What?
When?
…How?
Alden's brain struggled to come to grips with what he had just seen. By all accounts, it was impossible, inconceivable and just way too implausible.
There was just no way this was real!
Behind the double door, a large, open space stretched. The air was thick, and the walls pulsed with deep, angry runes - as if they were responsible for offsetting some of the heat. Half-finished equipment lay strewn across numerous workspaces, and a crackling hearth to the side seemed to notice their presence, the flames snapping with more vigour.
A few wooden shelves lined the stone walls, filled to the brim with all sorts of strange vials, minerals and time-worn tomes. All that, however, was not what had shocked Alden so much.
No.
It was the clangour of steel striking steel, a shrill, high-pitched ring. Then, it was a rough, laboured grunt. Then, a silhouette seemed to become clearer, a wizened beard braided tight.
