Book One – Chapter 13

Its other arm now unburdened, the golem began scaling the boulder. Its massive fingers clawed into the jagged surface with ease, hauling its weight upward with two powerful bursts. As soon as the golem reached the top, the boulder folded inward, collapsing like liquid beneath the its weight. What had seemed like solid rock gave way, opening a gaping cavity within itself. The illusion was seamless — Midnight’s senses faltered for a moment as she realised what had happened. It was as though the golem had leapt into water rather than against solid matter. The stone caved inward, revealing a hollow core. Grabbed by his feet, the golem was pulled into the opening.

Even as it fell, the golem reacted with startling speed. Its torso rotated violently, aiming to hurl the lizardkind and the avian beast out of the collapsing cavity. But before it could finish the motion, stone shot upward from all sides, sealing the opening in an instant. The stone snapped shut, encapsulating the golem, the avian beast, and the lizardkind within.

It was a prison filled with frosthearts. In unnaturally precise intervals, the glowing gems had been embedded deep within the stone walls from the inside. The moment the golem was entombed, before it could even land or attempt to smash its way free, spirals of energy erupted from every frostheart. Threads of magic intertwined, forming an intricate web that spread across the entire stone shell, both along its interior and through the chamber itself. This was no mere containment. It was a binding ritual — a seal of power and precision.

In the fleeting instant before the spell took full hold, the golem made one last move. It folded inwards, collapsing its torso and limbs around the lizardkind and the avian beast, creating a protective shell of its own body. The effort was final and absolute, as if the golem understood its fate and sought only to preserve what remained within its care.