From beneath the twisted heap of marble steps and splintered oak, a single hand emerged. It didn't claw for purchase or reach for a weapon; it moved with the terrifying precision of a conductor's baton.
Rex's fingers splayed against the debris, and even through the blood pooling beneath his shattered ribs, his movements remained eerily controlled.
Grrrrrrrrrnd.
A low, subsonic rumble vibrated through the floorboards. From the stone tiles surrounding the terrified women, grey earth began to surge upward.
This wasn't a chaotic eruption; it was Earthen Authority in its purest form. A seamless ring of solid granite spiraled up from the floor, growing from ankle high to waist high, then surging past their shoulders.
In less than two seconds, Lily, Diana, Elizabeth, and Valentina were encased in a protective, waist-thick cylindrical vault of stone.
Rex's breathing was a wet, rattling sound in the silence that followed. Inside his mind, he was compartmentalizing the agony.
