Round 16

The wardstone pulsed again, its rhythm accelerating like a heartbeat pushed past its limit. The building groaned around them—not distant thunder anymore but something closer, more insistent, like the sound of old bones shifting under strain. Halie pulled her hand back quickly from the stone's surface; she could feel it in her teeth, this pressure building. "Jeane, Silra—I don't think we have time for elaborate plans," she said, pulling her hand back quickly. "If this thing is responding to our... activities... then we need to ground it out, find ways to redirect that energy before the whole damn building collapses." Jeane stepped closer to Silra near the wardstone, feeling its pulse beneath her boots—a steady beat now, less like distant thunder and more like a warning drum. The building groaned around them like an old ship straining at anchor, and she didn't need Silra's rogue senses to know they were pushing limits. "What do you mean 'seismic sensor for lust?'" she asked, though part of...