Asher and Valeris made their way deeper into the city, the path widening as they neared the inner sanctum of Blood Sky. The streets grew cleaner, lined with polished obsidian statues and flowering crimson trees whose petals never fell. Enchanted lanterns floated gently above, casting a faint red glow that shimmered across the cobbled roads like the surface of still blood.
Then came the marble gate—carved in the image of coiling serpents drinking from chalices—and beyond it, the grounds of the Varnis estate.
The manor was enormous. Its central palace loomed like a fortress grown from obsidian veins, crowned with towering spires that reached into the sky like claws. Walls of bloodglass reflected the surrounding city in warped red hues, and fountains bubbled with what looked like liquefied rubies. The air here was thick with pressure—not just from power, but expectation.
And in the vast courtyard just outside the estate gates, dozens of people had gathered.
