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."We have to find something.""Very well," Zasian said, and he took a step closer."What?""Whatever is keeping this place whole," the alu answered.She turned part of her attention back to the gloomy periphery of the rotunda, though she kept half an eye on the priest, too.She moved toward the spot she had chosen and passed between the columns.Zasian tentatively followed her.The alu discovered a pair of doors set into the outer wall of the round chamber, a portal that must have led to an exterior hallway when the rotunda was intact.A lone figure laysprawled within the opening, facedown and unmoving.Even in the near-darkness, Aliisza could see that it was a celestial being, a green-skinned, bald-headed creature half again as tall as she.Its white-feathered wings lay draped across its still form, but she could make out the armor encasing its body.A greatsword rested near the being's hands.Zasian moved up cautiously beside Aliisza and stared down at the creature."What happened to it?" he asked, his voice filled with awe."What is it?"Aliisza knelt down next to the celestial being."A planetar," she said as she ran her hand gingerly along the green skin, checking for signs of life."A type of angel." She glanced up at the priest's face to see his reaction.Zasian merely stared at the angel with a wondrous look."Is it dead?"Aliisza's answer was cut off as the rotunda bucked to the sound of a powerful blast.She pitched sideways, striking the floor hard and sliding a few.feet along its surface.The alu grunted and tried to rise, but a second lurch of the chamber sent her tumbling again."Aliisza!" Kaanyr shouted from the other side."Help me!"She struggled to her hands and knees and looked over at Zasian, who had been sent sprawling too.He peered around with wide eyes.She turned her gaze toward the planetar as she rose to a half-crouch, expecting another jolt.Magic crawled across the angel's skin and the tremors ceased.The celestial's wings had shifted with the tremors, and for the first time, she could see the wicked gash that ran along the being's chest.Blood leaked from the cut, soaking its wing.The planetar's the one maintaining the bubble, she realized, and he's dying."Whatever game you're playing at, we have no more timefor it," Aliisza said, looking at Zasian."We are doomed unless you can keep him alive while I go aid Kaanyr."The man opposite her said nothing, but he stared at her with large, frightened eyes.Aliisza wanted to slap him."You're the priest, do something!" she yelled, then she turned and sprinted toward Kaanyr.The hole had grown considerably wider than Aliisza remembered.Worse, the tip of one of the great tentacles was making the gap even larger as it probed the opening, ripping chunks of stone away as it sought its prey.Kaanyr, on one knee, flinched back from the segmented feeler and raised a wand.He muttered something unintelligible and an arc of lightning burst in Aliisza's vision.Unlike the bolts Kaanyr usually employed, the charge of electricity appeared much more chaotic and unregulated than she remembered.Balls of fizzling energy sprayed out to the sides and careened off every surface, and the main bolt shimmered and shifted oddly in a haze of smoke.Aliisza threw her arm up too late to ward off the blinding flash.She stumbled and nearly fell, but instead used her wings to hold herself upright.As the shimmering afterimage of the miscast bolt faded enough for her to see, Aliisza spotted two more of the tentacles joining the first, which bore a ragged black streak along part of its length.All three of the probing appendages flailed wildly, riled by Kaanyr's attack.The gigantic creature seemed more determined than ever to get at its intended morsels, for it rapidly tore huge segments of the wall away and brought its beak in close to the ever-expanding opening.By that time, nearly all of one side of the domed chamber had been rent.Kaanyr, still down on one knee, raised the wand to fire again, but one of the tentacles located him before he could discharge the magic and quickly latched onto the cambion.He grunted and arched his neck back in pain as the tentacle squeezed him and began to pull him toward the creature's maw."Kaanyr!" Aliisza screamed, stumbling forward to aid him
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