The stone floor beneath Kyle's boots felt almost insultingly solid. After hours of sinking into the scorched, yielding ash of the hell dump, stepping onto polished marble was a shock to his knees. He staggered, his vision swimming with stars as his body finally registered that the immediate threat of being torn apart by imps had passed.
"Steady," Seraphina said, though she didn't reach out to catch him. Her attention was already fixed on the floating stretcher bearing Yua. She walked with a measured, deliberate pace, her midnight-blue dress trailing over the stone without gathering a single speck of dust.
"Mom, he's running on empty," Elara said, her voice raspy as the two healers guided her toward a stone bench lined with velvet cushions. She tried to push their hands away, but a sharp look from her mother pinned her in place. "He pulled a divine thread through a high-grade beast. His core should be shattered."
