WARNING, CHAPTER MIGHT CONTAIN THINGS THAT MIGHT BE DISTURBING TO SOME READERS
Miri's Pov
The binding circle was useless.
Whatever came through that rift… it didn't care.
It slithered free from the torn seam in Arthur's corpse with a sound like wet fabric tearing and bone snapping beneath. It hit the stone floor with a splat, then rose.
At first, I couldn't understand what I was seeing. The creature was misshapen—no symmetry, no face—just an amalgamation of limbs and tendrils stitched to a writhing core. Its skin pulsed like it was breathing, black and oily, with patches of pulsating red underneath. Eyes, or things that resembled eyes, blinked open across its body. Too many of them. Unblinking. Watching.
The runes on the floor flickered like they were short-circuiting. Whatever this thing was, it didn't recognize the laws the circle was built on. The circle wasn't keeping it in.
And I couldn't stop it from coming.
I tried. I tried.
