The Abyssal entities circled the three heroes like sharks sensing blood in water.
They were formless and yet terrible—masses of shadow that sometimes had too many limbs, sometimes too many eyes, sometimes geometries that violated the basic laws of physics.
The palace structure groaned under their presence, reality itself protesting the intrusion of things that shouldn't exist in this dimension.
The sword-wielding hero swung his broken blade at one of the entities. It passed through harmlessly, and the thing responded by wrapping around his arm. He screamed as divine light flickered and died where it touched him, his prophetic protections unraveling against something older than prophecy itself.
"GET IT OFF!" He was clawing at his own arm now, panic overriding training. "GET IT OFF ME!"
