The darkness began to move.
Not the darkness of space or the dead of night—but something alive, like a creature stretching after a long, deep sleep. It writhed out from the cracks in the bone walls, from patches of damp moss, from the deepest corners of the castle. And as it moved, it revealed something.
Something enormous.
Nick lifted his head from the meat table, his eyes widening so far they looked as though they might spill from their sockets. Beside him, Ember was also struggling to sit up, but his body was still too weak. There was nothing either of them could do but stare.
Gluttony was slowly emerging.
It had no human shape, nor did it resemble any creature they had ever known. It was a colossal mass of flesh, coated in layers of fat and black, viscous slime, piling upon itself like a living mountain. Its skin was ashen gray, split by deep cracks, and within every crack, blood-red eyes stared out from the darkness, blinking like countless red lamps.
