual shifting, frozen in a configuration that suggested genuine surprise.
