Hajin hauled himself onto the crown as another tremor crossed the blocked trail, and the pools shrank beneath swelling roots. Fog buried the entrance below, but the barricade feeding inside the western Gate still showed beneath their freshly won foothold.
He braced his left palm against the arch and dragged mana up behind his eyes until they stung.
[ Divine Eyes | Activated | Corruption channels visible ]
Passages lit up under the pools, climbed the trunks and ran back along the branches above the arch carrying them. Wherever one junction strained, three neighbors brightened until the overloaded root passed its pressure along, and the circuit never broke.
'Oh, that's nasty, that's real nasty, it's a whole damn sewer of veins down there.'
He followed one loop around twice, then went hunting for whatever fed it.
Cassie scrambled onto the ledge beside him with her sword angled at the lower path, "So what's holding the entrance shut?"
