The zone was vastly louder than the documents had implied.
It wasn't a noise they could hear with their ears. The moment their boots hit the dirt at the bottom of the ramp, the sheer, crushing pressure of the standing wave Cael had described slammed into them. The magical interference pattern grinding against the ridge system thrummed at a depth the superficial briefing data had completely failed to capture. Vane felt it instantly, a heavy, vibrating resonance ringing through his mana channels.
Cael only made it three steps off the ramp before she stopped dead, her eyes fluttering shut.
"Give me a moment," she whispered.
Nobody rushed her. They stood in the quiet tension of the drop zone, weapons low, giving her the space to breathe it in.
