A man walked through a seemingly endless hallway.
The corridor was completely dark, with only his footsteps echoing in the silence. Shadows clung to the walls, shifting as if they were alive. The air was thick, heavy with something unseen. Each step echoed, swallowed almost instantly by the void around him.
Finally, he arrived at the end of the passage. The space opened.
An altar stood at the center, bathed in a faint, pulsing red light. Above it, on an elevated platform, five figures sat in towering chairs. Their faces were hidden beneath deep hoods. Behind them, massive black feathered wings stretched, dark and vast. A black, four-sided star marked each of their foreheads, glowing without casting light on their faces.
The man stepped forward.
His pale skin stood in stark contrast to the shifting darkness. His hair, white streaked with brown, fell past his shoulders. One eye burned red, the other glowed green. Tusks curved from his lower jaw.
