A violent, jagged crack ripped through the two-mile column of glacial ice.
The two-hour stasis lock had run out of fuel, leaving only a thin residual shield around Sera and Mina.
Warden-Elder Moros’s descending palm broke free from the thawing stasis, roaring back to life with suffocating necrotic starlight.
The black palm smashed into the outer granite door of the grotto with the force of a falling meteor.
The heavy stone lintel groaned, fracturing into webbed fissures as dust rained down across the threshold.
Outside the door, Sera Thorne dug her heels into the volcanic rock, crossing Storm-Pike to block the shockwave.
Beside her, Mina Vance slammed her palms against the shuddering stone, freezing the cracks with dense sheets of white frost.
“Hold it!” Sera yelled through the deafening roar of grinding granite. “Do not let him breach the inner seal!”
