Round 44

Seraphine completes her spell, her sharp eyes widening as she deciphers the ancient symbols. "The door itself is a conduit," she says, voice barely above a whisper. "A gateway to something... vast and hungry." She turns to face Jeane, her expression grave. "But I think I understand how to open it safely—at least in theory. There's a sequence here, a rhythm we need to match." The ground shudders again, more violently this time, sending cracks spiderwebbing across the stone floor between them.

Jeane's wings beat once in reflexive panic before she forces herself still. "Theory is great," she says dryly, "but can you do it fast enough? Because whatever's making that noise below is getting closer, and I'd rather not face it while we're trapped in a collapsing corridor." She glances back the way they came, then forward into the darkness beyond the door. "And what exactly is on the other side? More monsters? A treasure hoard? The meaning of life?"

Seraphine's lips twitch in something almost like amusement despite the situation. "If only it were the last one," she quips, already moving her hands in preparation for the spell. "Now stand back and be ready to run. This could either open a safe passage or summon every horror in the tower." She begins chanting in an ancient tongue, her voice echoing off the stone walls as the symbols on the door pulse faster in response.

The air crackles with energy as Seraphine weaves her spell, the pulsing light from deeper within the corridor intensifying. Jeane backs away, her demon bloodline screaming warnings, hand tight on her short blade. "You'd better be right about this," she mutters, eyes fixed on the shifting symbols. "And if it's a horde of monsters, I'm blaming you and running first."