The subterranean temple was a graveyard of broken stone and shattered iron. What had once been a bastion of ancient magic was now a nightmare of visceral gore and industrial debris. The air in the chamber had turned stagnant, thick with the iron tang of blood that pooled across the floor, slick and dark, reflecting the erratic flashes of failing electrical cables overhead. Zeven stood in the center of this c*****e, his chest heaving, his muscles screaming under the weight of his own exertion. His focus was singular, his vision narrowing until the only thing in the world was the massive, hulking shape of the creature before him.
The Alpha had descended into a state that defied the boundaries of nature. The ritual, despite the frantic interruptions from above, had successfully bridged the g
