The abandoned shed on the far fringe of the academy grounds looked like nothing more than a forgotten heap of rotting wood and overgrown ivy. Its shingles were broken. The walls leaned, bowed inward like something massive had once leaned against them. A single window, crusted over with grime, let in a thin sliver of moonlight that sliced across the interior like a blade.
But what appeared empty from the outside was anything but.
Kai had inscribed thirty sigil barriers around and within the structure. They were layered, interwoven, and pulsing with necromantic energy. He had drawn them with bone chalk that also has his blood combined. After a couple of experiments, he found it made the barriers and sigils stronger, and that's what he needed now.
Some bore the marks of concealment. Others were full combat barriers of his own design, designed to repel entry by one of his loaded spells. The outermost one was cloaked in illusion magic, a technique he'd perfected when saving Firra.
