The explosion tore the floor from the Citadel’s heart, sending a tidal wave of pulverized stone and violet electricity cascading into the abyss below. Elian was thrown backward, the impact knocking the wind from his lungs as he slid toward the jagged edge of the chasm.
"Elian! Grab the masonry!" Kaelen’s voice was a frantic shriek in his mind, his holographic form struggling to maintain cohesion amidst the violent discharge of energy. "If you fall into the vent, the resonance bond will shatter! You are the only thing holding the stabilization field!"
Elian didn't think; he reacted. His fingers clawed into the cracks of a nearby fallen pillar, his muscles screaming as he hauled himself up from the brink of the void. Below him, the base of the chamber was gone, swallowed by a roiling darkn
