For several seconds, no one moved.
The silence that followed was heavy, laden with the metallic tang of ungrounded static and the collective, suspended breath of the assembled authorities.
Across the ridge, Maestros, senior Brotherhood operatives, and Great House representatives stood frozen in their respective postures of shock and readiness.
Rundrik Ember was the first to exhale, his massive shoulders dropping as the sluggish Umbralis around his limbs finally thinned and dissipated into the freezing air.
He lowered his fists, the orange fire in his eyes dimming back to a dull, exhausted amber. He spat a dry fleck of blood onto the frost-covered stone and muttered a low oath under his breath.
"It's closed," Rundrik said, his voice grating against the wind.
Nadia Varas didn't immediately reply. Her silver-grey eyes remained fixed on the empty space where Valerius and the threshold had vanished moments before.
