The northern clan’s settlement was carved directly into the living rock of the high cliffside, a brutalist fortress of stone huts, smoking fire pits, and heavy iron chains. The air inside the Chieftain’s private medical cavern was thick with the suffocating stench of burning sage, old blood, and a sweet, sickly aroma that Elena recognized instantly—the unmistakable cellular decay of the Ashen Scourge, amplified by an unknown organic toxin.On a raised slab of slate lay the dying northern warrior. His bare chest, thick with muscle, heaved erratically as he fought for oxygen. Dark, webbed veins bled outward from a jagged slash across his ribs, turning the surrounding flesh a mottled, necrotic gray.Two elderly clan shamans knelt beside the slab, chanting in a low, rhythmic dialect while applying a thick, steaming paste of crushed mountain roots to the wound. Every time the paste touched his skin, the warrior convulsed, a wet, rattling wheeze tearing from his throat."Get away from him,"
Last Updated : 2026-07-19 Read more