The great doors groaned open, spilling a faint, cold light into the yawning void beyond.
"What the fuck…" Stephan muttered, stepping inside cautiously.
The interior was nothing like he'd expected, no twisting corridors, no labyrinthine halls. Instead, the mansion's heart was one vast chamber, a throne room hewn from shadow itself. The air hung thick and heavy, saturated with an oppressive pressure that pressed against his skin. It was soul energy, dense and relentless. Not from a single source, but dozens.
"I don't see anyone," Yennefer whispered, eyes narrowing, "but their presence… it's everywhere."
"This place is wrong," Anna Mary said, her voice tight. "Like we're being watched by a hundred unseen eyes."
They felt the lurking predators all around, hidden and maybe waiting.
