(Third Person POV)
At last, the creature Lorraine had summoned hauled itself into full view with a guttural roar that didn't sound like it came from its lungs, but from deep within the planet's core. Its body was a tangled mass of roots and bark, twisted into a hulking shape that barely resembled anything human. Jagged wooden spines jutted from its shoulders like broken spears. Its torso creaked with every breath, splitting open in places to reveal oozing sap and glowing, water-filled channels coursing through its core.
Two glowing eyes blinked open in the center of its knotted head—if it could even be called a head. No mouth… not at first.
Then the bark split.
Long. Vertical. Lined with wooden fangs that groaned as they spread open.
It screamed.
The sound was like a storm tearing through dead trees—howling, furious, unnatural.
Anna stood frozen for a heartbeat.
