Blazar moved through the labyrinth with calculated slowness, her fingertips dragging along the rough-hewn stone walls as though committing every crack and crevice to memory.
The glowing numerals suspended above the dome continued their relentless countdown—17:23:45 remaining—casting an eerie pallor over the twisting corridors.
All around her, the sounds of frantic footsteps and muffled curses reverberated off the walls, but she paid them no more mind than one would the buzzing of distant insects.
She wasn't running.
She wasn't hiding.
She was waiting.
"If I wanted to fail," she mused, tilting her head up to observe the ticking numbers, "I could just stand here until time runs out." A wry smirk curled at the edge of her lips. "But where's the entertainment in that?"
