Night had fallen when Rael and a small group of Black Sun warriors rode out. Their mission: investigate the ruins east of Varenthia.
Something had been preying on villages. People vanishing without a trace. No blood, no bodies. Just… gone.
The ruins stood like skeletal remains of a forgotten age. Crumbling stone, half-buried in creeping vines. The air was thick, wrong.
Rael dismounted, gripping his dagger tightly.
"Stay sharp," Selene warned. "Whatever did this is still here."
A soft click echoed beneath Rael's boot. His breath hitched.
Then the ground shifted.
Something burst from beneath them.
A blur of darkness. Clawed limbs. Eyes that burned like dying embers.
A monster.
Rael barely reacted in time, rolling away as one of the Black Sun warriors was ripped from his horse. A sickening crunch followed.
No time to think.
Selene moved like lightning, her blade slashing through the creature's limb. It screeched, recoiling.
Rael's heartbeat pounded in his ears. His body screamed at him to move, to run. But the abyss whispered something else.
Fight.
The monster lunged for him.
Rael's vision darkened. His grip tightened around his dagger.
Then he let go.
Shadows coiled around his arm.
His dagger struck.
The abyss surged.
And the monster screamed.