Fog of heat rose where pavement split, as if the town exhaled through wounds in its skin.
Down there, Sloane paused at the crack's rim, eyes locked on the blackness underfoot. A deep gash in the road stretched far - plenty big to gulp down an entire vehicle. From hidden chambers below, slabs of metal began rising, clicking into place like a stairway made of cold iron.
Arthur’s invitation.
Fenris moved inside her chest, full of energy.
A hush settled as Elias knelt at the edge, a narrow glow stretching from his hand into the gap below. Darkness pooled beneath, thick enough to make the flashlight's reach seem foolish.
“Well,” he muttered. “That’s not ominous at all.”
Sloane stepped forward.
Fog curled around the edge where the steel floor clicked shut below the split.
“Only one way t
