“Voices like blades“
They were waiting for me.
The council chamber loomed ahead— an ancient, imposing cavern carved deep into the belly of the mountain. Its sheer stone walls radiated a timeless gravity, echoing with the whispers of past judgments, secret oaths, and battles fought in silence. Power, old and brittle like dry bones, clung to the hall like ivy. The doors twice my height and etched with scars from generations long since gone groaned under the strength of two stone-faced sentries as they pushed them open with solemn ritual.
I stepped inside.
Cold bit through the soles of my boots, rising up my spine like a warning. The floor beneath me was polished obsidian veined with silver, but it held none of the warmth of fire or welcome. The air was thick with the mingled scents of pi
