The ice labyrinth rose before them like the exposed bones of a sleeping giant.
Great slabs of frozen crystal leaned against one another at impossible angles, translucent and jagged, refracting the pale light of the overcast sky into fractured spectrums that danced across the snow. Each step into the formation distorted sound and distance; echoes arrived late, warped, as though the ice itself were reluctant to repeat what it had heard.
They entered without ceremony.
East moved first, carving a narrow path through the maze with practiced confidence. His presence subtly bent the geometry around him—not enough to command it, but enough to remind the land that he was not merely subject to its rules. North followed close behind, eyes unfocused, awareness stretched thin and wide like a net cast across unseen currents. Sun brought up the rear, firebanked low but ready, his usual irreverence dulled by the gravity pressing in from all sides.
West walked in the center.
