"Haaa… haaa…"
The battlefield lay still for a heartbeat—a macabre tableau of chaos and exhaustion.
Ash, Seth, and Kellion, their bodies battered and minds raw from the earlier confrontation with Arius, stood amid the remnants of shattered stone and smoldering energy. In the center of the field, Arius lay unconscious, his corrupted form slack and still, a temporary lull in the tide of madness.
The acrid smell of corrupt energy mingled with the metallic tang of spilled blood.
Without warning, the darkness stirred anew.
From the fringes of the devastation, figures emerged with the stealth and precision of predators: Raven Nightshade and his Order of Shadows.
Their dark cloaks billowed like living shadows in the harsh light of the ruined courtyard.
Raven's eyes, cold and calculating, swept over the scene as he stepped forward, his voice low yet authoritative.
