The air in the cavern was so heavy it felt as though Kaeya were breathing through water. Each breath dragged against her lungs, thick and cold, carrying the scent of damp stone and something feral beneath it. The silence pressed down on her senses, broken only by the slow, deliberate ripple of shadow coiling around the massive beast before her.
The Shadowfang Dire Wolf stood tall at the center of the cavern, a predator sculpted by darkness itself. Its fur shimmered with an unnatural void-black sheen, not reflecting light but devouring it, as if the shadows had chosen to cling to its body. Molten golden eyes burned within that darkness, sharp with intelligence and utterly devoid of mercy. Every subtle shift of its shoulders radiated restrained violence, like a bowstring pulled to its limit, waiting only for the moment to snap.
