The cave was silent, yet oppressive, the darkness pressing down like a tide of black water. Shadows stretched along the jagged walls, twisting unnaturally, reflecting distorted, grotesque glimmers of the three figures standing inside.
The crystalline floor shimmered faintly, but every reflection warped their forms into something barely human, muscles exaggerated, faces stretched, claws instead of fingers, eyes glinting with a predatory hunger.
Page, Lillith, and Liam stood in a tense triangle, blades at the ready.
Their breaths misted in the cold, the air thick with anticipation. They stared at one another, but it wasn't merely hostility—it was primal recognition of something inhuman. Each saw the other as a monster.
Damn it. I'm unlucky, Page thought, her red eyes narrowing as she studied the twisted, inhuman versions of Lillith and Liam. Two monsters. Just my luck.
