The damp, frigid air of the deepest subterranean abysses beneath the palace carried the oppressive weight of ancient, forgotten centuries. Far beneath the grand halls, the bustling courts, lay a network of jagged tunnels cut into the foundational bedrock of the empire.
Hebner Grand moved through these cavernous shadows like a ghost of silver and blood. His long, dark traveling robes dragged lightly against the wet floor, and his magnificent hair gleamed under the rare, pulsing veins of violet mana crystals that webbed the stone ceiling. The freezing magical elixir he had swallowed moments before still rumbled in his gut, a cold anchor that kept his treacherous groin flaccid and quiet, but his mind remained a tempest of pure, unadulterated fury.
He descended further, navigating a spiral staircase that wound down into a vast, enclosed chasm. The air here smelled of a scent of a beast that had outlived eras.
