The chamber erupted.
Not with sound. Not at first.
It erupted with light.
The runes carved into the floor and the bones flickered wildly, cycling between bright silver and pitch black, like someone was flipping a switch fast enough to give the entire room seizures.
I stumbled backward and shielded my eyes. “What is happening?”
Leah screamed over the rising hum. “The chamber was tied to Asterin’s physical stability. When he disappeared, the magic destabilized.”
“So the cave is having a tantrum,” I called back. “Perfect.”
The ground trembled violently, hard enough that the bones rattled across the stone floor like rolling dice. Dust burst from cracks in the ceiling. The altar groaned like something ancient disagreed with its own existence. One of the skeletal hands near my feet jerked
