The world warped around Vashno as he stepped through the passage. Space folded in on itself, then snapped open—revealing a hidden pocket of reality sealed inside the palace. Only the rune… or someone with a master's command over space… could ever reach this place.
The distortion settled, revealing a dim, compact realm—no larger than a small courtyard. A single modest house sat at its center, its wooden frame quiet and still.
But the silence was deceiving.
Bodies littered the ground, sprawled in unnatural angles. Blood had pooled long enough to grow sticky and black, its coppery stench thick even in this isolated fold of space.
"They're dead…" Vashno murmured as he stepped past a stiffened corpse, boots squelching softly in dried blood.
He approached the house. The door creaked open under his touch.
