Nero pushed through the heavy wooden doors of the bell tower with a stumbling shoulder, and the first thing he noticed was the smell.
The cloying stench of decay and blood.
The interior was a single circular chamber stretching upward into darkness where the bell hung silent and motionless. The stone walls, unmarked by time or weather, rose in a perfect cylinder. There were no windows or alcoves. There were no ornaments or decorations except for a single spiral of script carved into the floor, winding from the walls inward toward the center.
Nero couldn't read the runic script. They were completely unfamiliar to him.
At the center of the spiral, where all the lines converged into a single point, sat... something.
It was enormous. From what he could see, it looked like a pile of bodies that had merged together into a single mass, flesh flowing into flesh, bones fused and all sorts of organs brought to the surface.
Truly, an abominable thing.
