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Wilt followed the others up the gently sloping corridor to the surface. At regular intervals they passed heavy red cloaks piled carelessly on the ground. It was as if they had been purposely discarded, left as markers of how the Sisters’ guards—the Sentinels—had cast aside their physical selves and returned to their true serpent forms.
The Sister walked a few steps ahead of him, and Wilt noticed her shoulders tighten as they passed the abandoned cloaks.
‘You still feel them?’
‘No. Not anymore.’
The Sisters had discovered the serpents in the depths and brought them up to the human world. They’d harnessed the serpents’ power, keeping them as weapons and trophies, yet the Sisters had remained unaware of how the serpents has woven themselves into their hive mind. Gradually taking contr
