The broad entry portals swung inward to reveal the circular registry rotunda, centered around a wide sunken well illuminated by luminescent recording conduits.
Luminous channels branched outward across the polished pavement like living veins, channeling streams of compressed civic data toward the vertical engine soaring above.
Hajin kept his Phase Lock dormant along his forearm, though a faint amber shimmer lingered beneath his sleeve in anticipation of another sudden temporal seizure.
Ferra stepped forward to the polished granite coping of the central shaft, retrieving a balanced copper compass needle from her leather tool roll.
She suspended the magnetic probe over the luminous chasm, watching intently as the slender bronze indicator spun erratically across the cardinal directions.
The needle flickered sharply toward the east, hesitated for a split second, veered due west, and finally snapped upright toward the soaring ceiling vaults.
