Akamir felt a sudden sense of weakness creeping within him.
'Is it the penalty for using my power in this world?'
He couldn't be sure, but Akamir was in no mood for theories.
He summoned three more mimickers before he grabbed the door handle.
The heavy iron door groaned as Akamir pushed it open.
A rush of cold air swept over him, carrying the smell of rust, blood, and something… rotten.
The mimickers slipped inside first, their inhuman forms bending unnaturally as they moved into the darkness.
Akamir followed.
The chamber beyond was impossibly vast, far larger than the castle could ever contain.
It stretched endlessly, like a cathedral carved from black stone.
And in its center was a tree.
No, not a tree.
A pulsating mass of flesh and roots, twisting together into a grotesque pillar that reached high into the ceiling.
Thousands of red strings were buried into it, stretching out like veins, and from each vein dangled a body.
Children. Adults. Soldiers. Servants.
