"Okay," Sebastian coughed, spitting another wad of blood onto the floor. "Step one complete. Don't die in the hallway."
He unzipped his ruined, blood-soaked black leather coat with his trembling right hand. He reached into the inner pocket and pulled out the golden crystal.
The sphere was almost uncomfortably hot to the touch. It pulsed with a frantic, erratic heartbeat, the pure Earth-mana swirling violently inside the hard-light shell. It was acting like a pressure cooker.
In the Ethereal Plane, the magical stasis pocket would have held forever. But here, in the base reality of the Hardware Level, magic was actively being rejected by the environment. The crystal couldn't sustain its condensed form.
"Come on, Seattle," Sebastian whispered, placing the glowing orb gently onto the stone floor in front of him. "Time to wake up."
The moment the crystal touched the cold stone, the hard-light shell cracked.
*CRACK-POP!*
