A peaceful week passed, and dawn broke like any other day over the domain of the Minotaur King. The great clearing at the heart of the crater buzzed with silent tension, the earth itself seeming to hold its breath beneath the sheer mass of those assembled.
Tens of thousands of minotaurs, beasts of brute strength, towering frames, and rippling muscle, stood in long, unwavering lines.
Their heads were bowed slightly, not in submission, but in discipline. The terrifying warriors, known across the lands for their ferocity, now resembled meek cats, each waiting their turn in the order decreed by their king's law.
Among them moved the greater minotaurs, giants among giants. These titans bore horns thicker than a man's thigh, the ridges of those horns aglow like iron pulled fresh from a forge, shimmering with faint crimson heat.
