Hajin dropped into the socket nexus beneath the keep while ash gathered in slow spirals around its central mana cistern. Ten figures waited between him and the basin, each gripping a greatsword of domain mist while the conduit pulsed below.
"Ten of you?" He cracked his neck, the Chain coiled snug along his right forearm. "Damn, somebody really missed me."
Their identical outlines blocked the trench mouth where the wounded column moved rearward on stretchers.
Dreth's voice rolled out of all ten mouths as their blades rose together, "You broke my ford line, so this room belongs to my Zone, and every stone beneath you answers when I call."
"Cute speech," Hajin snorted, planting his feet above the first visible conduit instead of chasing the nearest copy, "did you rehearse it while I was wrecking your ford?"
Vella moved beside a stretcher at the trench mouth where the next casualty team waited.
