Echoes of Ruin
Tall shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, overflowing with spellbooks, artifacts, scrolls, and, the least conspicuous of all, at least three magical familiars sleeping in jars I didn’t dare to get too close to.
Professor Dana sat behind a desk carved out of polished obsidian. Her hair was a sharp opalescent silver, shimmering like a blade’s edge. Not gray, not white. Silver. Silver with veins of purple and blue pulsing just underneath, lightning caught in silk.
She tilted her head at me.
“You’re not on my schedule, Mr. Reed.”
“I know,” I said, shutting the door behind me and resisting the urge to flinch when it locked itself. “But I think this is… urgent.”