The lair was massive. A cavern so wide that the far wall was barely visible through the icy mist. Frozen stalactites hung from the ceiling like the teeth of a buried god. The floor was an unbroken sheet of ice so clear it looked like standing on glass.
And there, coiled in the center of the cavern, was the Glacial Tyrant.
An ice-wyvern. A thirty-foot monster stretching from snout to tail. Its body was wrapped in layers of ancient, compressed ice. It kept its massive wings pinned to its sides, though they looked big enough to span forty feet wide. Its skull was shaped like a wedge, clearly built for breaking through rock.
Its eyes were solid blue.
Frost poured off its body in steady waves. The air around it shimmered with a cold so intense that moisture froze before it could even form snow.
The Tyrant's eyes locked onto them.
It didn't roar at first. It just watched. It weighed them up, smart enough to realize that anyone stepping into its territory was either food or a foe.
