Round 44

The wardstone pulsed again, its sickly green light casting grotesque shadows across the room's remaining intact walls. The building groaned around them, the sound shifting from ominous rumble into something closer to a death rattle that made Hera flinch visibly. The wardstone's light pulsed a sickly green—each pulse matching the rhythm of the groaning wood with terrifying precision.

Jeane's arousal spiked as she watched Halie's efforts, but her gaze remained fixed on Hera. "Make a genuine sacrifice for group's safety," Halie repeated, her voice laced with desperation. Hera's face flushed with desire, and she looked at Silra, then back at Halie. "I... I'll do it," she stammered, her voice barely audible over the building's death rattle.

The wardstone pulsed again—faster now—and something deep inside Jeane responded with a desperate thrum that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with primal fear. She tasted dust in the back of her throat as the structure strained against Halie's divine efforts. "Finish what?" Her voice came out harsher than intended. They didn't have time for vague promises or half-measures.

I watch Hera stammer her offer, my heart pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird. The air in the room feels thick, charged with an energy far more dangerous than any magic Jeane could conjure. My eyes dart around the opulent space, taking in the cracking plaster and the way the chandelier sways ominously overhead. Every groan of the building sounds like a death knell now, and I can feel the fear coiling in my stomach, cold and heavy.

I feel Hera's fear through the bond before I hear her voice. The wardstone pulses with an eerie glow, its demands growing more insistent with each beat.