Round 158 Transcript

At dark corridor in New York high rise penthouse suite, the pressure shifts from waiting to immediate risk. The ward answers the party's presence with a fresh pulse through the stone and no one can mistake it for safety. The nearest sign of danger is now structural collapse imminent. Someone has to answer that change now.

Hera: I press my back against the wall, trying to make myself as small as possible as I watch Halie and Jeane struggle to keep the makeshift barricade in place. My heart pounds in my chest, the sound of it seeming to drown out everything else. I know we're running out of time, that at any moment this whole building could come crashing down on top of us.

But there's something else too, something I can't quite put my finger on. It feels like there's a pressure building in the air around us, a kind of tension that's making it hard to breathe. And then I see it - a flicker of light coming from under the door, like something is moving on the other side.

I want to scream, to run, to do anything but stand here and wait for the end. But I know that won't help. We're trapped, and all we can do is hope that whatever is out there doesn't find us first.

I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. I know I need to be strong, to support my friends in whatever way I can. But right now, all I feel is fear.

I drop to one knee, hand flat against the wall where I can feel it vibrating—wardstone energy climbing like a living thing behind that door. My breasts ache, milk leaking through my shirt, but I don't have time for that. The building groans and something structural shifts. We have minutes at best. "Silra!" I snap over my shoulder, voice cracking despite the effort to control it. "Barricade the door—NOW! Use everything you can find, even furniture if necessary." My spell is barely holding, threads of magic stretching thin against whatever's on the other side. If that wardstone gets through... I don't finish the thought.

The door groans louder than Jeane does when she's really desperate, which is saying something given the state of her shirt right now and how her spell is barely holding this floor together while also keeping whatever-the-fuck-is-behind-that-door contained. I grab a heavy mirror—artistic bullshit for vanity, practical as a battering ram or a shield—and shove it against the door frame. Won't stop the collapse entirely if this building decides to commit suicide, but maybe it'll slow things down long enough for us to figure out what the actual fuck we're doing here. "Halie," I call out because she's still trying to maintain her own kind of spell on Hera like that's going to help. "Get Hera further away from this corner and start thinking about how we get out of here without becoming part of the floor plan permanently." My eyes don't leave Jeane though, because that wardstone pulse is getting stronger with each heartbeat and her control looks shaky. Jeane's on one knee now, which means she's either really tired or really scared. Either way, it doesn't change what needs doing—we need to get out of here before this building decides to redecorate itself with our insides as wallpaper. The question is whether we do that while keeping Jeane from turning into a walking disaster area thanks to that wardstone energy. "Brace yourself," I say to her, moving closer but not close enough to touch—because slippery floors and desperation make for clumsy moments, and right now we can't afford any mistakes. "The door's going to give soon if the frame holds. We need a plan that doesn't involve dying in here or you getting corrupted by whatever's behind that thing."