The grand hall of the Dark Council pulsed with an eerie stillness, the kind that lived between heartbeats—silent, suffocating, heavy with power. Murmured conversations whispered across the chamber like restless ghosts, echoing off ancient stone walls etched with runes older than any living creature dared claim.
Shadowflame torches flickered in iron sconces, casting twisting shapes that danced across the robed figures assembled at the obsidian table.
At its head sat High Chancellor Veron, draped in midnight-blue robes that rippled like living ink. His presence was a blade sheathed in velvet—silent, lethal, impossible to ignore. His keen eyes swept the assembly, making even the bravest councilors avert their gazes.
“The hour has come,” Veron announced, his voice slicing cleanly through th
