The Mission's Edge

General O'Malley took a deep breath and then addressed the room with a tone of finality. "Now that we know the ‘little things,’ let’s move on to the main topic of this meeting."

Danial straightened in his seat, his easygoing demeanor vanishing in an instant. His thoughts raced, and he muttered to himself, "If those were the little things, what on earth are the main things?"

O'Malley didn’t miss a beat. He turned and pointed to the screen behind him, where a rough, incomplete layout of the ruins came into focus. Danial and the others leaned forward, studying the details closely. A portion of the ruins, notably the sections leading deeper underground, appeared blurred and distorted, almost as if the scan had hit an invisible wall.

"This," O'Malley began, gesturing to the map, "is the only possible map we’ve been able to create using ultra-deep scanners. The Arcane Array laid out around the ruins prevents us from directly entering the site or conducting any physical reconnaissance, but w