Round 144

The wardstone pulsed again, harder this time, its rhythm accelerating like a heartbeat racing toward death. Two minutes until the floor gave way completely—Jeane knew it with the same certainty she knew her own spellbook. The building groaned around them, a living thing in its death throes, and fresh cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling.

"Silra!" She snapped her fingers sharply over the barrier spell keeping the worst of the energy contained. "Move! Now! We don't have time for hesitation." Her voice cut through Hera's whimpering and Halie's strained breathing. Authority demanded obedience, especially when panic threatened to fracture their already precarious situation.

Halie pushed harder against the mirror, her burned hands screaming protest but she grit her teeth and bore it. The wardstone pulsed in response—each throb sending fresh agony through her palms, but she couldn't stop now. "Silra!" She shouted over the creaking building. "Find us an exit! We can't hold this much longer!"

The makeshift barricade groaned under the strain, and a fresh crack split the plaster above them. Water gushed from the broken shower stall in the next room, flooding across the floor and mixing with spilled lubricant to create a treacherous surface. Hera pressed herself against the wall opposite Halie, her amber eyes wide with terror but her jaw set in determination.

"Halie," she called out, her voice trembling slightly. "You need to stop—you're hurt!"

But Halie shook her head, sweat beading on her forehead. "I'm fine! We can't let it through!" She glanced back at Jeane desperately. "How long? How much longer?"

The succubus woman's crimson eyes glowed faintly as she maintained the barrier spell, her dark wings twitching with exertion. "Two minutes," she ground out between clenched teeth. "Maybe less. Everyone needs to be ready to move on my mark."

The wardstone pulsed again—harder—and the entire corridor seemed to groan in response. Dust rained from the ceiling as fresh cracks spiderwebbed across the plaster. They were running out of time faster than they'd calculated.