Chapter 504: The Cage Is Bone
Sophia's fingers tightened on the parchment.
She didn't speak immediately.
Her eyes moved over the script again, slowly, tracing each symbol with the kind of careful attention that told the others she wasn't stalling — she was making sure. Making absolutely certain that what she was reading was what she thought it was.
The hall waited.
And then she nodded to herself and spoke;
"Blood seeps beyond flesh…"
"…Darkness drinks the marrow…"
"Life rots where it lingers…"
"…The curse feeds, the cage is life…"
"Power devours power, endless…"
"…And the shadow hungers."
Silence descended on the hall again.
And then Daniel dragged his one hand slowly down his face.
It was a long, tired movement. The kind that came not from exhaustion of the body but of the mind — of a person who had no idea what they had just heard.
He lowered his hand.
"What," he said, "is that even supposed to mean?"
Every head in the hall turned toward Eldric.
