"Formalities?"

"Ending the Edict of Execution. Seeing as we're now in Ascension Hall and can claim it in Kyros's name as directed."

It's confusing that she could get here without hearing about it, but he's not going to potentially insult an unfamiliar Archon by pointing that out.

"Seems like a waste of potential," she muses.

"If the Oathbreakers rise again, I'm sure Kyros will give us another Edict to proclaim. Maybe the Edict of Darkness, 'until all who did not see the light of order and fully submit to Kyros are dead' would be a fitting punishment."

"Why wait for word from an absent ruler? Power stands before you."

"If I believed that... I might. But the Overlord won't be denied. And of course, 'Unless Our representative holds the Hall of Ascension by Our Day of Swords, all in the valley of Vendrien's Well shall perish.'" The words create eddies in the magic that sits around the Spire; not magical themselves, but reminding the magic of the Edict that this voice spoke the words once before.

"Three days to spare, but I'd rather not chance it."

It's hard to read the expression of a suit of armor, but Barik is managing to express displeasure with his nonetheless.

Lantry looks curious, and his quill hand is twitching like he is barely resisting the urge to start taking notes.

Eb, who's been tugged into the room alongside the other prisoner, is kneeling on the floor with a look of absolute disgust. As is Captain Tarkis Arri, the other prisoner.

Verse just looks interested.

Hum. "I see room for interpretation in those words."

"Oh? And - should we be introduced? I apologize that I don't recognize you, my Lady - Archon? I am Fatebinder Kohl, chosen to proclaim this Edict on Kyros's behalf, and these three are Barik, Verse, and Lantry. Under my command, and thence Archon Tunon's."

"You may call me Celes, Kohl. And I will draw your attention to note that the clause 'in Kyros' name' was lacking from that... Edict."

"Ah, so if I am a representative - I am - my intentions do not matter. Interesting. Shall I test it?"

"Just when I thought things might get boring... Go for it, boss."

"It should prove enlightening either way." (She's more interested in the demonstration of the method than the particular details of implementation. But convincing a servant to forsake their current master is the first step to acquiring them for one's own, so- Two birds, one stone.)

"Well then, Celes," he says, stepping forward into the center of the room and checking that both prisoners are watching. "I, Kohl, representative of Kyros, claim Ascension Hall. Let us be free of this Edict."

The buzzing in the teeth vanishes, the ambient magic swirls more and more intensely, and it seems to invisibly surge inward toward Kohl, wrapping itself around him and pushing upward, lifting him ten feet into the air, glowing visibly, nearly obscuring his features completely.

Then the spirals of power burst.

And crash downward.

The floor shatters.

Underneath it, sitting between the throne and the center, is a large pattern of clear crystals and lines. Some of those lines and crystals are glowing with that same light.

And a smaller circle, big enough to stand in, sitting dead center of the circular hall, is glowing as well, with a steady blue-white light.

(This floor matches the inner walls.)

But - all in this same long instant - this doesn't make any of them lose their footing.

Because they're not in Ascension Hall any more.

(For miles around, everyone looking to the sky sees a brief burst of light, and then a slow crawl of amber snakes of light, spiraling up the outside of the Mountain Spire.)

Everyone in Ascension Hall is now standing in the same relative locations, a half mile higher and slightly west. The air - windy, chill and thin - is immediately evident.

Also evident is a strong sense of age - the Mountain Spire, standing alone and unsupported, but not weakened by time or tide.

Another human-sized circle of light glows behind them, where the door would have been.

In the center rests an abstract stone sculpture, something like a pair of antelope horns, curving slightly inward toward each other, except that they also spiral counter-clockwise, so that the point where they almost-meet at the tips is nearly at a right angle to the point where their bases oppose each other.

Lantry bows to temptation and starts scribbling on his arm with his quill, writing down the sensations before they pass.

"That's... more than expected."

"Merciful Kyros, what happened? Are we atop the Spire?"

"Completely unprecedented! No records whatsoever! I could stay here for a week just chronicling it... Just so long as I don't look down."

"What were you expecting?"

"Claiming the base of the Spire, like many upstart kings and lordlings, and ending the Edict, which I'm told has substantial significance. Having the Spire respond and bring us to the top- Well, I'm glad I did."

His thoughts are tending in a dangerous, even hubristic, direction.