Nox lay on the root chamber floor while pale fibers crossed his wrists, ribs, and throat. The roots did not bind him tightly, but every one carried enough pressure to warn him against a sudden movement.
Serian knelt beside the exposed anchor with both hands sunk into its green light. Vasa sat against the far wall beside a tablet and three glass stabilizers, checking readings that shifted whenever the distant blockade fired.
"You can stop this before the first channel opens, but the anchor cannot close a half-open route without leaving it damaged," Serian said, keeping her attention on the root.
"I will decide after I know what it is trying to make me," Nox replied, resting two fingers against the cracked core fragment on his chest.
The school core had accepted that fragment during the Warden fight, but it had never given him access to the mana it stored. Serian's root line would bring foreign energy through every remaining sealed path.
