Chapter 14 Into The Serpent's Den

• The entrance to Gorok's stronghold was a gaping maw in the mountainside, a jagged tear in the earth that exhaled a sickly sweet scent of decay and dark magic.
• An unnatural mist clung to the cave mouth, shimmering faintly with an oppressive crimson hue. Elara felt it immediately—the pervasive, insidious presence of Gorok, a vast, malevolent consciousness that permeated the very stone around them. It was a serpent's coil, and they were about to step inside.
• Lucian, his face set in a grim mask of resolve, gave a silent signal. Roric and Lyra melted into the shadows first, their movements as silent as falling snow. Kael followed, a ghost in the twilight, his ice-blue eyes sweeping the surroundings with a wary intelligence that missed nothing.