"You are quite late, Aren," Master Thorne said. He didn't look back. He was standing perfectly still in the center of the Celestial Peak construction site. The air around him shimmered with the residual heat of a thousand formation runes.
Aren stepped over a pile of discarded spirit stones, his boots crunching loudly in the silence. "The Archon kept me longer than expected. You know how he gets when he worries about his precious timeline."
Thorne finally turned. His grey robes seemed to absorb the dim light of the dying stars above. His eyes were tired, yet they cut through the shadows with terrifying clarity. "The Archon is a fool, but you are not. I have been watching the work you have done here over the last few weeks. This is not the structure the Alliance asked for, is it?"
Aren ke
