The room was massive, like a cathedral hollowed out beneath the earth.
Arios stepped in slowly, each footstep echoing off the metal floor. The sound traveled unnaturally far before fading — the kind of acoustics that told him the walls weren't ordinary stone. They had a faint metallic sheen, reinforced with mana circuits glowing faintly red along the seams. The light wasn't steady; it pulsed like a heartbeat.
The pair of crimson eyes ahead flickered again.
A humanoid shape began to take form in the darkness. First the shoulders, then the arms — thick plates of armor materializing piece by piece, the faint hiss of steam rising as the figure solidified.
