The mantis-creatures shrieked, their shrill cries splitting the stagnant air.
The ruined archways quivered with the sound, dust drifting down from fractured stone as the swarm tightened its circle around Seth and the weary Harbingers behind him.
The group of five stared in disbelief. Moments ago, they had been drowning in despair, convinced failure was only seconds away. Now, a stranger had appeared—calm, unhurried, radiating a suffocating presence that eclipsed both the monsters and themselves.
Seth walked forward with steady steps, his boots crunching on the rubble-strewn ground. The glow of Hellfire licked along his fingers, painting the twilight ruins with a crimson hue. His eyes were sharp, bored even, as if the dozens of creatures before him weren’t predators but nuisances.
One
