Round 39 Transcript

Halie steps forward, her eyes fixed on Jeane's determined face, as Merrin joins her. The two women move cautiously towards the sealed corridor, their footsteps echoing off the crumbling walls. As they approach, the creaking of the tower intensifies, and a chunk of stone falls from the ceiling, narrowly missing Halie's head.

I stare at the pulsing ominous stairway, my wings twitching with barely contained impatience as I watch Halie and Seraphine debate our next move. The tower groans around us like a dying beast, and every second we waste arguing feels like sand slipping through an hourglass before our inevitable entombment. Halie's words—'ten minutes or let it collapse on you'—hang in the air between us, sharp enough to cut through the growing panic that threatens to smother us all. I turn away from them both, my gaze fixed on the sealed corridor leading back towards the heart chamber where this whole cursed mess began. "I'm done wasting time," I say over my shoulder, already moving toward the rune-etched barrier blocking our way. The inverse sigils carved into the stone pulse with an oily darkness that seems to leech at the very air around them, and I feel a familiar twist of revulsion in my gut but push it aside—this is exactly what we came here for, after all. The spell forms easily enough between my fingers as I trace its intricate patterns in the air, dark energy coiling around my hands like eager serpents. With a sharp intake of breath, I slam my palm against the barrier and feel the rune explode outward in a wave of pure corruption that scours across every surface it touches. Stone sizzles and melts away under its touch, leaving scorched marks on what remains as the passage opens before us like a yawning maw. Beyond lies only darkness and the oppressive weight of something ancient and terrible waiting just beyond sight. I don't hesitate for even a heartbeat as I step forward into that gaping hole—ten minutes or not, we're running out of time faster than either Halie or Seraphine seems willing to admit. And if their reluctance means sitting here waiting to be buried alive by this cursed tower's dying spasms while Merrin and Varrika are still out there somewhere... My wings unfurl with a sharp crack that echoes through the newly opened passage, catching the stale air currents as I launch myself forward into the darkness without hesitation or looking back. The inverse rune spell still clings to my fingers like fresh ink, hungry for whatever corrupted substance awaits us deeper within this accursed place. Let Halie and Seraphine tremble at shadows while I find answers—someone has to actually do something before we all suffocate under a mountain of stone or worse. And right now? That someone is me.

I watch Jeane's wings unfurl with a sharp crack that echoes through the newly opened passage, catching the stale air currents as she launches herself forward into the darkness without hesitation or looking back. The inverse rune spell still clings to her fingers like fresh ink, hungry for whatever corrupted substance awaits us deeper within this accursed place. A chill runs down my spine at the sight of her, so reckless and yet so determined, plunging headlong into the unknown just as our tower home groans and shudders around us.
I turn to Halie, whose face is etched with worry as she watches Jeane disappear into the gloom. "We can't let her face whatever's in there alone," I say, my voice firm despite the fear that clutches my heart. "That rune... it was designed to seal something ancient and terrible."
My gaze darts between Halie and the open doorway, then back to the crumbling walls of our makeshift sanctuary. The air grows thick with dust and the scent of decaying stone, a potent reminder of how precarious our situation has become. Each second feels like an eternity now, each creak of the failing structure a hammer blow against my resolve.
"I'm going after her," I declare, already moving towards the ominous passage. "You're right about the ten minutes—if we don't get out of here soon, this whole damn thing is coming down on top of us all. But Jeane... she needs backup."
I reach for the heavy mace at my belt, its familiar weight a small comfort in the face of the unknown horrors that await us deeper within the tower's bowels. The magic that had sustained me thus far has been stripped away by the ambient corruption, leaving only a fragile shell of strength and willpower. But for Jeane? For our chance at survival? It will have to be enough.
I take one last look at Halie, my eyes locking onto hers in silent communication. This is it. Our final gamble. With a deep breath that does little to steady the frantic beat of my heart, I step across the threshold of the inverse rune, feeling its oily presence cling to my skin like a foul miasma. The air grows colder, heavier, thick with an ancient malice that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end.
"Halie," I call back over my shoulder, my voice barely above a whisper, "keep the rest of the tower from collapsing for as long as you can. If we don't make it back... get out. Live."
And with that, I am gone, swallowed by the shadows of the passage Jeane left behind, chasing after the only other person who seems to understand just how dire our circumstances have become.*