The sky tore open without warning. Red-black clouds boiled over the city like spilled blood and oil, lightning cracking down in jagged veins that pulsed with living shadow. Buildings groaned as black tendrils pushed through stone and steel, twisting walls into grotesque shapes.
People in the streets screamed as the corruption took hold—skin splitting open with dark lines, eyes glazing over while they clawed at their own faces.
Clara stood on the central keep's balcony, wind whipping her coat. "This is it," she said, voice flat with satisfaction. "The Lilith echo is awakening. We harness this, and the realm evolves past its limits."
Atlas gripped the railing beside her, his right arm burning like it was on fire. The hunger inside it roared louder than the storm. It wanted the crowds below, the panic, the raw life draining away.
