The team pushed forward, past the now-silent Heralds, their steps heavy with a new sense of dread. They finally reached the base of the giant, black Anchor of Silence.
It was a terrifying structure, a pillar of pure nothingness that seemed to drink the very light from the air. The humming of its immense power was a sound that you felt in your bones, a low, final note at the end of all things.
Standing at the base of the obelisk, waiting for him, was the First Herald. Its polished, black form was perfectly still, and its blank face seemed to hold all the calm and patient emptiness of the void between stars.
Ryan stepped forward, placing himself between the Herald and his team. He braced himself for an attack, for a blast of energy, for another reality-bending trick.
But the First Herald did not move. It was done with those kinds of simple, physical attacks. It had a new weapon now, one that was aimed not at his body, but at his soul.
