The chamber shook as the obsidian hand slammed into the stone floor, shattering a section of the sigil. Cracks radiated out like lightning, vomiting black fire from their seams.
The shaman's chanting grew frenzied, words tumbling over each other in a language that scraped the ear like metal on glass.
Then the rest of the creature came through—shoulders hunched and horned, its surface shifting between smooth crystal and jagged spikes. Its face was no face at all, just a mask of shifting black glass where eyes should have been.
Eliakim didn't waste a second."Cut the braziers! Now!"
Gideon's axes roared with red-and-blue light as he hurled himself forward, smashing into the first brazier in a spray of black sparks. Nathaniel's rose-stem whip lashed around the second, thorns biting deep into the structure before he ripped it down with a violent snap.
But the portal didn't close.The creature's clawed feet dug into the stone, pulling more of itself into the world.
Above Greyspire – Second Anchor
In the eastern market district, Skyling dove between narrow streets, talons tearing through a cluster of shadow-beasts spilling from a rift cut into the alley wall.
Behind her, guild adventurers fought shoulder to shoulder with city guards—arrows hissing past Skyling's wings, swords clanging against claws made of black mist.
"Clear the perimeter!" a half-elf captain shouted. "If they get past this point, we lose the entire quarter!"
Skyling landed hard, folding her wings and striking down two beasts with a snap of her beak before leaping skyward again. The rift's edges pulsed with the same black light as the underground portal.
Underground – Third Anchor Weakens
Ezra's mana flared dangerously bright, blasting back a trio of shadow-warriors, but the wild surge cracked a support pillar overhead. Dust rained down in choking clouds.
"Control it, Ezra!" Eliakim called, ducking under a clawed swipe."I'm trying!" she shot back, magic spilling uncontrolled from her palms.
The obsidian creature opened its faceless head in a soundless roar. The air vibrated, and shadow forms began peeling themselves from the walls—more humanoids, more beasts, all armed.
Western Gate – Fourth Anchor Collapses
At Greyspire's western gate, a dozen adventurers were barely holding the line against the largest wave yet.
The fourth anchor—a ritual site etched into the paving stones—suddenly split open, vomiting black tendrils into the courtyard. The fighting became chaos.
A towering beast of smoke shaped like a lion surged from the breach, scattering guards. Its mane whipped like a storm, each lash striking with the weight of steel.
Underground – Breach Complete
Eliakim's mental map of the chamber spun in his mind, calculating distances, angles, and choke points. But the math turned grim as the portal burst fully open, spilling an oily wind through the chamber.
The obsidian creature stepped forward in full, towering twice a man's height. Four burning sigils spun in the air around it—each one pulsing in time with the other anchors across the city.
Nathaniel's whip snapped around its arm, thorns biting deep, but the thing simply pulled him closer, dragging him across the floor until Gideon intercepted with a cleaving strike that showered the chamber in fragments of black glass.
The shaman raised his staff and slammed it into the stone. All four sigils flared.
Above Greyspire, Skyling felt it before she saw it—the air pressure dropped, the light dimmed, and the rifts began to widen.
The real fight had only just begun.