The door of the Reflection Tower cell sealed with a final, hollow thud.
Lin Tian stood in the center of the small, circular room. The walls were seamless black stone, polished to a dull sheen that drank the light from the single glow-crystal embedded in the ceiling.
The air was still and cold, thick with the smell of damp rock and old magic. He could feel the suppression formations humming just beneath the stone, a constant pressure against his spiritual senses, like trying to breathe through a wet cloth.
He had twenty-four hours.
Elder Shen's words echoed in the silence. "You will be held in reflection for one day. Use the time to consider your actions, and your future. My final assessment will come at dawn tomorrow."
Final assessment. It sounded like a verdict. A sentencing.
He lowered himself to the floor, the icy stone biting through his thin disciple robes. The chains were gone, but the phantom weight of them remained on his wrists. He closed his eyes, reaching inward.
