Renee groaned as she came to. Pain pulsed through her body in uneven waves, and her ears rang so loudly she could barely hear her own breathing. The ground felt unsteady beneath her palms, almost as if the world were tilting every time she tried to focus.
Before she could gather her bearings, a voice rose from the haze.
Sinister. Gloating. Too delighted to be anything normal.
"What do we have here? How could you hide from us like this? To think we almost gave up on finding someone like you. We almost returned with nothing."
A cold shiver crawled up her spine.
She blinked until the blurred outline ahead sharpened just enough to make her heart thud violently. It was not a person. It was not a recognizable creature either. It was some terrible hybrid of beasts, stitched together by malice rather than nature.
This wasn't some gryphon or a manticore; this was just… repulsive.
