The valley below the shattered bone gateway breathed with a sickening, wet rhythm.
Millions of dark purple pods stretched across the obsidian basin, pulsating under the pale, violet nebula like a living, exposed nervous system.
Heavy, toxic humidity rose from the spawning pools, carrying the metallic tang of unformed alien marrow and dense spatial decay.
Kai stood on the high precipice of the ruined gate, watching the floating black glass citadel hang silently above the center of the valley like a waiting predator.
"The sheer density of hostile mana down there is suffocating," Yena observed, walking up to the edge of the cliff while she wiped a smear of black ichor from her spear shaft.
"Even inside your protective winter domain, my skin feels tight and hot."
"That is because those pods are actively consuming the surrounding space to build physical mass," Kai explained smoothly, looking down at a cluster of eggs writhing fifty feet below them.
