"When stone remembers blood, it shapes itself into hunger." , Fragmented hymn, origin unknown
The chamber's light grew unbearable.
The shards that had once lain dormant upon the altar tore themselves free of stone and dust, spinning upward in a spiral of viridian fire. Their glow was no longer faint or hesitant, it was blinding, savage. The sound they made was not merely heard, but felt: a scream without mouth or throat, a resonance that rattled teeth, filled skulls, and echoed inside bone marrow like the drumming of war.
The serpents shrieked in answer.
Still pinned by Leo's jagged spikes of stone, they writhed violently, their bodies thrashing against the pillars. Obsidian scales split apart, cracking open as though their very flesh rebelled. The shards spun lower, faster, embedding themselves into the serpents one after another. With each impact, the beasts convulsed, their shrieks rising in pitch until they became unbearable.
