The stone chamber was quiet. Luminous ore in the vaulted ceiling cast an even light over the dark gray stone walls and the tiny, ink-black figure at the center of the stone platform.
Shen Fei and Xiao Ning'er stood where they were, watching the black mist sink into a narrow fissure deep in the rock wall. The oppressive presence in the chamber gradually receded, and the air grew a little lighter again.
Neither spoke immediately. What had just happened was still turning over in their minds. The Spiritual God, the laws, the villagers' migration, and the tiny figure's final words: "All right, I'll go with you." There was too much information. They needed time to digest it.
Just then, a voice rang out in the stone chamber.
It was different from the tiny figure's voice. That voice had been dry and rustling, with a texture like pages turning.
This voice was lighter and more hollow, as though it came from every corner of the chamber at once, or descended from the vaulted ceiling overhead. They could not pinpoint its source.
It was not loud, yet it reached their ears with perfect clarity, every word carrying an indescribable penetrating force.
"The Law of Thunder. The Dark Law. Take them."
As the voice fell silent, two spheres of light appeared above the stone platform at the center of the chamber.
Neither sphere was large. Each was slightly smaller than a fist, hovering roughly a person's height above the platform.
The sphere on the left was dark teal. Tiny flashes of lightning flowed across its surface with sharp crackles. Its glow was dim but steady, like a thundercloud compressed to its utmost limit.
The sphere on the right was pure black, denser even than the black mist from earlier. Its surface reflected no