Ferra measured the distance between the two conversion circles three times before permitting anyone to place cloth near them. The hall's sealed windows opened toward an empty garden, leaving no civilian route beneath the ritual.
Prepared coverings rested beyond both outer lines, folded so separate hands could reach them without entering either formation.
Vella stood beside Hajin's right shoulder, while Didi guarded the doors against officials who considered every unknown soul a royal security question.
Hajin opened the Soul Selection entry and let its impressions resolve into their full separate forms. Two sleek creatures ran through a broken landscape where distance behaved like frightened water.
One sister opened a road by striking empty air with her forepaw, while the other collapsed that road behind their fleeing prey. Their last hunt ended beneath a rift storm when human trappers shattered the opening anchor.
