"What kind of sorcery is this?"
The outburst came first, followed by an immediate chorus of hisses, clicks, guttural rumbles, and sharp murmurs in at least seven different ancient tongues. Every guardian in the hall shifted, scales scraping or stone bodies creaking, all equally scandalized.
"Is there something wrong with the first trial?" one guardian asked, voice echoing with bewilderment.
But even Thyrran did not answer at once.
The massive serpent narrowed his eyes and slithered forward, gaze flickering with calculation as he replayed the earlier activation of the Crucible Passage in his mind. The mortal had touched the door, the ancient runes had flared, the threshold had accepted his presence, and the mechanism of the Ascension Hall had awakened exactly as it always had.
Nothing had been tampered with.
Nothing had malfunctioned.
And yet this result was… unprecedented.
What in the archives was happening?
