The distortion in the courtyard didn’t explode; it hummed with a frequency that felt like it was trying to peel the marrow from my bones. A pillar of white light, more solid and terrifying than any laser I had ever seen, struck the ground between the fountain and the ruined portico. The ash on the ground didn't fly away in a cloud; it disintegrated at the molecular level, leaving a circle of scorched, blackened earth that smoked with an unnatural ozone.
From the light stepped a figure that defied every law of wolf or human biology. It stood nearly seven feet tall, encased in armour that looked like it was forged from liquid mercury. There were no seams, no joints, and no bolts; just a fluid, shifting surface that reflected the ruined estate back at us in a warped, nightmarish funhouse mi
