The Academy did not recover from the dungeon crisis. It reeled.
The days following our emergence were a blur of hushed corridors, whispered speculation, and the heavy, oppressive presence of official inquiry. Classes were suspended indefinitely. The lecture hall remained a crater of rubble and shattered stones, cordoned off by imperial guards who admitted no one without authorisation. Students were questioned, re-questioned, and their accounts were cross-referenced and analysed for inconsistencies. Professors held emergency meetings behind closed doors, their faces grim as they emerged.
