Unexpected arrival

The skeleton's hollow eye sockets seemed to widen in surprise. The spell he'd tried to prevent had triggered. Light engulfed their bodies as the Emperor glanced upward. The mountain's ceiling, once looming overhead, had disintegrated—molten rock now strewn across the ruins like smoldering shards of a shattered sky.

Soon, only molten rock remained, its surface seething and bubbling. The spell's ferocity had intensified—a consequence of the far more brutal price paid. Had it been fueled by pure mystic power, the light would have radiated softly, like a dawn breaking through storm clouds. Instead, it roared.

Both of their bodies were yanked upward into the white room, just as Sanchez had been. He'd never imagined he'd return to this place twice in a single day.