Chapter 80

In the days that followed, Alia and Nessa traveled the winding trails of the Black Forest, seeking out others of their kind who still clung to the old ways. It was a perilous journey, for the forces of darkness were already stirring in the ancient woodland's shadows.

One night, as they made camp in a sheltered dell, Nessa stiffened suddenly. "Do you smell that on the wind, sister? The reek of brimstone and decay..."

Alia's hackles rose as she scented the foul odor. A bone-chilling howl shattered the stillness - one that sent icy tendrils of dread down her spine. "Something wicked this way comes."

From the pitch blackness between the titanic pines emerged a pack of nightmarish beasts - loping forms that seemed part lupine, part smoke and shadow given substance. Their eyes burned like smoldering coals, and their maws dripped with viscous ooze that sizzled when it hit the ground.

"Abyss-spawn," Nessa spat the words like a