"We'll kill her, please, don't let the shadows take us alive". The remaining two begged, falling to their knees immediately.
As more thousand whispers slithered into the room from unseen mouths, crawling up the stone, curling around the edges of their minds like icy fingers. The walls of the chamber pulsed faintly, like the heartbeat of something ancient and angry.
"You do not leave this cave empty-handed again," the leader said without turning. "Or I will personally sew your tongues to the eyes you failed to use."
The room fell into darkness...And then — they screamed.
Not from pain, but from what they were looking at in front of them.
From the shadows, the elders emerged, or a farce of what used to be them.
