The pillar's scriptures lit up one after another, slow and steady, climbing along the dark surface like a cursed language coming alive.
Each glowing symbol pulsed faintly, matching the rhythm of the dark energy pouring into the structure from the several black-framed devices that had been activated by the cloaked individuals standing around.
Jinn, still bound tightly by Verkaryon's eidra leash, stood silent.
He wasn't struggling—no, not yet.
His mind was working instead, calculating, thinking of how to create that one moment, that exact second he'd need to break free.
He knew rushing wouldn't help, not with someone like Verkaryon. It had to be timed.
Precise.
Then he broke the silence with a sharp voice.
"Hey, bird man—how did you and that metal brute over there meet in the first place? I'm curious."
His tone was casual, almost bored, but his eyes were sharp as ever.
Verkaryon looked at him, twitching his beak slightly before replying, voice thick with disgust.
