Then they stepped through the line of guards, and Lucero saw it up close. The partially excavated stone was faceted, each face like a sheet of black glass fifteen meters across. Its surface was unnaturally smooth, unmarred and perfect as though it had been polished. The threads of orichalcum formed fractal patterns over the surface, and Lucero felt a pulse of mana coming from them like the beats of an animal’s heart. The Locus was obviously created by man or some other sentience before being buried here long ago.