In the depths of the Blackheart Maw, even below the Hollow Ring, the space here grew dense and oppressive, filled with swirling banks of cloudy abyssal Qi that hung like living fog.
Here, the darkness felt alive; it pulsed with residual malice, the remnants of ancient beings that had long since lost their origin yet still existed, hidden in this terrifying abyss.
Amid this suffocating abyss stood a fortress—the Dread Umbral Fortress, the hidden base of the Dread Duchess Varathia.
Unlike the towering citadels and grand villas of the Myriad Hollow above, the Dread Umbral Fortress was an edifice seemingly born from the abyss itself. Its walls were shaped from colossal slabs of soul-black obsidian fused with bone, carved into harsh, angular spires that twisted skyward like the ribs of some colossal prehistoric beast.
