The geyser of black water didn't fall back to the earth. It defied gravity, sprawling outward like the ribs of a dying star, freezing into jagged pillars of void-ice that pierced the canyon walls. The Iron-Gate Pass, once a narrow throat of stone, was now a gateway for the abyss.
"Elara!" Kaelen shifted back into his human form mid-air, landing hard in the grey slush. He scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide as he looked at the erupting dark. "The ground... it’s liquefying!"
"It’s not water," Elara said, her voice trembling with the effort of holding her Trident of the Tides steady. "It’s memory. The Void is pulling the deep sea into the high mountains."
From the black spray, the first of the Void-Vanguard emerged. These were not the mindless hounds of the marshes. These were husks of an
