The first child had barely crossed the seam when a divider closed around Orrek’s wounded shoulder.
HUM!
A crack spread through the black glass beside the old break in his bone. The wall tightened through cloth and chain, trying to draw his arm into the polished surface.
CRACK!
Orrek understood what the pressure wanted. His damaged shoulder could become part of the divider. The room would keep the broken piece and call the result a repair.
Orrek planted his boots. "You can find your own shoulder."
The divider struck his chain.
CLANG!
Pain flashed down his side. His knees bent, but he held the passage open with his sound arm while the survivors crawled behind him.
Dorran dragged his injured ankle. Tavin limped beside him, still breathing through cloth. Lysa carried Sella’s child while Sella used both hands to help the burned man through the opening.
The seam was too low for anyone to walk through. Lysa crawled first with the child held against her chest. Sella followed close enough to keep one hand beneath the small head whenever the floor shifted. Dorran tried to use his injured foot and nearly folded across Tavin.
Orrek caught the back of Dorran’s coat before the divider could take his balance. Pain tore through Orrek’s shoulder, but he held the man upright long enough for Tavin to move beneath the sound side.
"Use the boy," Orrek said. "He is narrow and complains less than a crutch."
Tavin adjusted Dorran’s arm across his shoulders. "I complain when I have enough breath."
"Save some for the other side. We may need directions."
"Keep moving," Orrek called. "Anyone who falls can crawl, and anyone who cannot crawl can grab my belt."
Tavin looked back. "Your belt is already occupied."
"Share it. I have survived worse indignities."
The answer earned a laugh from someone in the line. Two survivors who had frozen began moving again.
Renn passed them by touch.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
"Everyone is still here," he rasped. "Orrek is behind us and making enough noise for three people."
"Count faster, boy. The wall has found my shoulder, and I would rather leave before it decides to keep the rest of me."
Renn struck Orrek’s arm twice and returned to the next survivor. Orrek managed a laugh, although the divider squeezed it into a grunt.
The divider shoved again.
THUD!
Orrek slid backward one pace. The shoulder had already failed him many times. Cloth, scar tissue, chain, and stubborn muscle kept it attached, but none of them could make the joint sound.
Small openings appeared along the divider and pressed against the old break. A vibration entered the bone.
Orrek spat blood.
SPIT!
His bad arm remained attached. "Still mine."
Beyond him, Kael fought all three Excisors inside the crown field. Orrek caught broken pieces of the battle in the surrounding panels: Kael driving a shoulder into one mask, a black blade opening his arm, the torn rib striking a crown nerve.
The second divider turned past Orrek and angled toward Renn.
Orrek moved before the glass finished choosing the line. He caught its edge in his sound hand.
CRUNCH!
Black teeth closed through his palm.
His fingers refused to open.
Yard chains had taught him what happened when a man pulled directly against teeth. The harder he retreated, the deeper they entered. Orrek stepped toward the divider instead, shortening the angle until his wrist stood almost against the wall.
The glass tried to fold around his knuckles. He twisted the chain over its top edge and used the remaining links to stop the panel from closing flush.
His sound hand was no longer free. His damaged shoulder could not carry another pull. The only useful part left was his weight, so Orrek leaned all of it into the trapped palm and kept the divider occupied.
"Renn, keep the count moving. Do not come back for the hand."
Renn stared at the glass biting between Orrek’s knuckles. "It is pulling you into the wall."
"I noticed. Put the next person through before I begin giving worse instructions."
Renn swallowed and touched the survivor ahead.
"Fourteen. Keep moving. Fourteen."
The divider twisted. One of the chain links around Orrek’s wrist broke.
SNAP!
A black tooth punched into his forearm. He turned the shout into a harsh laugh, refusing to give the room another frightened sound to copy.
Kael heard the link break and looked back.
Vaela recognized the trap before the Excisors attacked. "Keep your eyes on the crowns. Orrek is holding."
Kael saw enough in one glance. The glass had stopped trying to separate an ordinary limb. It was using Orrek’s old injury as a fixed point from which to close the entire survivor line.
The Sovereign Root answered the hostile pressure carried through Kael’s protection.
====================================================================
[ SOVEREIGN ROOT INTERFACE OVERLAY ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
≫ HOSTILE QUARANTINE PRESSURE DETECTED: Line Anchor Harvest Attempt
≫ EXISTENTIAL SHARDS EXTRACTED: +2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
▶ MANUAL ALLOCATION COMMAND: NONE GIVEN
====================================================================
Two shards flared inside him.
An Excisor cut toward his ribs while another crown pressed against his knees. Kael turned the blade onto his forearm and caught the attacking wrist before it withdrew.
SPLIT!
Blood ran over his fingers.
Kael sent one shard into Primordial Marrow Layer and the other into Regenerative Dominion. He needed a frame the crown could not drag away from the seam and enough recovery to keep his grip functional.
ALLOCATE!
====================================================================
[ SOVEREIGN ROOT INTERFACE OVERLAY ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
≫ MANUAL ALLOCATION COMMAND RECEIVED
--------------------------------------------------------------------
▶ SHARD ALLOCATION REGISTERED: +2 TOTAL
▶ ALLOCATION DISTRIBUTION:
- Regenerative Dominion -> 25
- Primordial Marrow Layer -> 21
--------------------------------------------------------------------
≫ POINT IMMENSITY RESPONSE: Marrow Continuity And Recovery Surge Confirmed
====================================================================
The cut stopped widening. Strength settled through Kael’s spine and hips, joining his stance to the cracked floor while the field tried to pull him away from Orrek.
He could feel the hostile line running from the Excisor in his grip, across the floor, and into the divider around Orrek.
Kael lowered his center and pulled against the same route the glass was using. The Excisor resisted first. Its crown brightened and tried to redirect the load into a reflection, but Regenerative Dominion kept Kael’s torn forearm closed around the wrist long enough for the pressure to remain physical.
He yanked the Excisor down.
THUD!
Its mask struck the floor. Cracks spread beneath its head and carried through the divider gripping Orrek.
CRACK!
The teeth loosened.
Orrek could have pulled away. He drove his forehead into the divider instead.
BANG!
The row of small openings shattered. Blood ran from his brow, and his laugh returned without effort.
"My hand is still mine."
He twisted his wrist and tore free.
RIP!
Skin remained between the glass teeth. A broken black point stayed lodged between two knuckles.
Orrek examined it while stumbling toward the seam. "The wall has given me a ring. I dislike the fit."
Vaela reached him and cut a reflection thread near his elbow with the white edge.
SCRAPE!
"Leave the point where it is. Pulling it now will open the palm farther."
"I was not planning to treasure it."
"Keep walking and prove it."
The last survivor crossed the seam. Renn touched Orrek between the shoulders.
"Everyone is through. You can stop holding the divider."
Orrek kept his shortened chain against the rising panel. "Move away from the opening first. I do not trust success while the wall is still within reach."
"We are already clear."
Orrek looked confused for a heartbeat. He had measured the line by pressure behind him and missed the final body passing.
CLACK!
The divider rose again.
Kael’s voice crossed the fight. "Orrek, move."
Vaela caught Orrek’s belt and hauled him backward. He stumbled through the seam as the divider struck the place where his boots had been.
CRUSH!
Fragments jumped across the floor.
The Excisors turned their crowns toward the escaped survivors. Kael stepped into the angle and darkened the nearest reflections with his weight.
Orrek saw Kael’s back, Renn’s bloody wrist, Sella taking her child from Lysa, and Dorran collapsed beside Tavin. Every person had crossed.
He lifted the chain with the hand he could still close.
CLANG!
"Rise again if you want another piece of me."
Vaela pushed him deeper into the pocket. "Stop threatening the floor. I need to see your palm before the glass point moves."
"Your hand is bleeding into your boot."
Orrek glanced at the blood and stopped addressing the floor. "I can still walk. Bind it while we move, or the wall will close before you finish."
Renn brushed the count cloth across Orrek’s wrist. The touch marked him present without asking for another answer.
Orrek finally let Vaela guide him away. His boots had left two uneven dents beside the seam. The next rib tried to rise through one and bent around the impression.
He smiled through the blood on his teeth. "The wall remembers me."
Vaela wrapped his torn palm without removing the point. "Most of what it remembers came out of your body. Try to keep the rest inside."
She wound the cloth between his fingers rather than across them, leaving the embedded glass visible. Blood continued to gather around the point, but the wrapping slowed it before it reached his wrist.
"Can you close the hand?" she asked.
Orrek tested the fingers. The smallest two refused to bend, while the others caught the chain with a weak grip. "Enough to make another mistake."
"You will use it only if the wall reaches the children. Every other mistake waits until I remove the tooth."
Vaela tied the final knot with her own injured wrist held stiff. "Do not mistake patience for permission."
Renn crouched nearby, protecting the ring-bound wrist against his chest. "Can either of you keep moving?"
Vaela stood first. "I can walk and treat the next person. Orrek can walk if somebody keeps him from admiring the blood."
Tavin took Orrek’s belt again without being asked. Orrek looked down at the boy, started to object, and changed his mind when the divider shifted behind Kael.
Behind them, Kael held the Excisors away from the seam. The fourteen moved one unsteady step deeper into the pocket because Orrek had remained in place long enough for every one of them to cross.