The thermal currents grew colder as Kyle, Yua, and Elara ascended toward the upper shelf of the Iron Shallows. Here, the deep violet glow of the abyssal sanctuary faded into a vast, murky grey twilight. Sunlight from the surface world struggled to penetrate these depths, filtering down through thousands of feet of ocean as faint, ghostly ribbons of pale blue light.
The terrain shifted from smooth basalt canyons to sharp, jagged limestone ridges covered in dead coral and black sea sponges. Huge fissures cut through the seabed, occasionally spewing plumes of mineral-rich silt that obscured visibility.
Kyle led the way, his new gauntlet—the *Shadow Stitcher's Gauntlet*—humming softly against his right forearm. The cold liquid metal felt seamlessly integrated into his nervous system, giving him a constant, passive awareness of every scrap of shade within a hundred-yard radius.
