Among the shattered ruins and broken walls, the wind drifted slowly, carrying the stench of rot and dust, while scattered rubble and dead leaves rolled soundlessly through the dim alleys.
On the altar in the city's heart, mottled and ancient, a clump of uncanny black flame flickered on and off, casting twisted, ferocious silhouettes.
This was the forbidden ground secretly guarded by the Shadow Council for many years; here they were conducting a ritual that defied all reason and terror.
The council members wore dark long robes, each face hidden beneath a hood, revealing only cold, vicious eyes.
They stood silent around the altar, those gazes like the Ice at the lowest depths of the Abyss, piercing the most insidious and evil secrets lurking in the night.
The air was thick with a potent, indescribable sense of ill-omen, an unnatural presence wrought from the interweaving of corrosive toxins and time-distorting Energy.
