The visual stuttered once, like a candle caught in a draft. Mara's figure blurred for half a second, then snapped back into focus. Reidar frowned. Then it happened again. The image juddered, distorted, and broke apart into fragmented pixels of color and shadow. The room warped. Mara's face stretched and twisted unnaturally, as if the very fabric of the vision was tearing at the seams.
The feed convulsed violently; the image broke down completely—flashing between Mara's room and something else: a forest.
Mara was deep within a forest clearing and was working on building a magic circle on the forest floor.
The design of the circle was one that Reidar knew well.
It was a specific type of magic circle that had a singular purpose: it was designed and used to open a portal to another world.
