The Werewolf's Bride
But the delay cost seconds.
Precious seconds.
Elara pushed harder, muscles screaming, ruins blurring past: toppled columns, shattered altars, fountains long dry but still stained dark with ancient blood. The air grew colder the deeper they went, breath fogging, fur riming with frost. The Order’s trail grew fresher: broken branches, boot prints in moss, the faint metallic tang of silver weapons.
Then, the Hollow Spire.
A single black tower rising from a crater of cracked stone, like a broken fang stabbing the sky. Vines of black thorn wrapped its base, thorns glistening as though wet with oil. At its summit: a single open platform, ringed by torches burning unnatural green.