The icy chill of the volcanic stone vanished in an instant.
Merely a dozen minutes after the Northreach delegation departed the throne room, the ambient temperature within the tunnel took a drastic turn. The air grew suffocatingly thick.
The stone walls to their left and right radiated a stifling heat that seared their lungs. Reddish-gold runic veins along the ceiling pulsed with accelerating speed. No longer static, the light throbbed like the adrenaline-fueled heartbeat of a titan.
Every breath grew increasingly labored. Oxygen turned sparse, overwhelmed by the pungent stench of sulfur.
There was no denying it—they were being ushered deeper into the heart of an active volcano.
Roland Sudrath led the way at the very front.
