Round 99

The air in the corridor shifted subtly as Halie descended the final stairs, her shield dome flickering at the edges from the strain of maintaining containment on something that clearly shouldn't exist. She paused halfway down, blue-grey eyes scanning the darkness below with practiced wariness. The magic humming through her palms felt wrong—discordant, unstable, pulsing with a rhythm that set her teeth on edge.

Jeane stood at the bottom, dark wings half-spread for balance, one hand extended upward in offer of support. Her crimson eyes glinted in the dim light as they met Halie's gaze. "The binding is compromised," she said flatly, voice barely above a whisper. "Not broken yet, but close enough that we need to move quickly if we want to maintain control." She glanced toward the distant end of the corridor where an ornate door stood partially ajar. "Unless you'd rather wait here for Zha'thik to find us?"

Halie's jaw tightened. "Define 'compromised.' And explain why I shouldn't just banish both of you right now before this gets worse."