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Kai went next, spear haft braced across the rope like a riding bar. Luna came after, Miryam secured in the chest-sling, her tail whipping at copper droplets.
Ten meters … twenty … forty. The crevasse widened into a winding slot canyon. They landed on loamy sand beside a subterranean stream whose surface bulged with green bubbles of mineral gas.
Heart Mason uncapped a jar and spread a thin resin sheet over the water, it hardened in seconds, forming a floating walkway the sled could roll across. Miryam chirped, fascinated by her own reflection shimmering through resin. Luna steadied her claws on the slick surface, laughing softly when the wyrmling pounced at bubbles.
No predators or beast came, Shadeclaw's intel held true.
They exited the canyon onto a dark plain of obsidian scales, shards forced up by ancient lava flows. Each fractured plate overlapped like a frozen black fan. Sharp edges hummed in the wind, static skittered across them with faint blue sparks.
