Round 156

The shadow creature's tendrils tighten around Halie's wrists, the thorns embedded in its form hissing like embers stirred to life. The air crackles with tension as both women face the creature and the suddenly blinding blue light behind them that illuminates hidden patterns on the walls.

Jeane feels the familiar sensation of magical drain pulling at her memories—an instinctive tightening of her wings—and watches Halie's reaction with growing concern mixed with paranoia about Aethera. When she speaks, her voice is cold but controlled. If every spell costs a memory, then no thank you to your terms as currently presented.

Halie meets the creature's gaze steadily despite the pain in her wrists, her voice remaining calm even as she subtly shifts her weight. A memory for passage? That's quite a price when we don't know where this corridor leads or what lies beyond. You speak of costs as if they're fixed, but every contract has room for negotiation. Her eyes flick toward Jeane for half-a-second before returning to the creature.*

The magical binding pulses between them like a dying heartbeat, each beat weaker than the last as Halie's divine stamina fights to keep her upright against exhaustion.