The underground chamber lay far beneath the surface of the city, carved directly into bedrock that had not seen sunlight in centuries. The air was cool and still, heavy with mana that had been sealed in place through layers of defensive formations. No sound from the outside world could reach this depth. No scrying spell could pierce the barriers etched into the walls. Even sound itself seemed muted, as though the chamber existed slightly out of step with the rest of reality.
Edward stood at the center of the chamber, his expression calm and unreadable.
The walls were lined with anti-scrying arrays stacked in concentric rings. Each layer carried a different function. The outermost layer distorted magical detection. The second layer reflected probing mana back toward its source. The third layer dissolved hostile surveillance constructs into harmless static. At the very core of the chamber, where Edward now stood, even Archmage-level detection would find only silence.
