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The nearby footsteps stopped, and so did Raul. With the cloak of his Invisibility ring the only thing keeping him safe here, he couldn't help feeling the anxiety well up as his heart started beating faster. He hated having to wait out in the open. At any moment, it felt like one the guards might just suddenly be able to see him.

When the footsteps returned, he started moving again. He had been trying to make his way downward, to the center of Cell Block Y. That was where the guards were the most heavily concentrated, which in turn implied that their most important prisoners were there.

It was terrifying, to be sure, but he'd prepared for this. Talking with Donald Elias before the operation had helped. The old guy had a way of saying what people needed to hear, Raul thought.

"To successfully tackle a job like this, you need to get a handle on your mindset," Donald had told him. "It's fine to be scared. In fact, that'll help you. Fear will sharpen your senses. So if you feel it, don't suppress it. Lean into it. Use it to your advantage and heighten your concentration."

Yeah. More guards meant more footsteps. He didn't have to stop. He could just go. All he had to worry about was not bumping into anyone, which was simple enough. Some of these staircases were quite narrow, though, so--

He hit something. It nearly knocked him off balance, and he had to catch himself on the wooden handrail, which trembled under his sudden weight.

He scrambled for understanding. What had he hit? He was looking all around, but he was sure there hadn't been anything there. He hadn't been careless. He'd been hyper focused on every guard around. How could--?

Another Invisibility user?

The realization made his feet move. Away from the staircase. Into an early offshoot of cells, not quite at the bottom of the block.

This wasn't right. He knew there were other Rainlords using Invisibility rings, but they'd coordinated beforehand. None of them should have been here, right now.

That had been one of the problems with the rings that they'd learned about quite early on. Not being able to see each other while wearing them. They'd made a point of working around that.

So who the hell had that been, just now? He hadn't imagined it.