As they entered the next chamber, the corridor behind them seemed to contract. Roots fell across the path like closing doors. The chamber beyond opened in a downward spiral, a pit descending in wide circular steps, each ring lined with carvings and half-melted glass. The images were clearer here, but no more comforting. They showed the same figure from before, the veiled form with outstretched limbs, now crowned in a halo of flame and root. Around her knelt figures, faceless and hollow-chested, offering up what looked like severed branches, twisted fetuses, fragments of armor. This was a place not of worship.
"A feeding zone…" Ludwig's words echoed lightly around him.
