Red closed the southern surveillance feed and shifted his primary monitor back to the humid depths of the swamp. Down in the Bastion, the heavy stone walls of the temple echoed with the thrum of the surrounding industrial foundries.
Moss-Eye and Swift-Tail knelt before the central basalt altar, their scaled chests heaving as they presented the woven silk-moth sack. High Priest Krug stood over the offering, his violet eyes glowing in the dim light. He dismissed the two exhausted scouts with a sharp wave of his claw, turning his full attention to the Mycelium Queen's bribe.
Krug slipped his heavy talons into the delicate silk and pulled the fabric back.
A soft, pulsing cyan light immediately flooded the temple chamber. The sack held thousands of translucent, perfectly spherical spores floating weightlessly in a thick, gelatinous nutrient matrix. They drifted upward like glowing embers, casting strange, shifting shadows against the cold stone of the altar.
