C27 The Council Falls

Passage from subterranean chamber was a throat of stone and shadow, its walls slick with moisture and pulsing with fortress’s dark, rhythmic heartbeat. Lila Morgan led the way, her boots echoing softly against the uneven floor, her shadows coiling around her like a living cloak. The air was heavy, thick with the scents of iron, ozone, and something sharper—fear, perhaps