The rift screamed wider, splitting the night like torn flesh. Hunters poured through in a torrent of ash and steel, their eyes glowing with the sickly green of stolen wards. Arrows streaked upward in silver arcs, wolves leapt to meet the first wave, and Lou—Tan—was a comet of gold fire tearing bodies from the sky.
But then the tide shifted.
The hunters pulled back as if parted by invisible hands. From the heart of the rift, a new figure emerged. Larger, slower, each step deliberate. His armor gleamed like bone, ribcage plates fused over his chest, skull fragments crowning his helm. His aura oozed corruption, fae magic warped until it stank of rot.
Gasps rose from the councilors who still clung to the walls. One whispered, “What is that?”
The creature halted at the edge of the breach, i
