Asher crouched briefly and dipped his fingers into the murky water. Ripples spread outward—and stopped. No concentric bounce-back, no reaction from the environment. Just stillness.
Too still.
"The water's dead," he muttered. "No mana conductivity. No elemental resonance. It's been artificially nullified."
Valeris' brow furrowed. "A null-zone? That shouldn't be possible at this scale."
"It is," Veyra said, her regenerated arm still glowing faintly with residual bloodlight. "If the alchemists here harnessed soul liquefaction, they could've rendered the very spirit of this land inert. This is etheric euthanasia."
The group paused as the mists deepened, crawling higher—up to their knees now, clinging like clammy silk.
Suddenly, a low thrumming sounded from beneath the waters.
Bum—bum.
Bum—bum.
The rhythm was steady. Heartbeat-like. It pulsed through the ground… and through their bones.
