[Kael’s POV]
The Ashen City was not a place built for the living.
As we stood at the shattered iron gates, the sheer, suffocating scale of the underground metropolis stretched out before us. Towers carved from massive, jagged stalactites hung precariously over our heads like the teeth of a dead god. The ground was paved not with cobblestones, but with a terrifying mosaic of ancient, bleached bones.
And in the shadows of those bone-paved streets, the dead were waking up.
Thousands of toxic, glowing red eyes pierced the absolute darkness. The hissing was a collective, deafening sound, like a massive pit of vipers realizing someone had just stepped on their nest. The Crimson Court had slept for six centuries, but their hunger was very, very much awake.
"Form the phalanx!" Silas roared, h
