Deep beneath the northern heart of Ouro, the ancient bedrock opened into a vaulted cavern lined with dormant cooling flues.
The Watcher knelt beside a circular bronze basin, her clawed fingers trembling as a soft golden pulse illuminated the subterranean mist.
Inside the basin, nestled within a bed of crystallized amniotic mana, rested the last surviving embryo of the celestial mountain hounds.
"I waited seven centuries for one of your kind to awaken..." she whispered, her voice cracking with the unbearable weight of forgotten ages.
Across the subterranean channel, the metallic clatter of Concord tunneling machines echoed through the drainage conduits with persistent clatter.
"The enemy vanguard bypassed our forward wards and entered the western sub-aqueduct," Hajin reported, dropping down from the access ladder.
"They are planting demolition charges beneath the residential foundations of the lower quarter!"
