I stood near a massive outcropping of dark rock, surrounded by four towering werewolf guards. The battle raged fiercely a hundred yards away, the fog thickening around the edges of the conflict. Suddenly, the wind shifted violently. A sharp, sickly-sweet scent of pale lilies and old copper hit my nose, completely masking the scent of the blood-soaked battlefield. Before I could turn, a deafening explosion of dark magic erupted on the far right flank. My guards snapped their attention away, two of them rushing forward as a massive, unnatural beast, a twisted chimera stitched together with dark magic, barreled out of the tree line toward our perimeter.
In three seconds it took my remaining two guards. They were crumpled and bloodied before they even realized what had hit them. The creature’
