But Norton's smile soon faded.
He pushed open the metal gates before him and walked towards a deeper, dark passage within the estate, with Shiayar following silently.
Norton led the way, walking leisurely through the passage. They occasionally passed gates equipped with arcane warning arrays.
However, each time Norton would take out a token-like object from his bosom and deactivate the crimson warning arrays.
They proceeded downward, passing through one sealed gate after another, forged from thick bronze and fine iron. With each gate, Norton had to use a different token or insignia, changing them seven or eight times in succession.
Norton finally stopped when Shiayar's mental perception indicated they were now over thirty meters beneath the surface.
What came into view was a dim, gloomy square.
An immense array, easily dozens of meters in length and breadth and drawn with pale golden divine patterns, occupied the entire surface of the square.
