The sky broke before they did.
Wind screamed like a torn violin as the ballroom's last reflections collapsed inward, folding into themselves until there was no floor only steps made of air, forming and unforming in jagged succession. The horizon stitched itself together violently: bridges hung from nothing, towers curled like quills dipped in shadow, and far below, a black sea turned over on its back to reveal stars where water should have been.
Kael hit first.
He landed in a low crouch on a slate platform that hadn't existed a second earlier, blade already angled forward, body aligned for impact. The metal sang softly, eager.
Xyren phased in a heartbeat later, boots skidding as holographic panels fanned out around him like luminous petals, data cascading too fast for anyone else to read.
Elaris fell last.
Her wings snapped open mid-descent, gold and violet feathers cutting the screaming air. She twisted, slowed, and slammed down hard. The shockwave rang through the fractured sky like a bell no one could see but everything felt.
"Welcome," a voice said.
Not loud. Not raised.
Sharp.
Nyvrix didn't arrive so much as condense mist tightening into shape, shadow refining into intent. Wings of dark geometry unfurled behind him, silver fire tracing their edges.
"Walk," he continued smoothly."Or be unmade."
Ahead of them, slate plates grew out of the void, assembling into a narrow bridge of uneven squares. Each tile bore a glowing sigil some bleeding light, others swallowing it whole.
Elaris's gaze sharpened. "He's not finished building it."
"No," Xyren said, grin flickering as his scans spiked. "He's improvising."
Kael straightened, eyes on the path. "Good. I hate predictable floors."
They stepped forward.
The bridge wasn't a bridge.
It was a mood.
Each sigil pulsed at a different rhythm bright, dim, dark like a heartbeat refusing to stay steady. One wrong step and a tile tore free, spiraling into the abyss like a coin dropped into a bottomless fountain.
Xyren tilted his head, listening to something only he could hear.
"Rule of three," he said quickly. "Bright–dim–dark. Then reset. Don't break tempo."
Kael went first, counting under his breath, steps precise. Elaris followed, wings tucked tight, silhouette narrow. The air itself tried to deceive them slowing, stretching, tempting hesitation.
Twice, the rhythm lied.
Twice, Xyren clipped the trap with a precise burst of energy, detonating it safely behind them. Thunder rolled too late to matter.
Halfway across, the temperature dropped.
Glassy ripples bled out of nothing and hardened into lean, bipedal constructs sentries etched from shadow and mirror. One lunged without warning, blade flashing toward Elaris's throat.
Her wing snapped up.
Feathered metal met mirrored steel with a screaming scrape that set her teeth on edge. Kael was there instantly, weaving into her space without collision, turning the sentry's momentum into a fatal slip. His knife drew a tight figure-eight, prying the construct open at the seams.
It spilled apart like liquid mercury.
"Left flank!" Xyren shouted.
A second sentry shattered under a clean triangle of his shots, each beam placed like a chess move three turns ahead.
Nyvrix's laughter rolled across the void, amused and distant."You move well," he said, "when the floor wants you dead."
"Motivating," Kael replied dryly. "Keep talking."
They broke onto the far platform just as the last three tiles snapped loose behind them, spiraling away into silence. The bridge did not rebuild itself.
It simply… moved on.
Ahead, an archway opened with a sound like a blade sliding back into its sheath.
Beyond it waited a hall with no angles only curves, as if sculpted by flowing water. The walls reflected without reflecting; Elaris could see Kael and Xyren beside her, but their images lagged a heartbeat behind.
Her wings twitched.
"I don't like this," she murmured.
"That means it's working," Xyren said.
They stepped inside.
The sky behind them sealed shut.
And the storm walked back.
The bridge was gone. The path behind them erased.Whatever waited ahead… would not let them leave the same way.